Page 20 of Married Into Love

“He doesn’t”—and as crazy as it sounded, if he had I probably would have run screaming from the hotel because it was hard enough to wrap my head around the kind of life he lived—“but his friend’s mom heard about what happened with me at work and the apartment situation. Since they keep an owner’s suite at the hotel that doesn’t get used unless someone from the family is in town or they have friends visiting, it stays empty most of the time. And they’re going to leave tomorrowmorning.”

“And she wants you to use it while she’s gone?” Ariana’s voice was whisper soft, almost like she was afraid someone would hear her and rip the opportunity out of ourhands.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure she’d rather you just stayed there because she seemed to be rooting for Alec and me as a couple.” Everyone at the weddinghadbeen.

“I like her already, and not just because she wants to offer us a free placetolive.”

I laughed, shaking my head at the reminder that my sister was included in that ‘everyone’ who was hoping Alec and I stayed together. Who’d have known my party-girl sister would turn into such a sap? “I hope you don’t mind that Alec told her we’dtakeit.”

“A luxurious suite instead of a spare room in a crappy apartment with a woman who doesn’t really want me there? Yeah, I’m not gonna be the least bit angry at your husbandforthat.”

“So that’s one problem solved, at least for now.” I dug through my bag for shorts and a T-shirt to pull on. “Why is all the stuff you packed for me from yourcloset?”

“Because the contents of yours is too depressing forwords.”

I rolled my eyes at the insult, but I didn’t bother trying to refute it. While my sister had been spending money on clothes, I’d been using mine to help pay for the necessities in life since our mom couldn’t be bothered to worry about them on a regular basis. Speaking of which... “What’re we going to doaboutMom?”

“I haven’t heard back from her,haveyou?”

“No,” I sighed. “And it’s worrying me. I know the messages we left for her were tough, but even at her worst she’s never disappeared on us for days on end without at least checking in. Do you think we should call thepolice?”

“And what? Fill out a missing person’s report? The cops won’t look too hard for a gambling addict who took off with her daughter’s rent money. Not when it was handed over willingly. But if you want to say she stole it, maybe they’d take us seriously,” shesuggested.

“Nope. No way,” I refused. “I’m not going to lie to the cops. And even if what Mom did could be considered a crime, I’m not going to press charges against her. I just couldn’tdoit.”

“And that’s why you’re the nice sister and I’m the mean one. Because if it was my money, you can be damn sure I wouldn’t feel bad about tossing Mom in jail for stealing itfromme.”

“Ariana,” I sighed, shaking my head even though she couldn’t see it. “You say that now, but if it came down to it we both know you’d protectMomtoo.”

“Maybe,” she begrudgingly agreed. “But that doesn’t help us decide what to doabouther.”

“You know what? I think I’m going to take a page from your playbook and worry about it later. Alec is supposed to fly home this afternoon, and I want to spend the daywithhim.”

“Shit, he’s leavingthatsoon?”

I lowered my voice, even though the bathroom door was closed, because I didn’t want Alec to be able to hear what I was saying. “That’s what he told me yesterday, but he hasn’t mentioned itagain.”

“Have you asked himaboutit?”

“No. He’s been...amazing. And I’m afraid of what his answer is going to be. That all his talk about husbands and wives belonging together was just a line to get me in bed, and now that he has he’s going to hop on a plane and let me be the one to handle our quickiedivorce.”

“There’s so much wrong with that, I almost don’t know where to begin. But I did just say I was going to start taking my big sister duties seriously, so here goes.” She paused, and I heard her take a deep breath. “You got blind drunk when I took you out on your twenty-first birthday, but you didn’t so much as kiss a guy that night. But you married Alec, and I don’t think it was just because you were drunk. You also slept with him. And now you’re so upset about the possibility of him leaving, that you can’t even ask him a simplequestion.”

“Yeah,Iam.”

“Here’s the sisterly advice part: pull up your big-girl panties and let the guy know that you aren’t interested in a quickie divorce. I think you’ll be surprised by his answer. Remember, he’s not a dipshit like our father. He’s your whiteknight.”

That was my big sister for you. She didn’t pussy-foot around. She got right to the heart of things, and she knew me well. I had daddy issues, and it was up to me if I was willing to let them ruin what I might be able to build with Alec. “You’reright.”

“Of courseIam.”

“Now it’s your turn to shut up.” I nodded at myself in the mirror, my eyes filling with determination. “I’ll talk to Alec today, and I’ll see you later. Either by myself today because he decided to get on that plane to Chicago, or with Alec tomorrow because he stayed behindforme.”

“Okie dokie. I’ll see you and the hubbytomorrow.”

Once again, she didn’t give me the chance to have the last word. Instead, she left me with a grin on my face as I opened the bathroom door tojoinAlec.

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