Page 70 of Wish Lists and Road Trips

“You were going to marry him to make your dad happy?”

“It’s not what you think,” I said, wondering how to explain it without sounding like the pushover I’d been. Dating Sean was my decision. He was handsome, successful, oh so charming. In the beginning we had fun. He seemed to like my quirks. It crossed my mind that being with me was some sort of rebellion of his own, that maybe there was something in him that was more like me than he realized and he just wasn’t brave enough to embrace it.

I had reasons, but I couldn’t say the approval that our relationship got from my parents wasn’t a carrot on a stick. That was what convinced me to ignore my own gut, and that was where my shame lived.

“I didn’t go into it with that intention,” I told him. “It was more that I had finally done something to earn my parents’ acceptance after twenty-plus years. Once I got a taste of that, it was hard to go back to The Looks.”

Plus, I had no idea how bad it would be, how cruel. I just thought maybe I’d accept that, though Sean and I weren’t in that fairy-tale kind of love I’d always dreamed of, we’d be happyenoughand then I’d earn my place.

I took a deep breath and snuggled deeper into the pillow. “The first time I caught him, we’d been engaged all of six months. I thought, no way. He’d never put his career in jeopardy by cheating on the boss’s daughter, not that carelessly. I assumed it was a mistake, a misunderstanding even though I had the evidence right there in black and white.” A filthy email exchange that had made my cheeks red and my throat burn bitterly. “But then I realized something. He didn’t care because he knew as well as I did who they’d back. They wanted it so badly, me and Sean.”

I still couldn’t be sure he hadn’t known that from the beginning, planned it that way.

Nick wrapped an arm around me, his fingers curling in my hair.

“The second time was even more blatant and that’s when I decided I was done. I thought I could get my trust and buy the house before I had to marry him, except they moved the wedding up—him and my father. It wasn’t supposed to be until June. I mean, who gets married in March in New England? But my father wanted Sean to become a partner and they thought him being ‘family’ would help his cause.”

In the end, it became my biggest failure to date in their eyes. A broken engagement and a move back to their house. Plus, ruining their plan for Sean. It was just another check-mark on the list of ways I’d humiliated them.

“You never told them the truth? Even after you left?”

“I was embarrassed,” I said, feeling a little prickle of defense on the heel of that memory. “It’s no different than what you’re keeping from your family. We all have reasons for the things we choose not to say.”

Nick’s jaw ticced. That didn’t seem to sit well and I felt a stab of guilt in my belly. I hated to have any tension between us when the skin between my legs was still wet from him.

I expected him to keep arguing, but when I didn’t get a comeback, I looked up to find him staring at me, looking . . . contrite. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

I shrugged. Talking about Sean didn’t upset me. I just didn’t like Nick thinking of me that way. Helpless. Stupid.

“I’m not upset.”

He reached for my wrist, tugging until I unfolded onto his chest. His lips found my neck, soft, tender comfort that I relished. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re the prettiest girl on any boat.”

I giggled and his kisses turned to bites as he flipped us over and pulled to his knees. “I’m going to take a shower. Want to come with me?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m going to be lazy a little while longer.”

“Okay.” He rolled away, then back for one more kiss. “See you in a few.”

“See you in a few.”

Nick grabbed his toothbrush from his backpack and closed the door to the bathroom. I peeked at the ancient alarm clock beside the bed. Meri would be on her way to the auction now. I’d ordered a cashier’s check that she was supposed to pick up in an hour and from there, she’d take it to the auction and she and Justin would place my bid. I knew there was still the chance of getting outbid, but I never discounted my gut feelings. Like I’d told Nick, from the moment I saw that house, I knew it would change my life. How could I not win?

I rolled over and closed my eyes, intending to nap while Nick showered, but my phone buzzing from somewhere on the bed startled me. Unlike Nick’s, mine had been fairly quiet this trip. Besides Meri, there was no one to miss me back home.

I found it under one of the pillows, a picture of my father and I outside of our house on the Cape lighting up the screen, and I grimaced at the prospect of explaining my latest travel detour.

I pulled the sheet up over my chest and answered. “Hi, Daddy. So I’ve hit a tiny snag—”

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

The cool anger in his voice made me flinch. “What?”

“A cashier’s check for hundreds of thousands of dollars and you didn’t think the bank would notify me?”

The bank?Why would they call my father? My brain scrambled to catch up. My throat closed, my skin going clammy. “It’s my account,” I whispered.

“That I opened for you,” he growled. “I’m the primary signer and you have a spending limit. It was a stipulation I set up when you were sixteen. Then, it was to keep you from doing anything foolish, but I see that protection is still needed.”

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