Page 46 of The Deal Maker

Hope raises an eyebrow. “What wedding stuff?”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “All right. So I haven’t been helping you that much, but I am tonight. That’s got to count for something.”

“Sure, I’ll give you that. But I want to know more about what’s going on with you and Duke.”

Shaking my head, I say, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing except that we both want to win the prize at the end of the hunt.”

“That’s it?” Hope says, giving me her disbelieving tone.

“What do you want me to say? He’s running a timeshare business, which was already a red flag for me?—”

“Not a red flag. More like a beige flag.”

“—and then I found out that he’s from the family who owns The Bridal Barn.”

Hope cringes. “Really? I thought you knew that.”

“Duke said he can’t understand why they named it that, but yes. He’s from a family that is all about weddings. I don’t do weddings.”

“Except mine,” Hope says, a strain in her voice. “You’ll be at my wedding, right?”

Sighing, I say, “Of course, Hope. I’m going to be there for you. I just might have hives by the end of it.”

“You can be such a drama queen.”

“Well, when life gives you lemons, you squeeze out all the juice, which inevitably ends up in a paper cut and stinging fordays.” When she glares at me, I say, “Sorry, I meant that you make lemonade.”

“I refer to my statement above. You’ll be fine. Just because things didn’t work out between you and Zander?—”

“I’m not still holding onto that hope. I don’t want to live in the past, but I also don’t want to repeat it.”

Hope nods. “That’s understandable, but you’ve got to go on living. You get your mind set on things and then don’t give or compromise on any of it. Things change and you can’t just assume everything is going to be crappy from prior experiences.”

“Wouldn’t that make me a fool then?” I say, trying to figure out how to win this argument. Hope and I have gone back and forth about this topic for far too long. I just want to have a resounding, triumphant comeback to what she says, even though she speaks the truth.

“No. That just means you’re willing to give things a chance within reason. You didn’t do anything or say anything negative about Duke until you knew he was selling timeshares. What if you take away his job instead of adding it to his identity? The guy is fun, kind, and has a sense of humor.”

“But will that make a life?” I ask in a whisper.

“Zander was the ultimate tool. He wasn’t any of those things and he was controlled by your father. I love Uncle Sam, but it’s a good thing I don’t have to live with him or life would be like the waves of the sea during a hurricane.”

My dad had always been the fun uncle at family gatherings, but once we got home, everything was about the business. How we could make more money, when I was going to work for him, and how I could move up in the world.

Dating Zander had felt natural at the time, and when he proposed, I was so excited. I’d planned out the future, thinking about what we’d do together and what our family would look like a few years down the road.

It wasn’t until a week before the wedding that I found out he didn’t want kids at all, and that the whole relationship had been a way for Zander to get in with my dad and eventually take over the business. So basically, I was a means to an end.

“What are you thinking about for the reception?”

“Don’t try to change the subject, Mags. We need to hash this out.”

“Why is it always talking with you? Can’t you just let someone stew on their own about their life decisions?”

Hope laughs and says, “No, because then you never do anything about it. You let the emotions fester and then you explode.”

Rude, but true. I’ve worked on controlling the emotions I’d learned from the nurture part of my childhood, but there are still times that I’m not successful at it.

“What do you want to talk about, Hope? Is there something wrong with Jason? Does he have an incurable disease?”

---