Page 23 of A Kiss to Remember
What was he doing here?
“What is he doing here?” Sherri whispered, echoing the question in Remi’s head. “I thought you said he wasn’t coming.”
Remi had confessed everything to her sisters—the true reason behind The Kiss, the fake relationship, Declan’s agreement to be her beard at the engagement party.
“I didn’t think he was, either.” She couldn’t remove her eyes from him. No matter how much her pride begged her to stop making a fool of herself in front of all these people.
She’d been here before, except this scene had taken place in a diner, not at an engagement party. But her romance woes being center stage for the townspeople of Rose Bend again? No. Thank. You.
She straightened, pushing off the wall, and maybe he sensed her movement, because his gaze scanned the room before unerringly landing on her. It was like crashing into a star—hot, consuming and so close to flaming out.
She froze.
Inside, she longed to flee. Away.
Or straight to him.
“Sweet baby Jesus, Remi, that man is in love with you,” Briana breathed.
Remi tore her gaze from Declan and frowned at her younger sister.
“What? What’re you talking about, Bri?”
“C’mon, Remi—the man showed up at an engagement party. No man shows up at an engagement party all alone, voluntarily, unless, A, he’s the groom or one of the parties involved is family, B, he’s being blackmailed, or C, he has an agenda. You, big sis, are his agenda. That man is so in love with you.” She leaned forward, jabbing a fingertip in her arm. “But I swear to God, if he proposes to you at my engagement party, I’m tackling him to the ground like J. J. Watt. And then I’ll show up at your wedding and announce I’m pregnant. And expecting quadruplets.”
Remi stared at her sister, caught between laughing hysterically and being horrified. Because she suspected Briana meant it.
“Remi, can you help me in the kitchen for a moment?” Their mother appeared in front of their trio, smiling brightly, but Remi spied the taut edges.
“Sure.”
She followed her mom, pausing to smile at a few guests, putting on a good front, but her belly twisted into knots. Strain rode her shoulders, so by the time they entered the spotless kitchen, where more food platters covered the butcher-block island, her body was rigid with the strain.
“Declan showing up is certainly a surprise,” her mother said, leaning back against the edge of the island.
Jumping right into it, are we?
Remi smothered a sigh, wishing she’d stolen Sherri’s champagne.
“It is.”
Rochelle threw her hands up, huffing out a breath. “Remi, he’s here. That means something.”
“It could mean a lot of things. The main thing being not wanting to be rude by not showing up.” Although, she wondered, too. As of the night she’d kicked him out of her bed, her house, he didn’t have an obligation to her anymore. “Mom, don’t get your hopes up.” She was preaching to the choir. “He’s a nice guy, and that’s all there is to it. We’re done.”
“Honey.” She shook her head. “Why can’t you just put in a little effort? You had a man who actually took an interest in you, and what happened? What did you do?”
Hurt slapped at her, and her head jerked back. “What didI do?” she whispered. “Why do you assume it’s my fault?”
“Oh stop,” Rochelle snapped, slicing a hand through the air. “I’m not assigning blame. I’m just saying I wish you would try harder—”
“And do what?” A calm settled over her. Almost as if she stepped out of her body and gave herself permission to speak, to no longer hold back on every hurt, every wound that she’d paved over with excuses, disregard or laughter. “Talk less, laugh softer. Wear baggier clothes. Lose fifteen pounds. Try harder for Declan or any other man? Or try harder for you, Mom?”
“Remi?” She frowned. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“Maybe at this point you’ve become so used to criticizing me that you don’t notice. And I don’t know which is worse—doing it on purpose or being so accustomed to taking my inventory that it has become habit. The problem is, with you, I always come up short. I’ve never been enough.”
“Remi, honey,” she whispered, tears glistening in her eyes. “That’s not true.”
