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“Well, she didn’t land you or me, and there’s one eligible bachelor left.”
“You both can go fuck yourselves for even considering that. I’m going to go change,” I said.
I took off through the house and up the stairs, where I considered locking myself in my room to avoid this gathering until everyone left.
I loved this fucking place—the charm, the privacy, the seclusion, and the escape—but I couldn’t bear the bullshit I had to endure when I came here. If it wasn’t my family harassing me about slumming it as a doctor, it was being forced to mingle with pretentious house guests. I did love my family, but I despised our social lifestyle, and I wished sometimes we had time together without entertaining anyone.
That was why this life could never be enough for me. I would die happily single before I turned into what my brothers were.
I’d spent most of the evening successfully avoiding any deep conversations with my father and the gentlemen who practically sat at his feet, trying to gain knowledge about what’s been going on in the family.
I couldn’t care less about how the Aster Family was making their mark on society today or how the rest were fairing.
These events were exhausting, but I always managed to get through them and make it to the other side, where my brothers and I could enjoy a glass of cognac with Dad, puffing on cigars to feel good about spending one evening together.
It was typically business as usual the following day, when everyone was back in their corner, dealing with their own personal issues, so I planned to make the most of the night with my family.
I strolled around the massive estate, appreciating the architecture and the 1800s mariner decor. The wooden slats that covered the walls were painted white throughout the hallways and main rooms, embellished with traditional nautical-style accents.
I walked down the eastern corridor, and my attention was drawn to an anchor and a sculpted bronze mermaid that adorned the walls. My mother had the mermaid crafted by a famous artist in Italy, inspired by a story she told us as children. I couldn’t exactly remember the tale, but it was about a mermaid capturing a sailor's heart and drowning him when she brought him to live with her in the sea.
My takeaway from that story, even as a boy, was that if you give yourself over to love, it will end up killing you. Sadly, from what I’d witnessed over my lifetime, I wasn’t entirely wrong in that deduction. I’d seen many relationships fail because one of the two parties either refused to bend or bent too far. Ultimately, someone had to give up something—in the sailor’s case, it was his life—and I hated that thought.
I turned away from the bronze mermaid and continued toward the door to the enclosed porch wrapped around this side of the house. The wooden screen door creaked in a familiar way that I loved, reminding me of the years we’d spent our summers here. Every time a storm would roll in from offshore, it would force all the wooden screen doors around the house to creak open and slam shut if they hadn’t been secured. It’s funny how mundane things can make such a tangible memory.
I walked out, swallowing the last of the cognac in my glass, loving how my mind felt loose and relaxed even amid the people in our home that I wasn’t in the mood for entertaining.
“Hiding from everyone?” I heard a female voice question with amusement.
“Always,” I answered, standing up from the chair I’d just relaxed into, trying to figure out why Candice Anders would be following me out here without her husband. “Wow. The scandal of you joining me on this porch alone,” I teased while serving a gentle reminder that the families in attendance tonight would take issue with her brazen behavior.
“Especially while such a romantic sunset is unfolding before us, too,” she answered, taking the seat next to mine.
Without giving a shit if anyone talked about Candice joining me, I sat down again, crossed an ankle over my knee, and looked out at the horizon. The sky was painted in various golden and pink hues, displaying a gorgeous view through the scattered clouds, and it was almost as beautiful as the woman sitting next to me.
“Where’s Cliff?” I asked. “Or did you finally divorce that guy and make the right decision to date me?”
She frowned, and I instantly regretted my words.
“You haven’t heard,” she started.
“Obviously not, or I wouldn’t have said anything to upset you.”
“Well, he and I are here at his parents’ insistence. You know, it’s unacceptable to reject an invitation from the Asters.” I rolled my eyes, but I knew the rules as well as she did. You didn’t turn down invitations to functions like this unless you wanted to obliterate your social life. “Anyway, Clifford is trying to save the marriage, but I honestly can’t do this anymore, John,” she said, and I instantly felt terrible for the woman.
“Let me guess, you both barely made it the first year, and it took until this second year of marriage for you to decide that this lifestyle isn’t for you?” I questioned, assuming I was right.
“How would you know?”
“Because the lifestyle doesn’t suit me, and I was born into it. I still can’t stomach being around this bullshit.”
“I get that,” she said, looking at me momentarily before continuing. “I’m going to be honest with you. Since I met Cliff, I always found you to be the?—”
“Most handsome and smartest of them all?” I questioned with a laugh, confident that I wasn’t wrong. My best buddies were richer than fuck, but they all lacked a certain charisma.
“Smartest,” she said with a shy smile. “But you’ll never be as handsome as Cliff,” she assured me with an adorable smile.
Poor thing. She was in love with the guy. Everyone saw it from the moment he introduced her to us at a New Year’s Eve party, and even though marrying into money was a massive perk, I could tell the beautiful young woman was smitten. She was one of the rare ones in my world who married for love and not money.
