“Do you promise to haunt me for the rest of your life and the afterlife? Because I’ll do anything you ask as long as you promise to haunt me.”
Scarlett closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. I glance at Harvey, and she shakes her head in disappointment.
“I’m never going to be free of you,” Scarlett murmurs. “Not even in the afterlife.”
“Never, baby girl,” I promise. “I’m afraid you sealed that deal when you told me you love me.”
Opening her eyes, Scarlett looks at me. Behind all the hurt and anger, I still see glimmers of our love. Maybe they’re just memories, maybe not. All I know is, if there’s even a small chance, I’m taking it.
“And you said we should have stayed in Whistler,” Roman says from behind me. “We would have missed this pure cinema.”
Scarlett balances, looking behind me at Roman and Lavinia. “I didn’t realize you were entertaining.”
“He’s not entertaining,” Roman says. “In fact, he’s more boring than I am. He lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere.”
Scarlett cracks a smile, thawing a little. I glare at Roman. I’m the one who should be making her laugh and thawing the ice around her heart, not him. But when I look at him and then Scarlett, I realize she’s seeing a man in love, so he’s not a danger. Roman is standing next to Lavinia, an arm wrapped around her waist, and when he looks at her there’s no doubt she’s the only one who matters.
“It’s a ranch, not a farm,” I correct. “And I’m extremely entertaining.”
Scarlett makes a sound that could be a laugh, and I turn to her in question. “Can we talk in private?”
“We can wait in the kitchen,” Harvey says, walking further into the house.
“Don’t eat all the cupcakes,” Scarlett says to her. “I want to save some for Connor to choke on them later.”
Harvey snickers as she, Lavinia, and Roman disappear back into the kitchen. I take Scarlett’s arm and lead her into the living room.
“Why do you want me to choke on cupcakes, baby girl?”
Scarlett is looking around the living room, at all the photos my grandfather hung up. She stops in front of the wedding photo of my parents and looks back at me.
“Because you’re ruining my sister’s wedding, Connie.”
I ignore the ridiculous nickname and step closer to her. There are no sharp objects near her, unless she plans on smacking me with a photo frame, so I think I’m okay being near her.
“What happened?” Reaching out, I brush the back of my fingers along her cheekbone. Her skin is soft under my hand and for a second, Scarlett’s eyes close and she tilts her head into my hand.
She opens up so easily, like a flower blooming under the sun. When she lowers those walls, she built around herself, she’s the softest angel.
Her eyes open and she glares at me. “Don’t think I forgive you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of making that assumption.”
“I still hope you choke on those damned cupcakes,” she says.
“I’ll get on it as soon as you tell me what’s wrong.”
Scarlett sighs and--to my regret--pulls away from me. Moving around me, she walks around the living room, inspecting every little thing closely. It’s strange to picture her here, a place I avoided her being.
“I went to the Butter & Bloom today to make sure my sister’s cake was going to be delivered on the wedding day, as planned.” Scarlett turns to look at me, anger shimmering in her eyes onceagain. She crosses her arms. “Shane told me that my order had mysteriously disappeared from their system, even though I paid a deposit and received a confirmation.”
“Is Shane still with us?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to harm him surrounded by witnesses, especially when the woman in the kitchen seemed to be pulling the strings.”
That would be Jane. My ex. Fromhigh school.When I moved back, Marion told me to keep my distance because I was going to give a lot of people a lot of false hope because they’d assume I was somehow available. Especially because I decided to stay.
“I’ll talk to her.”
