“I’ll take this,” one of her sisters says, taking the glass out of Scarlett’s hand.
“She can hit me, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Thank you, Connor. Your permission is exactly what I was waiting for,” Scarlett says, each word dripping with sarcasm.
“I can admit when I’m wrong,” I say.
Scarlett’s gaze turns icy. “Do you want a round of applause? Too bad there’s no Stanley Cup for admitting you’ve fucked up. Then again, if there was a Stanley Cup, you wouldn’t win it.”
Behind her, her father winces. I grin at Scarlett. Not even the reminder that the Renegades lost the Stanley Cup the last year I played with them is going to dull the shine of this moment. Scarlett is here and she’s talking to me. Her words might carry a sharp bite, but again, she’s not pretending I’m dead. Progress.
“Let’s go see the grand ballroom,” her sister says, tugging on Scarlett’s arm.
“Not if he’s going,” Scarlett says.
“He has other things to do,” Harvey says. “It will be just us.”
Harvey’s brown eyes meet mine and the message in them is clear. I need to give Scarlett space right now if I have any hope of winning her back.
Watching Scarlett walk away isn’t easy. I left her once and I’m sure as fuck not going to make that mistake twice. She might hate me now, but I have two weeks to make her fall in love with me again.
FIVE
SCARLETT
Connor Fucking Hayes.
The last man I ever wanted to see again and now my sister is getting married in his lodge on his property. I don’t believe for a second it was an innocent mistake that Sienna’s booking was changed from the small ballroom to the grand ballroom without any additional fees and we were getting an open bar at no additional cost.
Thankfully, we don’t see Connor again after Harvey gives us a tour of the lodge. The grand ballroom is as gorgeous as we expect it to be with sweeping arches, a breathtaking view of the Rockies, and a ten feet tall Christmas tree which Harvey says we can remove if we want.
Apparently, Silverpine takes their Christmas decorations very seriously.
As Sienna expected, she falls in love with the grand ballroom and takes out her phone to video call Luke.
“Scarlett, what was that?” Mom questions, while Sienna is busy showing Luke the view.
“What was what?” I ask.
“That,” Mom motions towards the ballroom exit. “With Connor Hayes.”
“Oh, that,” I laugh, and it sounds fake and brittle to my own ears. “It was nothing.”
I’m aware of Harvey standing close to us and even though her eyes are trained on her phone, I have no doubt her ears are open and listening to our conversation.
“Scarlett,” Dad says. “That outburst was unexpected even from you. How do you know Connor Hayes?”
My throat closes up. How can I tell my parents and sisters that I dated someone for six months and hid it from them? How can I tell them now that he broke my heart and I barely survived because I loved him with every molecule of my being and seeing him now was a stab through my barely healed heart?
“Can we talk about this later?” I ask, glancing at Harvey.
Dad and Mom exchange a concerned glance. “Sure, Angel,” Dad concedes.
Sadie puts her arm through mine as Mom and Dad turn to speak with Harvey.
“Is Connor the guy?” Sadie asks, her voice low. “The one who broke your heart?”
I sigh. I don’t think it was easy to hide my heartbreak from my parents. It was even harder to hide it from my sisters. Mostly because we live together, and they saw me not leave the bed for weeks and avoid all mention of anything romantic.
