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Her admission should have flooded him with relief, but instead, he focused on what she hadn’t said. Did she feel the same way he did? Could she be in love with him?
Simon advanced until her palm met his chest, and continued forward, forcing her to either back up or let him into her space. Her elbow bent and he caught her by the hips. Her body trembled beneath his fingers.
“Then why are you leaving? We could spend the rest of the week together, ring in the New Year and head back to Atlanta with my family none the wiser.” Giving him another week to convince her to give him a chance. To ply her with kisses and demonstrate that they were meant to be together.
“That’s not fair to your family.” She ducked her chin. “And it’s not fair to me. This has gone too far.”
He slipped one hand into her silky hair and fanned his fingers on her lower back to draw her tighter against him. “Please just stay until New Year’s.”
She stopped staring at his chest and lifted her gaze to his. Any trace of green had fled from her eyes. All he could see was rain-soaked gray.
“Please don’t ask me to do this.”
“Stay.” He whispered, grazing her lips with his. “It will be okay, I promise.”
She turned her head aside. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
They walked hand in hand back to his parents’ house, the silence between them a deep, wide ravine he had no idea how to cross. A part of him recognized that he should honor her request and let her return to Atlanta tomorrow, but he wasn’t ready to let her go. He liked existing in this fantasy where they were getting married. He wasn’t ready for that to end.
He imagined himself living five blocks from his parents, escorting his wife to the galas and charity events his mother loved to attend, chasing his kids around the park on the weekends while his dad complained about the local politics. That sort of thing had once filled him with dread. Before Caroline had come along, he had savored his independence from his family. Oh, he loved his Christmas visits, but living four hours away and being able to pick and choose when he saw them had been the ideal solution.
Yet for the first time, he couldn’t figure out why it had seemed like such a good idea. It had taken seeing their overbearing kindness and emotional generosity from Caroline’s perspective to make him appreciate what he’d been running from.
Moments after they returned to his parents’ house, he was cornered by his father. “I don’t know what happened between you two after we left, but Caroline doesn’t look happy. If this is about the house, I’m sorry we interfered.”
“It’s not about the house. If she’s unhappy, it’s all my fault.”
Saying the words out loud made him realize just how true that was. He had made a huge mess of the situation and it was up to him to fix everything. As his mother organized them in front of the Christmas tree in the foyer for the traditional Holcroft family photo, he decided Caroline was right. It was long past time to come clean.
“Hannah, I want you here next to your father. Dane, I need you on the other side of Sarah. We won’t have Francine in the picture this year, but she’s been in quite a few so I guess missing one should be okay.”
As his mother positioned him, Simon searched for Caroline. He spotted her near the hallway leading to the kitchen. She looked like a cornered wild animal.
“Caroline, I need you here next to Simon.” Elizabeth turned and beckoned.
“I can’t.”
His mother frowned at her. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I don’t belong.”
“Well, of course you do.” His mother didn’t catch the thread of panic in Caroline’s voice, but Simon heard it loud and clear. “You’re going to be part of our family very soon.”
Caroline’s gaze darted from his mother and came to rest on him. He watched, as if in slow motion, as her spine straightened and her resolve firmed. He knew in that instant what she intended to do.
“Caroline, wait,” he called, seeing already it was too late.
“Simon and I aren’t getting married. We’re not even engaged.”
* * *
The words had been bubbling and brewing in her mind for days, but she never imagined they would erupt from her like that. A mixture of confusion and surprise greeted her announcement, but it was Simon’s flat stare that caused her heart to clench.
“What is she talking about?” Elizabeth demanded, rounding on her son.
Hannah looked from Caroline to Simon. “Why would you tell us you’re engaged if you’re not?”
Simon avoided both questions and fixed his gaze on Dane. Caroline could see he wasn’t going to explain. Even now, when she’d given him the perfect opening to tell his brother exactly what was going on, something that would remove the burden Dane felt about breaking off his engagement to Francine, Simon hesitated.
