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“Yipee.” Jarrett’s monotone matched his enthusiasm.
* * *
“Tell me about getting married,”Carlie said, returning from the kitchen with a glass of ice water to join Rylie on the couch. Exhausted from her whirlwind trip, Rylie had barely moved in the ten minutes since she’d walked in the door.
“There’s nothing to tell. We signed a form. That’s it.” Rylie twisted the unaccustomed gold band around her ring finger.
“Did he kiss you?”
Of course she would be upset if Jarrett had kissed her, since he’d never even kissed Carlie.
“No kiss—no nothing. We didn’t even have a ceremony. All we had to do was sign a marriage certificate.”
“You didn’t even say I do?” Still moving slowly since her illness, Carlie curled her legs underneath her and sipped her water. Though she claimed to be completely well, she looked a little frail. She’d showered and washed her hair, but her face wasn’t faultlessly adorned in makeup, as usual. Her mascara-free eyes narrowed at Rylie, in obvious disbelief. “You’re wearing a wedding ring.”
Rylie lifted her hand, allowing her sister to inspect the plain band. “Only because he stopped and bought a set of rings at the mall on the way to the airport. We couldn’t show up in Puerto Rico without rings on.”
“You’re still wearing it.”
In Rylie’s mind, an angry retort raged against the glint of accusation in Carlie’s eyes.You’ve got the rest of your life to be married to him. I’ve loved him more and longer than you. Yet you begrudge me a few days of wearing his ring and imagining what it would be like if we had a real marriage?
She scolded herself. If she were in Carlie’s shoes, she’d be uncomfortable, too. There was nothing ordinary about having your sister marry your fiancé.
“If you’re afraid there’s something going on between Jarrett and me, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Hiding her reluctance, she slid the ring off her finger and tucked it into her pants pocket. She’d return it to Jarrett the next time she saw him, which would probably be Monday. “You know good and well he married me as a last resort when he couldn’t do the proxy marriage with you. And he only did it because his attorney suggested it.”
“I guess I’m feeling insecure.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “Matthew told me the exact same thing last night. He came by to bring me some Gatorade.”
“Wow! That’s above and beyond the usual duties of an attorney, wouldn’t you say?”
Carlie’s pale cheeks took on a pink glow. “Jarrett asked him to get it for me. He sent flowers, too.”
It was admirable that Jarrett was thinking about Carlie even after arranging his hasty marriage to Rylie and a flight to Puerto Rico. It made no sense that his considerate actions would hurt Rylie’s feelings. So why did they?
Too tired to continue this train of thought without breaking down, Rylie changed the subject.
“Don’t you want to ask me about Gabriel?”
“You already told me he was super sweet and cute and doesn’t speak any English. What else is there to tell me?”
“Maybe that he barely weighs anything, and he has bruises all over his arms and legs.”
Carlie’s brows knotted in the middle. “Is that because of the cancer? Or did they treat him badly at the orphanage?”
“From what I understand, Jarrett finances that orphanage. I don’t think he’d let anyone mistreat his kids.”
“No, he wouldn’t…” Carlie picked at a piece of lint on her jeans. “He’s a really good person… better than me.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Do you have any idea how much money he’s donated to various causes? Like, he practically funded the new children’s hospital. And that Limitless charity gives away millions every year. Plus, he volunteers his time, too. I’ve never done any of that.”
“He’s a billionaire,” Rylie argued.
“Yes, but you’re not. And you do volunteer work all the time. You’re more like Jarrett than I am.” Carlie’s lip trembled. “I was kind of afraid he’d decided he liked you better than me.”
“First of all, Jarrett likes you because you’re so different from him.”
One eyebrow arched. “How do you know that?”
