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23
“First class is spoiling me,” Sienna said as Carter slid into the seat beside her.
“We’re young. I bet we can handle economy again.”
“Nothing less than premium economy.” Until they delivered champagne, and she was positive she could never downgrade again.
The strange thing was that since she’d changed her flight to go home with Carter, she’d been able to stop thinking about her mother. The pain in her chest had eased. Carter even made her laugh as they studied the on-board menu.
That was another gift Carter gave her. He made her laugh so much more than she ever had, even when her life was falling apart.
Reed, Irene, Jamal, and Alyssa chose the economy section. While Carter had footed the bill for the villa, they’d all paid for their own flights.
Tamryn and Bill, however, had splurged. Perhaps they were like Carter, throwing everything into one yearly trip. Or they had enough miles to cover the upgrade.
The economy people were boarding and the rest of their group shouted cheers and jeers, shooting glares at them as they passed the first-class doorway.
Just when the commotion died down and she thought all the passengers had taken their seats, the flight attendant greeted a late arrival into first class. Sienna turned, all the oxygen sucked out of her lungs.
Her mother stood there, her gaze traveling the cabin, not seeing Sienna right away.
How the hell did she get here? Sienna hadn’t let Carter call until they were already at the Santorini airport.
Everything zip-tied inside her, all her organs jerked out of place. She wasn’t ready to face her mother. She thought she’d have another week. And oh God, what if her mother had brought that man with her? The situation would be untenable.
As the flight attendant showed her mom to her seat, Sienna grabbed Carter’s arm. “My mother’s here,” she hissed. “Don’t let her see me.”
It was too late. Mother had already spotted her.
Sienna dug her nails into Carter’s arm. “Don’t switch seats with her.”
He caressed her hand. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.” Stroking a finger along her jaw, he leaned in for a sweet kiss she wanted to lose herself in.
That was the thing about Carter. She could lose herself with him. Was she ready for that? She had so much happening in her life. She didn’t know if she could handle a relationship, not that Carter had talked about anything serious. Yet they’d only known each other a week, and he was treating her like a girlfriend, not just a girl he’d hooked up with on holiday.
Not that it mattered. Right now, he was her lifeline, her protection, her comfort.
And she clung to him.
The flight was getting close to take off as the attendant brought her mother a glass of champagne.
“I know we have to talk,” Sienna said softly to Carter as if her mom could hear even rows away. “I just don’t know what I’m going to say. I don’t even know what I feel.”
“Practice on me. Get your feelings out, whatever they are.”
She rolled her lips between her teeth and bit down, feeling the tears ready to spring to her eyes. The pain of the bite pushed them away. “I’m angry. I feel duped and lied to.” She looked at him, blinked, feeling something new, something that she’d never fully allowed into her head, and certainly never talked about, not even with Aunt Teresa. “I feel like I was my parents’ pawn. They were both using me to get at each other.”
Carter laced their fingers over the console between them. “I can see how you’d feel that in hindsight. But is it really true? A pawn?” He stressed the word, making a point.
“I was a pawn. I don’t have to think about that. But I’m not sure if I was her pawn. Maybe it was just him.”
She let the thought percolate as the flight attendant brought them each a bowl of warmed nuts. She crunched, the sound filling her head. Then the engines powered up, and the plane pulled away from the terminal.
Carter voiced her musings for her, something he’d already conjectured last night, but now it was more direct. “From what you said, it sounds like your father held you and your brother over her head, threatening to take you both away from her.”
She shook her head. “He wouldn’t have threatened to take me away. It would have been Matthew. He was the important one, the one my father groomed to take over the business.”
“But you said he wanted you in the business as well.”
