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Trent laughed as she immediately jumped on a call to the sellers, and he continued his tour around the place alone, but he couldn’t deny the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. This was a huge decision.
And he wished he had his future wife here to talk it through with.
Chapter Eight
Now…
“Isn’t that your sister Rachel’s car?” Whitney asked as she and Trent pulled into his family’s home that Sunday.
She’d been successful in dodging Jess’s calls and texts about getting together at the B&B with Sarah all week, her workload at the office only part of the reason she was steering clear of her friends: the rest of it the secret she was keeping and the fact that she knew their perceptiveness would catch her recent weight loss and the ever-increasing dark circles her concealer was no longer effectively hiding. For now, everyone assumed it was work stress and, as usual, her inability to slow down.
But after missing the previous few Sunday family get-togethers at the Connollys’, she couldn’t skip this one, too, and besides, she missed Frankie. Not seeing her as often as before was tough when she’d been a second mother to Whitney for years and, most recently, the only one she could still truly connect with and get advice from.
She may not have that much longer, and the thought of everything she’d be losing if she lost Trent made it hard to breathe.
Whitney scanned the street in front of the large bungalow, and panic settled in its familiar comfort zone deep in her chest, seeing other family members’ cars as well. “What’s everyone doing here?”
Trent put the Jeep in park and turned to her. “Mom’s planning a little extra-special dinner, that’s all.” He reached across and brushed her curls from her shoulder, letting his hand rest there.
It didn’t provide the intended comfort. Her heart raced. Had she been set up? What was she walking into? An intervention where they all demanded she set a wedding date and pick colors and a cake design and—
She forced a breath. “Why?”
Trent took her hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing extravagant. Just dinner with our family.”
Our family. Thewholefamily. Those words burned a hole in her chest.
“Come on.” Getting out of the Jeep, he walked around the front while she gathered her things, and he opened her door for her. He took her hand as they made their way up the front steps, the railings decorated with fake cobwebs and several menacing-looking spiders on them.
The urge to jump back into the Jeep and drive away was overwhelming. Inside would be a chaos of love, laughter, and fun, and she was void of all those feelings right now. How was she supposed to pretend in front of everyone that everything was okay? But until she told Trent the truth, what other choice did she have but to keep going along with this?
She’d barely had the strength to keep her eyes open all day. These random bouts of exhaustion irritated her. She had so much to do, and when she did take an afternoon off, it would be nice to be able to actually enjoy it, instead of just wanting to spend the time sleeping. Three cups of coffee today were the only things propelling her body forward.
Opening the door, the familiar sounds and the scent of homemade baked pumpkin pie hit her like the crashing wave she’d been expecting, but not fully prepared for, leaving her with a helpless sensation of drowning. Spending time here with all of them would only make things that much harder if she was forced to end the relationship with Trent.
“Whitney!” Trent’s sister Kara was the first to notice them, and Whitney braced herself for the hug as she came toward them, a mojito in hand.
“Hi, Kara. Great to see you,” she said, hugging her quickly. She needed to start distancing herself. Just in case her test results proved that there was nothing the doctors could do to fix her.
“You too!” Kara said, pulling back to eye her. “Where’ve you been?”
“Work’s been crazy.” It was her go-to excuse. Everyone had to be tired of hearing it by now, even though it was true.
“I get it. This semester’s courses are kicking my ass.” Kara was a premed student at UCLA.
“You’ll get through them. You always do,” Whitney said. Kara bordered on genius, graduating high school at sixteen and completing her first-year university courses by correspondence, since she was still too young to leave home and go live on campus in L.A. She had a consistently perfect GPA, and her empathetic nature left no doubt that she’d make a fantastic doctor someday.
She’d be the best person to have on her side through her illness…if only Whitney could talk to her about it.
Trent cleared his throat next to her. “Hello? Your brother’s here, too.”
Kara ignored him, her question directed at Whitney. “Like my hair? I took your advice and added the blue,” she said, lowering her head to show off the blue streak down the center of the shaved mohawk style she’d sported since before it was cool.
“It looks great.” If anyone could pull off the edgy, short hairstyle, it was Kara with her petite, pretty features and small frame. Unlike Trent, all his sisters were short and petite. And the hairstyle suited Kara’s personal style of ripped denim and full-sleeve tattoos.
“You look even more like a parrot now,” Trent said, finally getting her attention.
“Jerk.”
