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Once I got over how pretty it all was, I felt my heart start pounding. This felt like game time. The week of the wedding was the part I’d really dreaded since the moment I knew my ruse with Dean was going to go public. My family was all going to be here, and the level of scrutiny on us was going to ramp up dramatically.
Worst case? My mom was going to disown me and write a New York Times Bestselling autobiography about how her daughter ruined her life. Granted, my mom could barely compose an email, but it was possible. Or maybe my dad would see straight through the lie and try to choke Dean out. My brother, Merrick, might forbid me from ever seeing his family or kids again. I’d ruin Lizzie’s wedding, and my family would remove me from the will. All twenty dollars worth of goods I was set to inherit? Gone.
Dean reached over and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Hey,” he said softly. “You’ve got this. I have your back, okay? Just stick by me and I’ll make sure we’re good.”
I felt a little of the anxiety drain out of me and once again marveled at how much calmer Dean helped me to feel. It was almost supernatural. Even my time in therapy had only given me methods that masked the anxiety. It never fully felt like it was gone–more like I could learn to ignore the panic bells going off in my mind. Something as simple as Dean’s touch and reassurance actually felt like a salve for it. I could feel the anxiety retreating because I really did trust him. I believed he’d make it okay, and I sure as hell was going to miss that when this was all over.
“Thanks,” I said softly.
He smiled and drove us up to a little place where we were going to be staying along with Lizzie, Jonas, and my family.
We headed down well-maintained roads until we were on Fairhope’s Main Street. Happy people were out and about with smiles on their faces. I saw a young mother with two kids heading into an old-style theater. There was a small squad of old men in old-fashioned clothes sitting in chairs outside a restaurant just shooting the shit, from the looks of it. Two women were cracking up about something while they stood with grocery bags in hand.
Quaint was definitely the word for it. Looking around made me feel transported back to a more wholesome time. It definitely wasn’t Manhattan, where everybody was clearly in their own world with their own things to do. The people here saw each other. It was a community. A pulse of warmth from deep in my chest washed over me as I looked out at the town through the window. It felt like home, even though I’d never been here before.
We parked outside the place Jonas had booked for my whole family. It was the Ashford Inn, a building that looked historic, but amazingly well-kept with a fresh coat of bright red paint on the roof. Bright, colorful roofs seemed to be a requirement in Fairhope, and it gave the whole town a cheery, upbeat feeling. We’d only been here five minutes and I already felt charmed by it all.
We got out of the car together, stretching after driving most of the morning. The air was cold and dry with a constant breeze. I grabbed my jacket from the back and zipped it up, doing a little “wow, this is cold” jump. Dean saw me and smiled as he buttoned up his own coat.
“This place is pretty charming, huh?” he asked, looking around us.
I took another look around, enjoying the scent of fresh air all around us. I saw a bakery, a few coffee shops, a pharmacy, a “McDermit’s General Store”, and even a flower shop. There wasn’t a big box store in sight, and that just added to the charm, which was practically oozing from every direction.
“Very,” I agreed. “But I have to admit, I wish we were staying out by that big skyscraper with the rest of the employees. This place feels like ground zero. All of my family is going to be here and so is Jonas.”
“Yeah,” Dean said, sizing up the inn as he pulled the trunk closed. “At least Maxwell and Alec are staying with the rest of them by Stone Tower. More and more, I think Alec is hoping to convince his brother to stop working with me. I’m worried he sees our relationship as some kind of weak point to abuse for his goals.”
I frowned. That was news to me, but as I looked back on what I’d seen of Alec’s body language around Dean, I could see it. “Alec kind of freaks me out. He looks like he would’ve been a perfect 90’s movie bad guy.”
