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CHAPTER ONE
“It’s stuck.”
“It’s not stuck, just relax.”
“Don’t tell me it’s not stuck, when it’s stuck. The definition of stuck is…well, stuck—unable to move, and it’s not moving.” I breathe infuriated.
“Kate, it’s because you’re so tense, you need to relax.”
“Whose idea was this?” I seethe.
Cole laughs, “yours baby, it was yours.”
I scream in frustration. “Why did you let me do it?”
There’s a commotion and Luke comes rushing into the room. Perfect! Now my humiliation is complete.
He looks at us like he’s ready for a fight. “What’s wrong? I heard screaming—and not the good kind.”
Not the good kind? You’ve got to be freaking kidding me. And I scream again.
Luke looks over the situation. “Do you need me to call maintenance or maybe I should dial 911?”
That’s it. I open my mouth to scream again, but Cole takes the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside my mouth, stifling any noise I might have made. I sigh, relaxing into his kiss and he tugs on my hand, which pulls loose of the kitchen sink disposal, and I hold on to my diamond earring.
“Why didn’t you do that to begin with?”
Cole lets go of me and I open my hand to reveal the earring. “If you’d just waited for me to call maintenance, you wouldn’t have had this problem to begin with,” Cole exhales.
I scrunch my eyebrows. “I was afraid they’d take too long, and the earing would fall further down the drain. Then it would be gone for good.”
“It’s only an earring.” Cole shakes his head.
Only an earring, my foot! One; they are special and mean something to me, and two; it’s a freaking two carat diamond earring.
Angry heat crawls up my face. I turn and stomp out of the kitchen, not stopping until I get to the bedroom. I stand at the edge of the bed and look over my clothes that have been delivered from the Penthouse of the Empress. Cole said we will come back here and stay until the sale of his dad’s part of their business is complete. I don’t need to bring any of this with me. I have a closet full of clothes at my house, but I pack a few things.
I shouldn’t have yelled at Cole, but I’m so on edge about flying to Idaho to see my family. Not to mention everything with Cole’s dad. Now that I’ve had ten minutes to think about everything without my emotions running wild. I feel like I’ve created this huge rift between them—who am I kidding—it’s more like the Grand Canyon of rifts. I give up on trying to pack anything and sit down on the bench at the end of the bed, feeling defeated. My family may be a pain in my side, and my mother is a staunch, judgmental conservative, but she’s my mom and I love her. I know she loves me, the thing is, I don’t even know how to prepare for what will happen when I introduce Cole to them. From everything that happened last night, Cole and I eloping, and everyone showing up trying to stop us.
Thank Elvis, and his preacher impersonator, that we said yes in time, and he signed our marriage certificate. We have to tell my family. I know from the conversation I had with them over the phone last night, it will be nothing good.
Cole walks into the bedroom, and I tense up, not daring to look at him.
“How’s your hand?” he sits down on the bench next to me. I’m still holding the earring. I haven’t even thought about my hand since he pulled it out of the drain. He takes the earring placing it in his shirt pocket. I look at him warily.
“Just while I look at your hand,” he says, patting the shirt pocket. “Does it hurt?”
I finally look at it. Cole gingerly runs his fingers along the small red welts on the back of my hand. Other than that, the only thing hurt is my pride. I should’ve waited for him to call maintenance, but I panicked.
I sigh. “My hand’s a little sore, but it doesn’t really hurt. I’m sorry I got upset. I was scared. I didn’t want to lose the earing.”
“I know. I’m sorry I was so dismissive about it being replaceable when it’s not.” Cole puts his arm around me, kissing my temple. “Our first fight as a married couple.”
Unfortunately, I’m sure it won’t be our last. I wish I could let everything go, but my anxiety level is in the red zone, and we haven’t even crossed the Idaho border yet.
“Kate, it will be all right. We have each other and that’s what’s important. That’s all that matters.”
My throat closes off with emotion, so I only nod. I hope he’s right, that we’re enough, our love is enough. Because he hasn’t met my family and it’s definitely not going to be all right. I lay my head on his shoulder.
