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“Seems a little suspicious to me, is all.”
I stepped toward her, my heel digging into the floor beneath me. “How so?”
“I’m not going to spell it out.”
“Why not? You love the sound of your own voice. Why stop now?”
“Ladies,” Dad said, but Marion waved him off.
“You’ve always been a jealous brat and poor Parker has had to endure it. It’s not her fault she’s marriage material, and you’re not.”
“What does that even mean? I’m not married because I never wanted to be married.” It was a choice. Marriage wasn’t in the cards for me. I took it off the table a long time ago. Even in my desperate attempt to get Laurent to marry me, if he agreed, I doubted I’d have gone through with it. I left him all the years ago for a reason.
“You’re not married because no one is willing to put up with your nonsense.”
My eyes widened, and if Laurent wasn’t holding my hand, I swear I would have lifted it and slapped the woman. I didn’t care if she was my elder. She was out of line.
“Marion,” Dad barked, and I appreciated his attempt, but it was pointless.
“No, Hank, it’s about time someone said it. She’s been jealous of Parker since she was born, and now Parker is getting married, and she’s lashing out.”
“Lashing out? Because I don’t understand why Parker can’t eat a piece of fucking cheese?”
“Lower your voice before someone hears you,” Marion said. “It’s bad enough you’re ruining Parker’s day.”
“I don’t think I’m ruining anyone’s day. That’s always been your job.”
“You ungrateful… I knew we shouldn’t have invited you. I knew you’d be bitter.”
“I am not bitter.”
“Of course you are. Once again, Parker is accomplishing something you never could.”
“We’re getting married!” Laurent’s voice boomed across the room, and all heads turned in his direction.
“What?” Me, Marion, Dad, and Parker exclaimed in unison.
Laurent brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. I glared at him, but he ignored me.
“Phoebe didn’t want to take from Parker’s big day, but cat’s out of the bag now. I asked Phoebe to marry me, and she said yes.”
“You’re getting married?” Parker squeaked. “I’m so happy for you!” Parker threw her arms around me and hugged me tighter than she ever had.
“Picture,” a professional photographer said as he pointed his fancy camera at us. Parker pulled away and beamed, resting her head on my shoulder as the flash of the camera blinded me.
I had no idea what the hell was happening. All I knew was Laurent was a dead man.
Phoebe was going to kill me, but I couldn’t stand there for another second and listen to Marion make comment after comment about Phoebe not being married. For fuck's sake, the woman was a powerhouse in her field; so what if she didn’t have a man in her life? I mean, granted, I was happy about that, but still, a man didn’t define Phoebe Hodge. Phoebe Hodge defined herself, and the definition was damn impressive.
“Married?” Marion said, her bitchy tone turning from lethal to suspicious. “When did this happen?” Her eyes fell to Phoebe’s left hand. “Why don’t you have a ring?”
“Last week,” I answered. “Phoebe and I went out for dinner, and it was that moment when I realized I’d rather die than not have this woman in my life. I asked her right there. I didn’t have a ring. So I took out a dollar bill and folded it into a ring my sisters taught me how to do when we were kids, and I slipped it on her finger.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. That night when we promised to marry each other if we were forty and single, I had made a ring out of a grungy-looking dollar bill, and on Phoebe’s finger it had been perfect.
I’d been too scared to look at Phoebe, afraid she’d strike me dead me with a glare, but I finally glanced at her. Her blue eyes sparkled with a sheen of unshed tears. Her lips pressed into a smile, and though she didn’t say anything, I knew she remembered that night in her dorm room.
God, if you told me then our little promise would reunite us, I would have laughed it off. Mainly because I would have thought we’d never lose touch. I thought Phoebe would be a permanent fixture in my life. Man, that twenty-two-year-old kid had no idea what was coming.
