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After she wipes her face free of the soup that is dribbling down her chin, she starts again. “I mean, I guess technically. I met him at Paddy’s birthday party. But no. Your two stupid brothers walked into my emergency room andbribedme to treat Cal’s gunshot wound under the radar.”
My eyes widen. “I don’t believe that.”
“Well, believe it because it’s the truth. This is how your world works, you know? Bribes and threats. Money is power. Strength gives them money, and their strength is earned through different avenues than others.”
“How are Corbin and Callum friends?” I ask.
I’d always been interested in how a man like Corbin befriends a man like Callum. One is a politician, a do-gooder. The other is a criminal. It’s something that I’ve been too scared to ask, and if anyone will tell me, it’s Haley.
But she shakes her head. “If you want the answer to that, you’ll have to ask your future husband yourself. I don’t thinkmyfuture husband would be keen on me telling you the answer.”
I clear my throat as the heat creeps up my neck. “Should I be worried? Of his intentions?”
Haley pauses a moment while she contemplates my answer. “No. I think that they’re just old college buddies who respect each other. I think Corbin is doing a favor for Cal, and maybe eventually he will call in his mark, but he has good intentions here. So don’t freak yourself out, okay?”
I sigh, rubbing my temple. I know I asked for this, but suddenly the weight of my intentions are catching up to me. I came to Callum in the heat of a moment, upset with Scotty. I asked him to set me up with an arranged marriage. All of this, I wanted.
But now, my chest is heavy. What if this is the wrong move? My heart isn’t in this. I sigh, reaching for the pendant on my neck.
“What if … what if I made the wrong decision, Hales?” I ask, my voice soft and distant.
Haley reaches for the glass of water in front of her. She raises her glass toward me, and with a straight face she says, “Then we bury his feet in cement, and cut off his dick.”
A surprise bark of laughter leaves me. “My God, that sounds like a horrible way to go.”
“I imagine it is,” she says with a wide grin.
I’m thankful for her sarcastic distraction, but it does nothing to ease the nausea that creeps up every time I wonder what the fuck I’ve done. How could I have been so reckless to even think that marriage was the solution to my problem with Scotty?
It was stupid. Irrational. Not how I should have gone about it in order to get him to admit his feelings for me.
“Anyway. When is the hotel going to be open?” Haley asks.
“Building is done. Working on interior design and hiring now, so it should be another two or so months.”
“Great. We’ll have the wedding there in one of the conference rooms. And you can block it out for me at the last minute.”
“You mean, I can cancel someone’s event that they planned a year in advance?” I shoot her a dirty look. “That’s a wonderful business practice. I’ll be in the green for profit in no time that way.”
“Just block out a Saturday here and there. That way when I decide—today is the day I want a wedding—I can come to you and you can say the hotel is booked on this date.”
“Block out multiple Saturdays and hinder others from booking their own special day in the event my sister-in-law finally ‘feels’ like getting dressed in a wedding gown.”
She snickers, nodding her head. “The other option is to just plan the wedding and clobber me over the head. You’ll have an arranged marriage. Paddy had a rushed one. Callum can get the kidnapped bride.”
I stare at her, my mouth dropped. She continues eating, unphased. “You really don’t want a wedding?” I ask.
Her gaze meets mine. “Who will I invite, Saoirse? Why would I look forward to a day where I have no guests to congratulate me?”
Haley eyes me with a sadness in her hazel irises, and I shake my head. My heart aches for her. I couldn’t imagine growing up the way she did. Her twin sister died when they were young, and her mother remarried a pedophile. Her biological father refused to believe her. She had no one in her corner, and the thought makes me want to hug her inner child.
“You’re not alone anymore, Haley. You have us.”
“I know,” she whispers. “I know I do. But I’m just not looking forward to this wedding, okay? I’m going to probably keep my last name anyway. There’s not really a point to making a huge deal.”
“Why keep your name?” I ask, a genuine curiosity.
“Because I went through eight years of schooling, four years of a residency, and six years of military service to become the trauma surgeon I am today. It’s mine to claim, not Callum’s. I’m Dr. Haley Savino, not Dr. Callum Murphy.”
