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“It’s actually worse than that.”
Loree took a moment to reply. “How is that even possible?”
As Kaylee unwound the story, she walked into the kitchen to refill her coffee for the fourth time.
While she was there, she saw his unopened present. Though she’d moved it from place to place, she hadn’t been able to look inside.
Just the sight of it made a lump form in her throat.
“Kaylee?”
Jolted back to the present, she continued, sharing the broad strokes, but not the secret, intimate details. She concluded with Ophelia gifting her a family keepsake.
“And you couldn’t accept?”
“It didn’t seem right.”
“You know that none of this is on you, right? Frost is the asshole who dreamed up this whole thing. The consequences are his. But what I don’t understand is why you’ve been crying over Ophelia.”
Trying to settle her emotions, she picked up her mug. But her hand trembled and her drink was in danger of spilling over the mug’s rim, so she placed it back on the counter.
“The situation would upset me as well. But the reason you’ve been emotional is deeper than that, isn’t it?”
How could she admit this to herself, let alone her sister? “I fell in love with Frost.”
She wasn’t sure what reaction to expect from her sister, but Loree exhaled a soft, sympathetic sigh. “Oh, Kaylee. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s—”
“Don’t make light of it. I know you. When you care about someone, you invest your entire soul. So now I understand your reaction to the tiara. You couldn’t accept it because it belongs to the woman he will marry. And that’s not you.”
Kaylee pressed her lips together, trying to keep the sudden anguish from overwhelming her.
“Did you sleep?”
“Not a wink.”
“And that makes it worse.”
By at least a thousand times. But she’d spent another night tossing and turning. She hadn’t gotten any good rest since she’d seen his name on the program at the Quarter.
“How did he react?”
“Not well.” With curse words and that terrifying tic in his temple and worse, by wanting to tenderly wipe away a tear. “But he did tell me to keep the ring.”
“Let me guess, even though it would pay for the airline ticket and solve a lot of your problems, you didn’t.”
It wasn’t even a consideration. “Would you have?”
“Unlike you, I’d at least be tempted. But in the end, probably not. Damn us and our consciences anyway, right?” After a moment, she went on. “Where are things now? Have you talked to him?”
“He called more than ten times.” She’d finally turned off her phone because seeing the screen light up with his name made her heart race, and it lured her into temptation. “But no. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
With the way she responded to him, there was a remote possibility that he’d be able to convince her to continue with the charade through the New Year’s party. But that would only mean going through this same exhausting devastation again a second time. And maybe it would be even worse, because no doubt she’d surrender to him in a moment of weakness.
As much as she yearned to talk to him, it was smarter this way.
Her sister’s voice brought her back to the present. “How are you planning to keep working with him? I know you’re super focused and determined, but still…”
