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Kayla was shushed when Tove spoke over her. “Sure. I think it’s only fair that we have a candid conversation before I marry your sister. You barely know me.”
The only thing keeping Kayla from chasing them down was the sudden and dramatic arrival of Chrissy and her husband, who almost rear-ended a parked car with the Porsche he drove up from Bend that morning. As strangers raised their voices and Chrissy was caught up in a round of apologies on behalf of Huey, Tove and Grady stole away to the covered pavilion where a certain couple was supposed to exchange their vows.
Kayla would hunt them down as soon as she knew everything was fine in the parking lot. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman in a wedding dress rushed out onto that pavement, anyway.
Tove picked the farthest corner of the pavilion where it was breeziest. Her future brother-in-law stayed a few feet behind her, kicking his scuffed shoe and looking like he had thought long and hard about this conversation.
“There’s something you want to tell me,” Tove said. “I’m prepared for almost anything. I know how this looks.”
Grady lifted his gaze from his feet to Tove’s face. “How does it look to you?”
Tove shrugged. “I’ve only known your baby sister for a few months. According to her, you had no idea she was queer until she admitted to dating me. Now we’re getting married. For all you know, I don’t love her. Maybe I only like her because she’s seventeen years younger than me.”
“Yeah, I did want to talk about your age difference, but not in the way you think.”
Tove was slightly taken aback. “Oh?”
When Grady exhaled, he let out most of the air holding him together. There went the man who had put himself well enough together for his sister’s elopement. Instead, Tove was presented with a battered fella well into his thirties, a guy who was already married and had two kids of his own. He looked like he worked hard and didn’t get a lot in return.Don’t I know how that looks.Her mother penned the book on performing labor that didn’t give enough gain.
How many errands had she run for free? How much of her time, energy, and effort went into elevating the Fredriksson name while getting enough money to live in return? Because of what? Some misplaced sense of duty toward family?
I wonder if we would have been better off completely on our own.Tove wouldn’t be where she was now, no, but she could have been somewhere as good. Or better.
“My sister…” Grady scratched his hairline. The weather was warming up enough that a gleam of sweat flicked against his fingertips. “She’s a good person. Deep down, you know. I’m sure you’ve seen some of that in her.”
Tove’s body stiffened, but her ears were alert. “Excuse me? Are you about to tell me about her hidden murder convictions?”
“No. Nothing as bad as that. I wanted to make sure you knew why she’s marrying you.”
How could Tove’s mouth be so dry on a slightly humid day? “Apparently, there is something I should know.”
Grady rubbed his palms against his trousers. Yet the moment he hung his arms by his side again, his hands were instantly sweaty. “As I said, my sister’s a good kid. She just grew up with a lot of weird messages thrown at her. She probably told you that we grew up poor. My mom and I have been working for as long as Kayla can remember. Even when I was a kid, I was taking care of her or doing jobs for cash. She grew up watching those TV shows pushing glamorous lifestyles. Like, addicted to reality TV before my mom put an end to it. Since Mom died, Kayla’s had a one-track mind about ‘getting her bag.’ Do you know what that means?”
Tove’s lips twitched. “Yeah.”
“I dunno. Maybe you know this already and I’m bringing down your big day, but Kayla was a sugar baby to several older men for years. It was partly how she supported us when times got tough. They’d give her rent money, gas money, buy her groceries, pay for her phone, whatever helped. In return she’d… you know. Date ‘em. Pretend to be their girlfriend. I never knew she was open to dating women too until she told me about you.”
Hands shaking, Tove pulled her hands out of her pockets. “Would you consider her a gold digger?”
Grady’s eyes widened. “Damn… you outright asked me that.”
“Let’s say that you’re not the first person to suggest it.” Every warning, every red flag she ignored now swung before her face. What had been impolite jabs from her cousins were now a reality. What Aunt Kiersten had warned her about had come to fruition. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you seem nice, and I wanted to make sure you knew what you were possibly getting into. Kayla might like you but… I doubt that she loves anything more than your money.”
That implication stung more than Grady’s other hard truths.It’s one thing if she was attracted to me because of my money… quite another if it’s the only reason she’s still here…
They were getting married quickly, weren’t they?
“She’s in for a rude awakening,” Tove said with what pride she could muster before this man she barely knew. “I don’t reallyhaveany money. I’m not broke, but I’m nothing like the family she’s met. They’re the ones with all the money. Not me.”
Grady slightly nodded. What he didn’t know, but Tove now did, was that a flirty white blur had arrived at the entrance to the pavilion. Tove half-expected Kayla to inject herself into the fold, but the paleness of her cheeks implied that something else had caught her off-guard.
“You don’t have any money?”
Something sour bubbled in the back of Tove’s throat. “No,” she spat. “The only gold to dig out of me is pyrite.”
Kayla was the picture of defeated dreams. As she thrust her fists against her chest and looked to Grady, who had no sympathy to offer, she said, “What have you done?” as if she played no part in this.
