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“Thanks,” he said, but no less gruffly.
“Anyway,” she said. “The invitation stands. If either of you want to come.” Her eyes met mine, and I swear I felt an electric charge the second we connected. It’s like my heart jolted every time she looked at me like that, but she blinked, smiled at me, and headed out the door before I could say anything back.
“Fucking hell, man,” Ridge groaned.
“What?”
“Trouble,” he said. “So. Much. Trouble.”
“Relax,” I said, following him out. “I’m fine.”
“I hope so, man,” he said. “You were in a bad state when we met, and every road led back to her. I don’t want to see you go through that shit again.”
“That was years ago,” I said. “It’s not like that between us.”
“Sure, and that’s why you owe me twenty bucks, right? Because it wasn’t two days before you tracked her down.”
“Technically, she found me when she volunteered here.”
He cocked a brow at me, but dropped it. “Well, if anything, there will be more for me tomorrow.”
“What?”
“There’s no way in hell you’re coming to my Thanksgiving when you have an open invitation to hers.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but closed it and shook my head. “You don’t know me.”
* * *
“This was a bad fucking idea,” I grumbled to myself as the security guard waved me in as the gates to the VanDoren estate slowly opened.
I pulled through them, driving up the winding path toward the multi-million-dollar house, and I was sixteen again—awestruck and intimidated as hell. Back then I’d been an optimistic and hopeful teenager in love, never once thinking our differences in upbringing would come between us because Anne had nevertreatedme differently.
It wasn’t until she introduced me to her family—in this very house—that I realized we were doomed from the start.
That was the beginning of the end, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.
“That was rough,” I said as we walked the grounds of Anne’s estate. The lush greens seemed to go on forever, but I’d rather get lost in these trees than deal with her father another second.
Her mother was awesome, her little sister too, but her dad? I’d never been hated before, and I wasn’t sure if he actually hated me or just disliked me, but it sure as hell wasn’t good either way.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, angry tears lining her eyes as she stopped to lean against a tree. “My dad is such a jerk sometimes.”
I couldn’t argue with her even though every instinct in me roared out to. A good boyfriend would say her parents were wonderful and that they’d come around. After tonight’s dinner? I knew that would never happen. Not after her father had pulled me aside and practically bribed me to stay away from Anne. Told me that I was wasting her time with a relationship that would never amount to anything.
I mean, damn. I wasn’t buying rings or anything but I did love her. How could he not see that?
I guess it was easy when he looked at me and all he saw was poor.
Two tears rolled down her cheeks. “Hey,” I said, swiping them away with my thumbs. “It’s okay. I’m not taking it personally—”
“How could you not take it personally? He was atrocious.”
I laughed, unable to stop the smile on my lips with how adorable she looked when she was mad. “It doesn’t bother me because it has nothing to do with us, right?”
I had to believe that. Needed to believe that. Just because her father didn’t like me didn’t mean things couldn’t stay the same between us. Her mom liked me, and maybe I would earn her father’s trust over time.
“Right,” she said, but there was a wariness in her eyes.
