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“I don’t know. I had a great time with your sisters today at lunch. And it kind of got me thinking that I never had much fun growing up.”
“Too busy trying to please your mom?”
“That’s right.” She made the edges of her mouth turn up. “But I think I’ll look on the bright side. Your sisters will be my sisters. Did I tell you they’re throwing us an engagement party? Probably at McKellan’s, in the party room upstairs.” The popular pub was owned by Ryan McKellan, lifetime best friend of Clara Bravo. Ryan’s brother, Walker, was engaged to the family princess, Rory.
“And when is this big event?”
“Tentatively, Saturday night two weeks from tomorrow. Clara said she’d get with Ryan and call me this weekend to firm up the date, location and time.”
He hooked an arm around her and drew her close against his side. His warm lips brushed her hair. “Did you know that Clara and Dalton are getting married in three weeks?”
“I did, yes.” Clara had a baby daughter, Kiera Anne, with Dalton Ames, president of Ames Bank and Trust. From what Chloe had heard, Clara had taken her time saying yes to her baby’s father. But anyone who saw them together could see how much in love they were.
Quinn added, “It’ll be a small wedding, Clara said. Food and drinks at her house afterward.”
“I heard. Nell said she thought Clara had too much on her plate. So, as soon as Clara sets up our engagement party with Ryan, Nell’s taking over to pull the party together.”
“You should know we’re going to Clara’s wedding.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You, me, Manny and Annabelle.”
“I would love to.” She snuggled in, rubbing her cheek against the soft knit fabric of his shirt.
He traced the line of her jaw with his thumb, and then tipped up her chin so she looked in his eyes. “Hey.”
“What?”
“The other night, when you said yes?”
“Um?” Oh, those beautiful eyes of his. She could just fall down inside them and never come out.
“You said you wanted it small—and soon. So...” He lowered his wonderful bad-boy lips and brushed a hint of a kiss across her upturned mouth. “What do you say we set the date?”
Set the date. Her heart contracted. Worse, she was suddenly thinking of her mother, and of Ted. Problems. Unresolved problems. Her problems that she’d yet to deal with effectively...
But then again, how resolved were things ever going to get with those two? She might never speak to her mother again. And Ted? The best that could happen with him would be nothing. Ever. For the rest of her life.
So it wasn’t about resolving anything; it wasn’t about closure...
“Chloe?” Quinn looked at her so tenderly, reminding her suddenly of the little boy who never fit in at school and used to sneak inside before class to leave chocolate candy Kisses for the teacher who’d been kind to him. “So when you said soon, you didn’t mean that soon?” He asked the question gently.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “I’m thinking if we could at least wait until after the engagement party to start planning the wedding?”
His chuckled, the sound low and lovely. “I just don’t get it. Why are you dragging your feet? We’ve been engaged for two whole days now.”
She echoed his teasing tone. “People will start thinking we have trouble making commitments.”
But then his expression turned serious. “Is it all going too fast for you?”
“I didn’t say that.” She hated the edge of defensiveness in her tone.
“Hey. I mean it. We can have a long engagement if you want it that way. It’s okay with me.”
“But I don’t want a long engagement.” It came out as a whine. Dear God, what was the matter with her? Her emotions were bouncing all over the place. She made it worse by grumbling, “And I meant it about a small, simple wedding, too. I really did.”
“Easy.” He bent close, nipped a kiss against her throat.
“Sorry,” she murmured, honestly contrite, not really understanding herself at that moment.
He nuzzled her cheek. “We got no problem here.”
Oh, yes, we do. I’m the problem. My mother’s a hopeless bitch and I married a psychopath-in-training.
Why would a great guy like Quinn, with everything going for him now, with a good life he’d worked so hard to earn, want to marry someone with her history and track record, anyway?
People always used to treat her like some kind of prize. She was no prize. Not anymore, anyway. In her case, the bloom was seriously off the rose. Perfect Chloe Winchester? What a joke.
And wait a minute.
Really, she needed to snap out of it.
Where had all these grim thoughts come from?
It was dangerous to start running herself down. Half the battle for sanity and a good life was in keeping her spirits up, fostering a positive attitude.
She’d worked hard to face the tough challenges life had thrown in her path. She’d survived the disaster of her own choice, her own making: her marriage to Ted. She’d fought and fought hard to get free, to make a new life. To hold her head up and move on.
And she’d honestly begun to believe that she’d done it, that she’d put the past behind her.
Until Ted sent her flowers and made her fear deep in her soul that she hadn’t seen the last of him, after all. Until her mother showed up on her doorstep spouting such ugliness and rage, revealing such an unforgiveable betrayal, that she’d had no choice but to sever ties with her.
Maybe it wasn’t the wedding she was putting off. Maybe she’d had no right to tell Quinn that she’d marry him in the first place.
Maybe she needed to face the fact that he deserved better than her.
“Chloe?”
“Um?”
“We got no problem at all,” he said again, more softly, but more firmly, too.
She met his eyes. They were so steady. So knowing and wise. She asked in a tiny, weak, disgusting little voice, “We don’t?”
“Uh-uh. We got each other, Chloe. We got it all.”
And somehow, when he looked at her like that, when he spoke with such affection and total confidence, she believed him.
She absolutely believed him.
I love you, Quinn. She thought the words and knew that they were true.
If only she felt she had the right to say them out loud.
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