“I’m here because…”
“Because I’ve been helping him with his business plan,” Micah interjected. He shrugged, like this was no big thing. “Constantine helped me out last summer, and I owed him a favor, so I gave him some sample business plans to look over. Did you need more help, Constantine?”
God. It was kind of cute, him giving me an out like that.
It was also kind of annoying.
“Micah and I are dating,” I told my mother, moving around the desk to stand closer to his chair.
Micah closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, and I couldn’t tell if he was angry or excited. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I was feeling either. This wasn’t the way I’d imagined this going.
“I don’t understand,” Mama said. She sounded confused. Shelookeddevastated.
“Mama, try to understand. Me and Micah dating… it wasn’t something we meant to happen.”
“It was an accident? A six-month accident?” she demanded. “And what about the woman… Oh my Lord. There never was a woman, was there?”
“No.” I took a deep breath. “I haven’t dated anyone but Micah for a few months now. But I didn’t lie, you assumed.”
“And youlet me. All the while asking me to consider this proposal?” She grabbed a sheaf of papers from the desk and smacked them down again.
“That proposal has nothing to do with Micah,” I insisted. “I wanted that long before—”
“It haseverythingto do with him. His fingerprints are all over this, Constantine.”
“Why?” I shook my head. “Because I finally stood up for myself? Because I finally demanded something I wanted?”
“Because he’s manipulating you!”
“Christ,” Micah said. “Manipulatinghim? How the hell—”
“Pretending you’re being supportive,” she spat. “Sending some minor business my way, working with lenders, that whole dramatic incident with the Gaynors that you engineered, just to make Con believe you were on his side—”
Micah pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He didn’t say a word.
“The Gaynors?” I repeated, folding my arms over my chest because I suddenly felt very, very cold, even in my winter coat. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The Gaynors,” Mama said. “Trent and—”
“I know who they are!” I snapped, still looking at Micah.
Micah who hadn’t moved.
Micah who hadn’t said a word.
“I was going to…” he began. He cut off with a curse. “Okay, fuck it. No, I was never going to tell you.” He looked up at me, green eyes swirling with emotion. “I had a meeting at the Scarlet Maple in early December. Wedding client.”
I lifted my chin. I remembered. “The day you ruined my favorite green button-down.”
“Yeah,” Micah agreed. “You know, you never mentioned the guy’s name, when you told me the story last summer.”
“Oh, this gets more ridiculous by the minute,” my mother said, but I barely heard her. I was focused on Micah.
“They said some things that made it pretty clear who they were. Once I put two and two together, I refused the contract,” Micah said shortly.
“You called him a homophobe and hit him in the mouth.” My mother’s cheeks were burning, and I swear she was standing on her tiptoes as she leaned toward Micah’s desk. “The only reason you weren’t arrested for assault and the whole sorry business between Constantine and Trent wasn’tdragged back outinto the latest town gossip is because Vince Gaynor convinced his son not to press charges.”
“Because he knows his son uttered homophobic slurs more than once during the course of the meeting, and Charlotte said she’d testify to it!” Micah said, pushing his chair back from the desk and getting to his feet. “Which I guess she forgot to tell you, when she was giving you allthisinformation?”
