Not now. Not ever.
Chelsea’s eyes bulged. “Excuse me—two years? I called off my engagement with Cash a year and a half ago.” Her eyes flashed when they cut over to Cash. “Well? Do you have something you’d like to say?”
Color raced up Cash’s neck and flooded his cheeks. He looked to me for help, but I had none to give. Listening to the conversation between these two women was like watching a freight train derail. There was too much momentum behind it. A disaster of epic proportions was imminent.
“I don’t believe it,” Chelsea said, shaking her head. “The whole time you were lecturing me about commitment and trust, you knew you’d been cheating on me for six months? I’m glad I left you for Dylan.”
“It’s not what you think, Chelsea,” Cash said.
“Save it! You know, I used to feel guilty for calling off our wedding on such short notice, but not anymore.” She stepped closer to her husband, and he draped his arm around her shoulders.
“Not cool man,” Dylan said. “Not cool.”
Grandmother turned on Cash. “Were you cheating on my granddaughter during the first six months of your relationship?”
Cash’s eyes darted between Grandmother and me. The poor guy had no idea what to say, and neither did I.
“We were the perfect match,” Chelsea said. “I cheated on you, and you cheated on me. I guess that makes us even.”
Grandmother tore up the check she’d partially written in hopes of saving Cash’s prize and immediately began writing another. “Willow, I admire your commitment to leading a responsible life. I was proud of the work you put into maintaining a stable relationship, but this man was unfaithful to you. I wouldn’t think less of you for walking away. In fact,”—she tore the check out and held it out to me—“I’ll give you what’s left of your inheritance right now, if you end your relationship with this untrustworthy man.”
My jaw hung open. I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe.
Watching Cash cast as the villain in this twisted little play was worse than anything I’d imagined happening. I’d expected that I would take the brunt of the scorn and shame when the crud hit the fan, not an innocent man.
Everything was upside down. Chelsea felt justified in what she’d done to Cash. Grandmother wanted me to kick him to the curb. Then there was Cash himself. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I knew what he was doing. He stood there with his arms hanging at his sides, willing to take whatever they threw at him to protect my lie.
I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.
“Grandmother—”
“Take it.” She wiggled the check in front of me, waiting for me to accept it as a consolation gift for breaking up with Cash on the spot. “Thirty-nine thousand dollars and you’re done with this young man.”
“Wait! Thirty-nine?” No! That was a whole lot less than a quarter of a million. I wanted to pinch myself so I could wake up from this nightmare, but it wouldn’t do any good. This was happening. It had to be payback for all the lies I’d told while trying to swindle my grandmother into doing what I wanted.
But it was all for nothing. Thirty-nine thousand wasn’t enough to pay the balance on my studio timeandpay Cash the money I promised him. I snatched the check from her, hoping I’d misheard her.
I held it close to my face and traced my index finger across the amount as if doing so would magically make another zero appear at the end of the number.
It didn’t.
I looked up in disbelief and happened to meet Cash’s gaze. He shook his head, pain clouding his eyes. “Well, you got your check.” Then he turned around and stalked into the crowd.
“Cash, wait.”
Grandmother rested her hand on my shoulder. “Let him go. You’re better off without him.”
“Cash!” I called his name again, but I lost sight of him in the crowd. “I wasn’t taking the check.” I felt even more wretched than my croaking voice sounded.
Chelsea looped her arm around her husband’s waist. “See, Dylan, we had nothing to feel bad about all along. He was doing the same exact thing.”
“Oh, shut up, Chelsea,” I said. “Cash never cheated on you. He was… he was…”
I looked at my grandmother’s face. The indignance she’d felt for my sake had morphed into compassion. But she wasn’t going to have compassion for me for very much longer. It was way past time to come clean.
I took one last look at the check and knew exactly what I had to do.
“Cash was covering for me, Grandmother. Everything about the past few weeks has been a lie—almost everything. I wanted to make you believe I wasn’t a screw-up. I pretended to be the kind of person you wanted me to be, because I got myself into trouble and needed this inheritance.”
