CHAPTERFOURTEEN
FORD
Early the following morning,I sat in the diner at that month’s mandatory family meeting, all my siblings surrounding me while we discussed the latest report for the resort. Addison was no doubt saying something incredibly important like what my next projects on the docket were. And Aiden probably had an update on the budget that I should be paying attention to, especially since the little league team the resort sponsored needed new uniforms, and we’d have to foot the bill if we didn’t raise enough at a fundraiser—one I still needed to come up with.
Yet, even with all that shit, I couldn’t focus on any of it.
Not when I couldn’t drag my attention away from the matte black wedding band on my left hand. A matte black,siliconewedding band. Those weren’t exactly mainstream—even if all the married guys at the fire station wore them—which meant Quinn had actually researched this. Forme, not just some guy who was standing in as her husband.
That probably meant nothing. Quinn was the kind of person who researched absolutely everything down to the letter, so this was just par for the course with her.
But then, why did it feel different?
I didn’t know how much longer it would be before my siblings noticed the new piece of jewelry I was rocking, and I knew things would go over better if I came clean before they could comment on it. God knew Addison was already going to lose her mind when she found out.
So, when we had a lull in the conversation, I figured there was no time like the present.
Around a mouthful of blueberry muffin, I said, “Thought you guys might want to know I got married yesterday.”
“Ha-ha,” Addison deadpanned. “We don’t have time for your jokes today, Ford.”
“Who said I was joking?” I held up my left hand, flashing the black band toward them.
My pronouncement was met with silence that lasted three…two…one…
“What do you mean, you got married?” Addison shrieked. “To who?”
Well, this was going to be fun…
“Quinn.”
“Quinn?” Again with the shrieking.
“No matter how loud you say it, it won’t stop being true. She moved in last night.”
Addison’s mouth dropped open as she stared at me, eyes wide. “What do you mean, she moved in last night?”
I glanced to my brothers, but they all gave meyou’re on your own, manlooks. “I’m not sure what you want me to say here…”
She slammed her hands on the table and pinned us each with a glare. “I want to know why I’m the only one who’s having a reaction to this! This is just like when the whole Beck and Everly thing came to light, and everyone else—” She gasped, turning accusatory eyes on my brothers. “You allknew? And you little assholes didn’t tell me?”
I held up my hands, ready and willing to throw my brothers under the bus if it would save my ass from her wrath. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell anyone.”
“And don’t think we aren’t gonna talk about that as soon as everyone leaves,” Beck grumbled under his breath. Then, louder, he added, “I wasn’t sure, but I overheard something he said at One Night Stan’s.”
Aiden shrugged. “He borrowed the computer in the main inn and left open a web page on Maine marriage requirements.”
When everyone turned their gazes to Brady, he just lifted his mug to his lips. “I’m the sheriff. It’s my job to know shit, especially sneaky shit people are trying to get away with.”
“I wasn’t trying to get away with—”
“I can’t believe every one of you knew before I did,” Addison said. “Again!”
“I didn’t know,” Levi said.
Addison scoffed and waved a hand through the air. “You don’t count. You never go anywhere.”
Brady cleared his throat and held up a copy of theStarlight Cove’s Gazette. On the front page was a large picture of Quinn and me under a headline that readStarlight Cove’s Favorite Rivals Get Hitched, byline by none other than Mabel. “Actually,” he said, “it looks like the whole town knew before you.”
