“I’m so sorry,” I murmured. “It was my fault, I didn’t—”
“I’m beginning to feel rather like the butt of some joke,” Mrs. Kincaid said. The Kincaids were wealthy enough to keep the whole big house heated comfortably, but the temperature dropped a few notches from the ice in her voice. “Why were you and Cooper pretending to be together?”
Jon gave a weak laugh. “Uh, well, Alicia…it’s a long story, and it’s so long ago now—”
“Oh, I think we have time. So it’s true, what this Shane—Damon—said?”
“Damon?” Jon looked at Tyler and then back at Mrs. Kincaid, clearly lost for words.
I didn’t dare say another word, and Tyler looked like he just couldn’t. So we left Jon dangling there in the breeze.
“Well,” he began. “The thing is…”
Chapter 12
Tyler
“What’s going on?”
I had never been more relieved to see Cooper Kincaid than I had in that moment. He’d just strolled in, and made his way at once to Jon, who was beginning to get very red in the face.
“Cooper,” Mrs. Kincaid said brusquely, “Do you and Jon have a confession to make?”
Cooper put an arm around Jon. “Calm down, mother, and come over here so we can talk privately.” He led Jon away, who sent me a baleful look as he followed his future mother-in-law to the side of the room. I stood there for a second wondering what the hell I should do.
“I’m so sorry,” Damon muttered, teeth clenched.
“It’s not your fault.” It wasn’t. It was mine, for telling him about Cooper and Jon without making it clear that it wasn’t common knowledge. My gossiping had gotten Jonny in trouble, and I was the one who should—and did—feel terrible.
Mrs. Kincaid’s voice rose, and Damon and I moved closer instinctively, as though we could somehow push the words back into a little bubble so that the other wedding guests, who had started to arrive for breakfast, wouldn’t hear.
“…and I certainly don’t understand why you lied to me!” Mrs. Kincaid was saying.
Jon was the color of the strawberries scattered around the breakfast buffet, blinking fast as his eyes started to tear up. This was not the way he needed to start his wedding day. I took off at a brisk walk, but before I could get there, Cooper intervened.
By laughing.
He slung his arm around Jon and chuckled. “Yeah, Mom, it’s true. We were just pretending, that very first time you barged into the cabin and demanded to know our business. You remember doing that?”
For the first time, I saw uncertainty taint Alicia Kincaid’s cold eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t call it barging in,” she sniffed. “But yes, I remember our first meeting.”
“Well, I just said it as a joke—that Jon and I were together. I was kidding around.”
“But you’re getting married!”
Jon’s face was returning to its normal color as Cooper laughed again. “Yes, Mom, we’re getting married. Because what started out as a joke got very real, very fast. Believe me, we wouldn’t be so committed to a prank to actually go through with a wedding. We’re very much in love and very much getting hitched. Right?” He smiled at Jon.
Jon was finally able to smile back. “Right,” he confirmed, and Cooper gave him another supportive squeeze around the shoulders. “Very much in love. Very hitched.”
“So you see, you don’t have to have a meltdown, Mom. Or at least, not about this. The soufflés, though—”
“Are a disaster,” she agreed. “But I don’t understand why you never let me in on the joke, Cooper.” She actually sounded hurt.
I felt a million times worse at that. This was all my fault.
Cooper gave her a smile, the kind I bet he used at work with his patients all the time, and when he spoke, I was doubly convinced: this guy would have a great bedside manner. “Well, Mom, it’s because I was worried you’d make a fuss—just like you’re doing now.”
The words were firm but kind, and Mrs. Kincaid took it on the chin. “My goodness, Cooper, is it really so unreasonable to worry about your happiness?”
