“I wasn’t going to stop working if you weren’t. We’re a team, remember?”
He mumbles something I can’t quite catch.
I shove my goggles atop my head. “What was that, Mr. Grumbles a Lot?”
“I said, a forced team because, for some unknown reason, you’re determined to help with this.”
Frustration courses through me, and I do my best to tamp it down as I calmly say, “Because it’s my project, too, Noah. I’m the wedding planner, remember?”
“Ah, right. And you need to save yourbusiness.”
The way he says that last part, like the brand I’ve spent years building doesn’t mean shit, hits me hard and, frankly, pisses me right off.
I’ve played nice all day. I’ve let him be grumpy. Allowed him to stomp around and be a sourpuss. But I willnothave him talk shit on my business.
“You know, Noah,” I say, taking a few steps toward him until we’re standing only a foot apart, “just because you’re a bitter old man doesn’t mean everyone is like that. Some people want to make their wedding the best day of their life. Some people want happiness.”
His eyes darken. “And some people just want to be a pain in my ass and get in my way.”
Is that what he thinks I’m doing? That I’m just out here sweating my ass off and ruining my nails I pay damn good money for to annoy him? Have I not been going behind him and removing the debris he’s been slinging everywhere? Have I not been on my hands and knees tamping down nails? Have I not been helping tear down old boards?
“You want to know why I’m helping you out here?”
“I already know why. It’s because you don’t trust me to do it right. You want it your way or the highway. Because it’s never enough, just like it was never enough for her.”
“Her? Who are you—” I shake my head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter, because you’re wrong. I’m not here for you at all. I’m here because everyone has their eyes on this wedding. If I fail, I’ll just be another name in the long line of Chambers women who couldn’t make it work, be it love or business or whatever. If I fail, I’ll have spentyears building this all for nothing. If I fail, then there truly is no hope for me. If I fail, the curse wins.”
He scoffs. “Enough with the fucking curse already. It’s not real—it’s total bullshit, and you know it.”
“Yes, it is!” I toss my hands into the air becauseof coursehe doesn’t get it. Nobody else ever does. “Don’t you see that? It’s real. I went to college. I invested thousands of dollars into branding, an office, and all the right outfits to impress clients. I offered my services for free. I built my business on trust. I did all the right things—all of them—and I amstillfailing. I am one bad wedding away from everything I’ve worked for being ripped out from underneath me. So, no, I am not out here toget in your way. I’m out here for me and me alone. To prove tomyselfthat I can do this despite the curse. That itwon’twin. That I willnotbe another name people whisper about. It has nothing to do with you, Noah, and everything to do with me.”
I suck in a long breath when I’m done, not realizing how badly I need it or the way my hands are shaking at my sides.When did that even start?
Whatever. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Noah understands that I want to help because Ihaveto. This wedding has to succeed, or that tiny shred of hope I’ve held on to all these years about the curse being nothing more than just a string of bad luck will snap, and I’ll be left with the reality—it’s real, and I am destined to be alone.
Noah towers over me, staring down at me with that damn brown gaze of his. But it’s not hard like before. It’s softened. He’s not grumpy anymore.
No, it’s worse than that.
Now, he feels bad for me, and I don’t want that either.
“Odette, I—”
“Uh, hey, guys. Everything all right in here?”
I whirl around to find Izzy standing in the doorway to the barn. Her eyes dart between me and her brother, brows furrowed.
Shit. I forgot I had planned to meet her at the cidery tonight. We were planning to go over some more wedding details, but now all I want is to kick my feet up and unwind after this.
“Yep,” I tell her, glancing back at Noah, who still has his hands on his hips and hasn’t moved an inch. “We’re done here.”
Chapter Nine
Noah
I’m being a dick.
Worse? IknowI’m being a dick, yet I can’t seem to stop.
