“Yes. I should be used to it, but it gets me every time.” She takes a deep breath and then pushes off the steps and into the lake beside me.
I smile at her huffed breaths. “It gets better.”
“I really hope so.” She turns in the water and gives me a tentative smile back. “I’m Nora, Rafe’s sister. You’re Paige, right?”
“Yes. It’s nice to meet you.”
She nods, shoulders pulled up high. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
I wonder if that’s true, but I don’t dare ask it.
“We flew in early to surprise Rafe,” she tells me. “He looked surprised.”
“I’m not sure your brother likes surprises.”
Nora grins and dips her head back to wet her hair. “No, he really doesn’t.”
I take a deep breath. My nerves are treading water insideme, too. “He’s told me about what my uncle did. You know, the team he hired to make it seem like you were…”
Nora has the same green eyes as her brother, and they feel just as sharp. “Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know it was happening, and it was a terrible decision on his part. In so many ways.” I take another deep breath. “He’s not in charge of the company anymore. I know that doesn’t matter, probably, but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” she says. “It sucked. I believe you, by the way. That you didn’t know.”
Another breath escapes me. “You do? You’ve just met me.”
She smiles. “Yeah, but I don’t think it’s the sort of thing a woman would consider doing. Or approve of.”
“No, God no.”
“I’m freezing. Want to get out?”
I nod. “Yes, please.”
She swims ahead, and I follow her up the worn stone steps to the dock. She had much more foresight than me and brought herself a striped towel. I only have the shirt Rafe gave me.
I pull it on. The sleeves cover my hands, and I sit on the edge of the warm stone dock.
Nora sits beside me. Her eyes clock my shirt before she looks out over the lake. Boats zip across the deep blue, leaving waves in their wake. “So you married my brother.”
“Yes,” I say. “I’m guessing you know all the details?”
The deal. The contract. Mather & Wilde becoming a Maison Valmont brand.
“I do. But I didn’t before. He kept me in the dark. They both did, really, my brother and my boyfriend.” She looks down at her feet, hanging above the water’s surface. “I’ve just told them both off. That’s why I had to come down here to cool off.”
“You did?”
“Yes.” She shrugs. “That part is pretty new for me, actually. You know, getting angry. I’m not used to telling people off yet.”
“It’s a rush, isn’t it?”
Her smile widens. “Yes. I really enjoyed that, but I don’t think they did.”
“What did you tell them off for?”
“Well.” She holds up a finger. “I’m angry at my fiancé for attending the courthouse ceremony in New York, wheremy own brothergot married, without telling me. That’s one. I know he got almost no notice, but that’s no excuse.”
