“I’m not a quitter, and I never wanted him to fall out with his mother because of me. I thought I could handle it for his sake, but I was mistaken. We should have left the instant we arrived when I saw it was another matchmaking attempt.” I unknot my hands and stand tall. “Tell me, was Randall part of it? Did she tell you to bring him here for me?”
“Absolutely not. If she even attempted that with me, I would have told her to fuck off. I don’t blame you for thinking the worst of me, Stevie, but I would never purposely hurt you. That isn’t who I am.”
“So why bring him then?” I cock my head to one side. “It’s obvious you’re not into him.”
She winces, having the decency to look ashamed as she wraps her arms around her middle. “I knew you’d be here with Garrick, and I wanted to bring a date. I couldn’t sit through another dinner watching the man I love with someone who isn’t me. Randall had been asking me out all summer, and I repeatedly said no. I decided to give him a chance. To see if I could move on, but I was delusional. Garrick is all I see.”
At least she’s being honest. I respect her for that. I hold Pepper’s gaze as I make her a promise. “I won’t step aside and let you steal my man.”
“I wouldn’t ask you too, and I never will. As much as it pains me, it’s clear Garrick loves you and you love him. You make him happy. That’s all I want for him. You’re the one he wants forever, and I’ll just have to find a way to make peace with it.”
“You expect me to believe you’ll just walk away?” Skepticism bleeds into my tone.
“No. You’re too smart for that.” We size each other up. “In different circumstances, I think we could be friends. It would be far easier for me if I hated you, but I don’t. I couldn’t hate any woman who brought the high and mighty Ivy Allen-Golding-Smith to her proverbial knees.” Condescension rings clear through her tone before she laughs. “The look on her face when she lunged at you.” More laughter bursts from her mouth. “It was priceless. I will never forget it. That woman has had that coming for a long time.”
I shrug, needing to wrap this up before Garrick sends out a search party. Besides, I’m done wasting breath on that awful woman. “I don’t want you around him,” I say in a nonthreatening manner. I want her to understand my position and her place going forward, but I’m not going to sink to Ivy’s despicable levels to make my point. “It’s not fair to me, and it’s not fair to him when he believes you only wish to be friends. Surely, it would be easier for you not to be around him either?”
Pain ghosts over her face as she clutches her arms more tightly around her waist. “It would,” she quietly admits after a few beats. “I don’t think it will be a problem anyway. If Garrick is determined to cut ties with Ivy, and I believe he is, there’ll be limited opportunities for us to meet.” She loosens her arms, letting them drop to her side. “I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I’d rather Garrick didn’t know how I feel about him.”
“We agreed to honesty in our relationship, and I don’t like keeping secrets from him.” Even if this one would work to my advantage. I don’t particularly want Garrick to know Pepper loves him. But it’s complicated now I have this knowledge. If he finds out some other way and he discovers I knew and didn’t tell him, would he understand the reasons why?
“It’s not your secret to share,” she says, offering me an excuse on a silver platter.
“Why don’t you want him to know?” I narrow my eyes in suspicion.
“What good would it do any of us? He doesn’t love me. He loves you. He wants to marry you.” Her voice chokes, and she briefly averts her eyes. “We will occasionally run into one another, and I’d rather it isn’t awkward,” she continues, lifting her head and piercing me with an earnest look. “Isn’t it better to let our friendship peter out than dragging all this into the open? It will only hurt more that way.”
“Okay.” I nod. “I agree. I won’t tell him.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you.”
“I know.”
We look at one another for a few seconds more before I turn and unlock the door.
“Stevie,” she calls out as I swing the door open. I turn one final time to look at her. “Take care of him and love him good. He deserves to be happy.”
ChapterThirty-One
Garrick
“What time are you meeting Stevie at?” Will asks in between stuffing clothes haphazardly in his bag while I lounge on his bed, throwing a tennis ball up and down in the air. Classes ended today for the holidays, and we’re all heading home for Christmas this weekend.
“We’re meeting at Bumble Bees in an hour.”
“Do you have any idea what the gift is?”
I shake my head, tossing the ball in the corner, and sit up. “All she said was she wanted to give me my Christmas gift early and we had to do it before we went back to Seattle.”
“Intriguing.” Will zips up his bag and flops down beside me. “How are things between you now?”
“Better but still strained. She has retreated a little since that disastrous dinner. Not that I blame her. It was awful. I should have left immediately. I made a mistake not forcing the issue. Stevie says she doesn’t blame me, that it was her call to stay, but deep down, I suspect she is aggravated I didn’t make the decision to leave when we got there and saw Pepper and her family.”
“You can’t change history, and you chose her over Ivy. You’ve cut your mother out of your life. That speaks volumes.”
“Sometimes, it’s hard to tell with Stevie. She’s not like other girls, and she has big hang-ups about relationships.” I gulp over the messy ball of emotion at the back of my throat. “I don’t want to lose her.”
