She gave me a look that was half exasperation and half something softer. "You're thanking me for taking your money?"
"I'm thanking you for trusting me." I held her gaze for a moment longer than necessary. "I haven't given you much reason to."
She didn't respond to that. I could see the conflict on her face. She wanted to trust me but she didn't know how, and I couldn't blame her. I'd been nothing but a complication in her life since the moment we met.
"Goodnight, Kade."
"Goodnight."
She closed the door before I could say anything else, and I stood in the hallway for a moment staring at the closed door. I'd come here for an annulment and somehow ended up sleeping with her again and offering to bankroll her business. None of this was going according to plan, and I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a terrible one.
14
LAINEY
I sat at my parents' dining room table and picked at the casserole my mother had made, barely listening to the conversation I'd been dreading since I'd walked through the door after my business class. It was like I lived in the Twilight Zone or something. Mom especially was insistent that Brandon was worth redeeming, but she wasn’t the one who'd been hurt by his betrayal.
"He's been calling the house every day," my mother said in a gentle voice. "He sounds so sorry, Lainey. I really think he means it."
"You were together for six years," my father added, setting down his fork. "That's not something you just throw away over one mistake."
I knew they meant well. They probably thought I was starry-eyed in love with him up to the very second I found out he cheated. That was my fault. I hadn't told them I was having second thoughts for several months. And maybe if I was starry-eyedover him and we were head over heels in love, their advice and encouragement would feel different.
But my heart felt so hard toward him now. I gripped my fork tighter and tried to keep my voice level. "One mistake?"
"You know what we mean." My mother reached across the table toward me. "You're both young. People make mistakes when they're young. It doesn't mean you can't work through it."
This was exactly why they'd invited me to dinner. Not to catch up or spend time together, but to convince me to forgive Brandon and go back to him. They'd been building up to this the entire meal, dropping hints and making excuses for him, and I'd had enough.
"I'm not going back to him," I said firmly.
My father leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Lainey," he said softly, "Brandon's a good man with a good future. He made a mistake, but that doesn't erase six years of history. Think of all those times you spent together. Do you want to really give up?"
"I broke up with Brandon for good." I tried to picture how Kade would've said something like that to his parents, probably way more confidently than I had, but thinking of him only made this worse. For once in my life I wanted this for me, and I didn't want to feel guilty for putting myself first.
My mother's face pinched with concern. "Lainey, honey, I know you're hurt, but?—"
"He cheated on me with a stripper at his bachelor party," I interrupted, placing emphasis on the words "cheated" and "stripper." When I lifted my eyes, I saw the pain in herexpression. She really did feel bad for me. "I don't think I can forgive him for that."
My father's fork clattered against his plate and he dragged a hand over his face in exasperation. "I thought maybe you'd misunderstood what happened. Honey, did you confirm this? Did you ask him?" Dad narrowed his eyes at me in concern, but the same anger I saw on his face when I confronted them the day after my fling in the Atlas Casino, I saw on his face now.
"Yes, Dad. He admitted it."
"My god... I'll kill him." Finally the lightbulb went off and at least one of them got the point.
"Roger—" my mother started, but he stood up and rolled his neck a few times.
I didn't want my parents to be angry with Brandon. That was never the point of this. I had enough anger for everyone anyway. But it did feel good knowing Dad was on my side now.
"I'll go over there right now and?—"
The doorbell rang and cut off whatever threat he was about to make. My father muttered something under his breath and stalked toward the front door while my mother gave me a look that said we'd be continuing this conversation later. I sank deeper into my chair and kept pushing the casserole around my plate, knowing I'd get too nauseous if I took a single bite of it.
I heard the door open and my father's voice carried back to the dining room. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Lainey. I was told she might be here."
My stomach dropped. I knew that voice and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I stood up so fast my chair nearly tipped over and the blood rushed to my head. I got dizzy and braced myself on the table as my father appeared in the doorway with Kade following behind him, and I grabbed my water glass to take a drink because my throat had gone completely dry. The water went down wrong and I choked, coughing and sputtering while water spilled across the table and onto my plate.
