“Since her father got out of prison and there’s a halt on her visa.Since she needed to fix that before he found out where she was and helped her deportation along.”Oh God, she hadn’t even considered that.A look from him said he knew something she didn’t.
Had his lawyer friend said something?
Owen moved to the edge of his seat as Paige stood, her hands balled into fists at her side.
“What.Did.You.Do?” she hissed.Each word was measured, trim, and curt.Paige’s eyes sank to Aurelie’s hands, and she gasped.Aurelie couldn’t conceal the tan line that had already started to form on her left ring finger.
“Nothing I didn’t feel was necessary,” Aurelie shot back, though her voice wavered.Why did she always end up feeling like a chastised child around her friend?Sure, her decision had been rash, but it was her decision to make.And one she’d fix as soon as she was able.That was always the plan.
Yeah, until you decided to fall for the guy.
Had she?As soon as her head asked the question, her heart answered with a resoundingyes.
Dammit.This was so much worse than she had even imagined.
Owen’s eyes followed his wife’s, growing larger the longer he stared at Aurelie’s finger.Exasperated, she held up her hand with the ring she’d stowed in her pocket, waved it at her friends, whose mouths fell open.
“You’reengaged?”Sophie asked.Aurelie could have hugged her for the smile that lit up Sophie’s face.Sophie was a hopeless romantic and had fallen almost as suddenly for Brad a year and a half ago.The whirlwind relationship that followed was nothing short of a fairy tale.“Oooooh, let me see the ring!”
Aurelie held it out, ignoring the grumble from Paige.She needed support right now, and if Sophie was there to give it, then that’s who she’d focus her energy on.
“It’s gorgeous!When did this all happen?Have you thought of a date yet?Ugh, it’s just soooo romantic!”
Aurelie laughed, despite the heaviness of the day’s events that still hung over them.She held out her ring for Sophie to fawn over.It wasn’t like Aurelie had done something wrong, evil.Still, something nagged in the back of her mind.
“Now wait just a second,” Paige said, her voice booming over the brief respite of joy.“This is crazy.You can’t be engaged.You just met.I don’t care how hot this guy is, or how much you want to help Aurelie—which by the way we are talking about in a minute because you didn’t tell me your visa wasrevoked.Getting engaged is serious.You can’t just use it as a band-aid.”
Aurelie’s chest constricted with pain as if it had been hit with a crowbar.If her mother was still alive, she’d have told Aurelie the same thing.But her mother was gone, and it wasn’t Paige’s job to act in her place.Aurelie needed a friend, not a parent.Especially now that her dad was acting with malice that threatened her life.
“You two don’t know much about each other,” Owen added.
Again, Aurelie was lost for words.She’d been tried, judged, and convicted before she could even utter a word in her own defense.
Jace stepped in again.
“We’re not engaged,” he told the group, defiance in his words.Where she’d been happy to let him save her earlier, now his persistence annoyed her.It undermined her ability to stand up for herself.
“Well, then, explain the rock on her hand, please.”Paige matched his furrowed brow, his stoic stance, his jutted lower jaw with her own.Aurelie held her breath as she waited for the words to fall, damning words that would only solidify her sentencing.
Guilty and put away for life.
“We’re married.”
Paige’s jaw dropped, and in the split second it took her to fully process Jace’s words, he continued, effectively cutting her off at the pass.“And before you say anything about how utterly stupid we are, or how we’ve ruined our lives, let me say something.”Paige’s mouth closed, but her body was tensed, coiled as if ready to launch at Jace if he said one wrong syllable.
She nodded, and the rest of the group followed her lead, nodding their approval as well.All eyes were pinned to Jace, but Brad’s and Owen’s shifted back and forth between Jace and Paige as if worried one or both might break the tenuous peace.
“It was the only way I could think to save her from going back,” he started.
“What makes you think it was your job to save her?She’s gotus.We’re the ones who are here every day, building a life, supporting one another.You’ve been back a little over a week, Jace.Stop acting like you’re a white knight sent to save us poor town folk.”
He winced, giving a small exhale that escaped almost inaudibly.Even Aurelie knew that was an unfair jab.But it had no seeming effect on Jace.
“May I continue?”
Paige’s exasperation was not so quiet, and came out more as a grunt than polite approval.Aurelie watched from the sidelines, both terrified and in awe.
“I came here thinking I’d sell my dad’s ranch to the highest bidder, maybe hike and explore a bit while I was back in town.I never thought I’d get here and find myself smack dab in the middle of a place I needed to leave to see the beauty of.”Aurelie looked at Paige and saw tentative understanding.She had done almost the same thing.
