I squinted into the shadows, trying to see who was there.
“It’s me.” Preston stepped out from around a dumpster, and something inside me relaxed at the sight of him. “Sorry.” He came closer. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t.” I shook my head. “I was just…” I dropped to a crouch and scratched the puppy’s ears to avoid finishing the sentence. “He’s getting so big already.”
“He is,” Preston said when I finally stood and looked at him. “Glad to see your ankle is all better.” He gestured to my foot and the strappy sandals I wore.
“You were right. It was just a little sprain,” I said. “Nothing a bit of ice and ibuprofen couldn’t handle.”
He nodded once. “What’s going on, Jess?”
His question was blunt, but Preston always did have a way of seeing right through bullshit.
I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly aware of how cool the night air was against my bare skin. I tipped my head up for a moment and inhaled deeply before answering him. “It’s just…a lot.” It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the full truth either. “I mean, everyone’s here and tomorrow is…”
“The happiest day of your life?”
I didn’t miss the challenge in his voice or the echo of my own words. I straightened and leveled my gaze at him. “Is there something you need to say?”
“I overheard Trevor,” he said plainly. “A few minutes ago,” he continued, gesturing toward the plaza. “He was talking to afriend about the wedding and thearrangement.”He used his fingers to make air quotes.
My breath caught, but only for a moment.
My gut reaction was to be mortified that Preston knew the truth. But I was tired. It had already been a long night, and tomorrow was only going to get longer. I didn’t have it in me to pretend anymore.
Not with him.
“Okay,” I said simply.
“Okay?” He shook his head. “That’s all you have to say about it? Your fiancé was just over there talking about you like you were just another deal the night before your wedding, and all you can say isokay?”
I exhaled hard and blinked back the tears that burned the back of my eyes. I wouldn’t cry. It would just make everything so much worse than it already was, and itwasbad. So bad.
“I don’t know what else to say, Preston.” To my horror, my voice caught.
“Say that you’re upset.” He took a step toward me. “Say that you’re horrified. Say that you’re going to call it off.”
My shoulders sagged, and the tears I’d tried so hard to avoid slipped down my cheeks.
“Jess.” His voice softened now. Preston moved closer until he was only inches away. “What’s going on? He said that you understood the arrangement.”
I nodded, unable to meet his eyes. I couldn’t bear seeing the look on his face now that he knew the truth. What he must think of me, knowing I was about to marry a man I didn’t love because ofbusiness. For money.
“What’s he talking about, Jess?”
Preston was still giving me an out. A way to explain myself that made some kind of sense to him. But I couldn’t do it, because there was no way to explain it.
Finally, I looked up and met his gaze. Confusion andconcern were written all over his face, and it struck me in the chest.
This man cared about me. Somewhere and somehow over the last few months, we’d moved past our stupid childish rivalry and into something more.
Alotmore.
And somehow that made the truth of the whole situation even worse.
“I don’t know how it happened,” I admitted. “It didn’t start out this way.”
Preston reached out and gently wiped a tear from my cheek. “What didn’t, Jess? Talk to me.”
