Yeah, I like you, too. That’s the problem.
The waitress comes over and we place our order. After she leaves, I lean forward. “When is your application for the internship due?”
Lark chews on her lower lip. “I sent it in yesterday. I’m so nervous. What if they don’t choose me?”
I know how nervous she’s been, how much she hopes to get a spot on the department of kinesiology research team at the local university. Even though the position won’t start until sometime next year, the application process starts early. I wave my hand dismissively. “Don’t be crazy, they will. Who better to study ways to prevent muscle decline in athletes than a trainer who has spent years working directly with a team of professional baseball players.”
She gives me a half smile. “Their research will begroundbreaking. I could learn so much in just a few months and bring it all back to the Tridents to make the team even stronger.”
“You’ll get the spot,” I say confidently, and am rewarded with a nudge of her foot against mine.
“How are you always so positive?”
My shoulders lift in a shrug. “I just believe good things happen to good people. And you’re good people, Birdie.”
Her hand reaches out again and squeezes mine. “So are you.”
Just not good enough for her.
Chapter two
Lark
I can’t possibly be the first bride-to-be that dreads having to spend time with her fiancé’s parents.
Honestly, it’s not just them. It’s their lifestyle, their home, and everything they represent. I may have been raised in a similarly-wealthy family, but the Hazelwoods have the stuffy, conservative, rich-and-we-know-it attitude down pat.
Thank God Baron doesn’t act the same way as his parents. At least, not all the time. There’s no way I could marry a man so consumed with wealth and status like his father.
I’ve never been comfortable with the money and privilege my family and Baron’s have. It has always felt like a scratchy sweater I can’t take off. That’s probably why I threw myself into sports as soon as my parents relented and allowed me to join some teams. Anything to get away from their world, the one where I never felt like I belonged.
The only thing in that world I have ever wanted a part of was Baron.
It’s why he ended up being my first kiss, my first everything.
Myonlyeverything.
When he proposed a few weeks ago, it was a bit of a relief, to be honest. Finally, it was done. We both knew it was inevitable, and waiting for him to pop the question was making me anxious.
Now, I’m starting to wonder if that anxiety wasn’t trying to tell me something…
Over the last year or so, Baron has changed. He stopped agreeing with me when I would rant about how much good our families could do if they chose to use their wealth to help others. He joined a golf club and has been gone most weekends — for business, he claims. His car needed to be “upgraded,” despite being only a year old.
Small things, but noticeable. I used to feel like we were a team, united in our desire to live life differently from our parents. Nowadays, he seems quite content in their world.
It’s left me feeling as though I’m on the outside of our relationship at times, and I’m not entirely sure what to do about it.
Coming around to my side of the car, Baron takes my hand in his. The TAG Heuer watch his father gifted him last year peeks out of the sleeve of his dress shirt. Together we walk up the paved circular driveway to his imposing family home. Tall white pillars loom in front of us with ostentatious planters on either side, each holding a perfectly shaped hedge plant.
The amount of money they must pay just to have their home look like a museum…
“Smile, Lark. You look like I’m taking you to your last supper or something.”
Baron’s attempt at a joke falls flat for me, but I paste on a smile and give his hand a squeeze. “Sorry, just preoccupied, Iguess.”
“With what? Isn’t the season over? All you have to worry about is planning the wedding of your dreams.”
Once again, his words don’t land the way I assume he means them to. My defenses go up. “I still have to work in the offseason, you know that. And planning a wedding in three months isn’t exactly easy.”
