Page 65 of In the Dark

“Oh, let the lovebirds live. We’ve lived long enough to see it all.” Lucille chuckled at her old age. She wore it as a medal of honor rather than something she was trying to hide. I took a breath and then looked at Jasmina, who was actually blushing like she could take all the rest she’d endured with me but not this.

“Lovebirds?” my mother scolded her friend. “That’s not what this—”

“Mother,” I cut her off and faced her to give her a cool look, “meet my fiancée, Jasmina.”

I had to give it to Jasmina, she at least tried. She stepped forward and murmured a “hello” and “nice to meet you both.”

Lucille pulled her in for a hug immediately and started chatting her ear off about the wedding, because of course all of Paradise Grove had started to buzz about it. “I’m excited about the wedding. I can help if you need,” the spry older woman dressed in a beautiful pink wool dress asked.

“Lucille, don’t worry. My bride has it under control.”

She assessed Jasmina like a shrewd businesswoman before sticking out her manicured hand. “I’m part of the Diamond Syndicate, as you probably know, and at your disposal if you need help with floral arrangements or anything further.”

“Floral arrangements?” Jasmina inquired slowly, knowing that’s not all she was offering.

“Among other things.” She smiled. “Let me put my number in your phone.”

“Lucille,” I sighed, not wanting the woman to meddle because I knew she was very good at that. “You know as well as I do the wedding is happening rather soon, and—”

“Yes. Quite soon, which means she needs all the help she can get, Callahan. Don’t forget to ask Mia and Olive for help too. They’ll be happy to lend a hand.” She chattered on with Jasmina, but my mother held my gaze as she whispered to me.

“Callahan, this is an arrangement, not an actual engagement. Must you make out in public?” My mother hated the optics, but she’d have to deal with them.

“In private is fine too if that suits you better.” I rocked on my heels as I watched Jasmina smirk at something Lucille was saying. She never cowered, never was openly rude with others except me, and she always seemed to win over the person she was talking to. Lucille shared something about how she crocheted too now.

My God.

My mother smoothed her dark hair and narrowed the eyes that were the same color as mine before she tutted. “She’s a Ruiz, and you should remember that even while you’re married, Callahan. Even if she wins over all of Paradise Grove.” She patted my cheek, and a silent conversation passed between us: one where she knew I didn’t trust her the way I once did, but one where she was trying to build that trust again. “I’m just trying to help. She’s not one of us, Cal. Nor will she ever be.”

She kissed my cheek and left us with Lucille walking alongside her.

Jasmina stared at them walking off and mumbled, “Well, one woman in this whole godforsaken Paradise might like me.”

“You didn’t threaten to poison her.”

“If a man flirted with me right in front of you—”

“There would be no threats, Jasmina. I’d kill him.”

She rolled her eyes, but I saw the small smirk before she pointed to the door. I opened it and she got in.

“Your mother doesn’t like me.” She said it as a fact, not a question, as I wove through the streets of Paradise Grove.

She scoffed at a few women waving to me. “But then again, I’m guessing most women in Paradise Grove won’t like me.” She lifted an eyebrow at me. It was true. I had a reputation with the ladies, that was for sure. And now I wasn’t sure if I wanted Jasmina exposed to it.

“People are going to be wary, Jas. And my mother hates anyone outside her circle, but she was never a great judge of character. Didn’t give Mia the benefit of the doubt either. So, just ignore her … and them.”

I saw her gray eyes peering at me with curiosity. “Sure you don’t want me to kiss their feet, invite them over for tea while I talk wedding plans?” Her voice was saccharine as she continued. “Maybe your mother wants a say in the wedding festivities?”

“A pretty wedding won’t make her happy, and I don’t care about what the Diamonds think of our marriage.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

What could I say? Family dynamics were murky, tangled webs that had been woven by generations before us. She knew that just as well as I did.

Still, she kept prying further, “For someone willing to sacrifice his whole love life for his family and business, you’re very quick to abandon the nuances of making your mother and other Diamonds happy.”

Her comment hit close to home in a way I didn’t want it to. “I don’t have a love life to sacrifice, Jasmina.” I shrugged. “I sleep with women. I don’t love them. And I can still do that once we’re married.”