Page 69 of Finally Moore
As he takes in my tear-stained face, he steps closer and rests a hand on my shoulder. “Rhea, what happened?”
“Nothing.” I immediately wipe away the evidence that proves the contrary and shrug off his comfort.
“Scarlett,” he tries again. “I know you better than that. What happened?”
“You happened!” I shock not only him but myself with the accusation. “Why did you have to come here? Everything was fine. You guys were over there, living your happy little lives and I was here…existingin mine.”
“We came here to see you. I know what happened was wrong. I won’t even try to justify our actions. But it doesn’t change the fact that we missed you, all of us. I know it’ll take time, but I really thought we made some good headway this week.”
“Great.” I resume forcing the evidence of what was a perfect Christmas morning into oblivion. I want to dispose of it. Just like all the other memories from this past week. “I’m glad you guys feel better. I was really worried about that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have my life to pick up.”
“Look, we deserve that and a lot worse for what happened. I won’t ever try to convince you that we were somehow in the right, because we weren’t. And whenever you feel like letting loose all that anger you’ve been holding on to these past couple of years, I’m here for it. Lay it all on me. But right now, whatever is pissing you off, it isn’t me and Trisha. So, again, I ask, what happened?”
“You wouldn’t understand…” I shake my head and focus on cleaning. Anything to distract me from the mess this day has become. It was supposed to be simple: eat, open presents, hang out, hopefully have a repeat of this morning later tonight…
Now, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
“Try me,” Kasey presses. At my silence, he adds, “Fine, let me tell you what I think, and you can just… fill in the blanks. You roped your friend in to pretending to be your fiancé and somehow, in the middle of it all, you caught feelings and you’re now second-guessing everything.”
My jaw drops at the way-too-accurate summary.
“Don’t look so shocked, Rhea. For better or worse, we’ve known each other almost our whole lives. Besides…” Kasey leans into whisper. “…you may’ve always been a phenomenal actress, a natural, really. But I know you too well, Valentine. You might be able to fool others, but not me.”
“Does my mom or Trisha know?” My shoulders sag as realization sets in. The jig is up…
“No, lucky for you, it takes a great actor to sniff out another one. You really should’ve pursued it.”
“We both know I was never meant for the spotlight. I was always a behind-the-scenes kind of girl. So…” I cross my arms over my chest. “…did you know right off the bat, or did we slip up?”
“I had my suspicions. For starters, yourfiancé,” he says in air quotes, “is a terrible actor and wears his emotions on his sleeve, but some of it could be chalked up to nerves.”Valid point. “But I knew for certain it was fake the second you both stopped pretending.”
The tears I pushed down quickly emerge and threaten to break the surface.Can today get any worse?I find myself asking this question all over again.
I’m sure it could, and I really don’t want it to. I want to rewind everything back to this morning when I fell apart around Scott’s tongue. If I could, I’d live there forever.
“Now that we’re both on the same page and you can drop this little act, I ask again. What happened?”
I collapse onto the nearby sofa. With my elbows resting on my knees, I hold my head and rub my temples as I think. “Nothing… everything… Honestly, I don’t know. Things with Scott are so complicated. I want to believe this is real, more than anything. But… I just can’t. What if this is all some bout of temporary insanity-induced lust?”
“And if it’s not?”
“Here’s the thing about Scott… He’s been on this hunt, looking for hisone,and before we even started this whole charade, he told me he found her. But she’s still married or something, going through a separation?” Kasey looks as confused as I feel. “What if he’s just killing time with me? Having fun playing house while he waits for her. Then, when she’s free…”
“He dumps you? Like I did.”
“Yeah.” The tears fall freely now.
Kasey takes the seat next to me and drapes an arm over my shoulder. I lean into the familiar comfort. “First off, this is nothing like what happened between us. I loved you. I still do… but the love I feel for you isn’t the same as what I feel for Trisha. It took us being apart for me to realize it. I’m not trying to justify how things happened—it was shitty of Trisha and me. But it doesn’t make what we feel for each other any less true.” Kasey wipes away the trail of tears from my cheek. “Secondly, what if spending this time with you has made Scott realize what he thought he felt for this other woman wasn’t as true as he thought? What if everything he’s been looking for… he found in you?”
“I don’t think I have that kind of luck.” I shake my head.
No, I get pipes bursting and rings I don’t deserve.
“Really? Because I think if anyone is fate’s lucky pick, it’s you. A grandfather you didn’t even know leaves his legacy to you in this picturesque little town, where the man of your dreams is desperately searching for you in all the wrong places, and he just so happens to find you when a cluster of happenstances puts you both in a situation you’ve been avoiding. Sorry, Rhea, this is my business, and you can’t write that kind of manifest destiny.”
“You really think so?” The light catches the diamond on the ring, and for the first time since this morning, it looks like it belongs there. That I deserve what this inanimate object symbolizes.
“I know so.” Kasey smiles with a certainty I wish I felt. “How about this? Let’s keep this little secret between us. We’ll be out of your hair tomorrow and you two can sit down, have an honest conversation, find the reality in all the fiction, and then you can tell your mom.”