Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“How’s he doing anyway?” I asked before he could respond. “Really doing?”
Wyatt’s shoulders drooped. “I don’t know. He won’t say much to me. He’s keeping his head up and pretending like nothing is wrong. Mom told me the immune therapy seems to be helping, but he’s too proud to admit any of it to me.”
“That’s so frustrating. Why does it have to be a secret?”
“I honestly think he’s just trying to get through to this wedding.”
I dropped my head as the weight of it all crashed down on my shoulders. This wedding. Which had started out fake and was getting more and more real as the days went on. A reality that I couldn’t even deny that I liked. I wanted what Gavin and I had to be as real as it felt to be in his arms. It didn’t alleviate some of the guilt though that it had all started out as a lie.
For a moment, I wanted someone else to know. Someone who was dealing with all the same stuff with my parents as me. Someone who had known me my whole life.
“About the wedding …”
Wyatt frowned. “Please don’t tell me that you’re breaking it off. I don’t think I could keep Mom together if you did.”
I shook my head. “What? No, Gavin and I are getting married.”
“Okay, good. I just … you know … I never thought you’d get married. I couldn’t believe it when Curt told me that he’d seen you in Midland.”
“So, that is how Mom found out!”
“Well, no. I wanted you to be the one to drop that bomb on her. But someone at church got to her first. I had to act surprised when she told me.”
“Jesus,” I grumbled.
He cracked up and shook his head. “So, what about the wedding?”
“Gavin and I … it’s not … it didn’t start out … real.” I stumbled over the words, unsure of how to get them all out.
Wyatt’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“Like, I was covering for him. He’d told his family that he had a girlfriend and well, I’m a bad girlfriend. So, I went to the wedding as his fake fiancée. We were going to break up when we got home and then when Mom and Dad showed up, we decided to go through with it for them.”
Wyatt seemed to take a moment to consider this. “That is such a Whitley story.”
I laughed and smacked his arm. “It’s true. The whole relationship was fake.”
“But it’s not fake anymore,” Wyatt said. His eyes shifted down to the festival again. “I know you, Whit. I’ve known you your whole life. You’ve never looked at anyone the way you look at Gavin King. If you don’t love him, I don’t know what love is.”
I flushed at the comment. At the ease with which my brother saw right through me. “I … I …”
“Just because it’s the person our parents want for you doesn’t make him the wrong person.”
“I didn’t say that,” I said defensively.
He laughed. “Yeah, but I know you. He’s good for you. You two look so happy together. I haven’t known him long, but I can tell, Whit. There’s a reason you agreed to go through with this with him. And there’s a reason you’re going to stick it out.” He touched my arm. “Just let yourself be happy, okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered as tears came to my eyes. I hastily swiped them away. “Thanks.”
“What are big brothers for?”
“Generally? Being a dick and beating me up in middle school.”
Wyatt laughed. “Hey, you’re the one who stole my high school girlfriend.”
I shrugged with my hands out at my sides, giving him my best look of innocence. “Some people just have more game.”
He rolled his eyes. “Get inside. You’re ridiculous.”
I waved him off and headed inside to find my mom. I was glad that we’d had that talk even if it hadn’t gone at all how I’d expected it to. At least he’d kept me from obsessing about what my mom had in store for me.
When I stepped inside the country club ballroom, I was surprised to find it empty, save for my mom. Some part of me had been expecting her to throw some big, elaborate party with all the women that I’d hated growing up. But it was just my mom, holding an envelope and a small box.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi, Mom. What’s this?”
She smiled down at the box and then back at me. “I wanted to throw you a party, but with the festival, there wasn’t time. Plus, I didn’t think you really wanted one.”
“I didn’t,” I admitted. Not that I’d thought she’d accept that.
“Also, I saw how small your apartment is in the city. Even when you move in with Gavin, you won’t have that much space. What’s the point of having things when you have nowhere to put them?”