She pasted on another fake smile. “Hey, guys . . . now seems like a great time to tell you that Wright and I have been sneaking around and having sex for the last week or so. We’re seeing each other behind everyone’s backs and never said a word to any of you because I was afraid of more family drama. So . . . Surprise!”
She planted her face in her hands.
Putting the truth off for another week or two was the wise choice. Already she’d be walking into turmoil and mistrust. That’s not how she wanted her public relationship with Wright to begin.
Wright would totally understand. He knew how her family could be; he’d been around them his whole life.
He practically was family.
“Oh god,” she muttered into her palms. Her brothers were going to be hurt and confused. More so that she’d lied to them, but also because this was Wright. And he’d lied to them too.
Secrecy seemed a great idea at the start, but they’d probably hurt their case more than helped.
She scrubbed her hands through her hair. They couldn’t come out with the truth now, though, regardless. That much she knew.
And Trevor.
Poor Trev. He was going to catch the brunt of everyone’s frustration, but surely he had some kind of plan or good intention in inviting Sue here. If Sophie could just keep everyone calm enough to let him explain, maybe things would be okay.
Peace would resume. Ensuring her family didn’t fall apart after how hard they’d worked and how far they’d come, that was her priority.
She went downstairs, but no one was in the great room. No one on the verandah or having breakfast in the restaurant. She wasn’t about to check the kitchen and have to see Wright.
She tried Roark’s office.
Inside, Roark sat at his desk. Across from him sat Dev and Trevor, tension stealing oxygen from the room.
“Good, you’re here.” Roark rose from his chair and ushered her in, closing the door behind her. “Mom isn’t down yet.”
Trevor turned to her as he got up.
“No, keep the chair.”
“It’s your chair.” He kept his voice low. “Besides, I’d rather not be too close to the action, if you know what I mean.”
Trevor took up his spot by the window, and she sat next to Devlin, feeling like a traitor. Maybe it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t shake the sensation.
A big, lying traitor.
Dev planted his elbow on the arm of his chair and leaned over. “Trevor was explaining how he’s been in touch with Mom since early spring.”
“Apparently, she’s been excited to hear how well things are going,” Roark added.
“And when Trev told her the news about my engagement, she wanted to see us all in person.”
Sophie met Trevor’s gaze and held it.
Roark scooted up to his desk, propping his arms on the ink blotter. “What I don’t get is why you didn’t tell us. Why would you keep that to yourself and keep us in the dark, especially about her coming here?”
“Okay, first of all, I didn’t invite her to show up last night. I just said I’d like her to come by sometime and we should make plans. My plan was to talk to all of you first and then invite her. Second . . . I don’t know. I haven’t mentioned talking to her yet because I knew y’all would be weird about it.”
Sophie finally spoke. “She’s your mother. You’re allowed to talk to her, no matter what anyone else thinks.”
Devlin threw one hand in the air and let it land on his thigh with a slap. “But never say a damn word about it? You’d keep something like that from us?”
Trev studied her, an expectant light in his eyes.
He wanted her to come clean about their talk. Admit she knew he’d reached out to Sue and that she was, if not supportive, then at least not completely opposed.
She refused to admit anything about her and Wright, but in this, she should speak up.
“I . . . He told me,” she confessed.
The total focus of all three of them turned to her.
“A few days ago, Trev told me he’d kept in touch with mom. He asked me what he should do and I told him I understood the need for secrecy. But I didn’t know about her wanting to come here or contact us or any of that.” She rushed to add the rest. “I only knew they talked.”
With a grumble, Roark scrubbed a hand over his face and through his hair. Dev stared at her like she’d kicked Beau.
“I couldn’t say anything.” She pleaded with him. “He asked me not to, and it wasn’t my truth to tell.”
He kept looking at her, and her guilty conscience grabbed hold, right before she shoved it back in favor of defensiveness. “Same way I never told anyone about you and Anna, even though I knew. And the same way I never ran my mouth about Roark and Madison. Don’t act like y’all have never kept secrets from the rest of us. We’ve all fibbed when it comes to our privacy.”
Her words penetrated the guilty fog hanging around her.
Shocking though it was, she was dead right. Every single one of her brothers had withheld the truth or downright lied about their personal lives. Why should she feel so guilty?
Roark shook his head as he leaned forward. “Dev not telling us about Anna isn’t the same as not clueing us in about our own mother showing up after years.”
And now the guilt was back.
“Who knows what she might want? What if she wants part of Honeywilde back?”
Trevor’s laugh reeked of sarcasm. “Come on. She does not want Honeywilde. This place damn near killed her and destroyed our parents’ marriage. Why would she want any of that back? Mom wants to make amends. That’s it.”
Dev turned in his chair to stare down Trevor. “Did she tell you that’s what she wanted? What she really wanted?”
“Yes.”
“Because she always tells the truth, right?”
“This isn’t helping.” Sophie cringed.
Trevor shoved away from the wall. “I wouldn’t have been in touch with her if I ever thought for one second that she’d try to take Honeywilde away from us. You should know that.”
“I know you’ve always hated this place and did everything you could to stay away.”
“Stop!” Sophie yelled, the last of her control splintering. Five minutes talking about the past and they were all back to the paranoid, scared little kids they were then.
Her brothers would start snapping at each other and it’d end in her family, her one little piece of foundation that she’d fought for, falling apart. She tried so hard. It couldn’t fall apart now. “Stop digging at each other. Stop being hurtful because you’re hurting. Just stop.”
The room went quiet as a tomb, the three of them staring at her again.
“If we’re all on the same side and stick together, it doesn’t matter what she wants. Amends or a piece of the inn. It doesn’t matter why she’s here. We can hear her out, listen if we want or ignore her. Please. If we have each other’s backs, we’ll be fine.”
Her brothers all stared.
She could barely feel her limbs, and she was holding her breath.
Her family had to keep it together through this. She’d fall apart otherwise.
Someone knocked on the door and they all jumped, but when the door cracked open, Wright’s sandy blond head popped in. “Just me. Checking to make sure you’re all okay.”
“We’re here. I don’t know about okay.” Dev waved him in, and Sophie avoided making eye contact.
Along with everything else in her life getting tossed upside down, she had her hidden relationship with Wright.
He might resent her for wanting to push back talking to her family, but she couldn’t toss that match onto the tinder pile of her family right now.
Wright took his usual spot near Trevor. At every meeting, she would share looks with Wright. It’s what they did, but not today.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
He meant too much to her now. What if he got more than a little upset about waiting
to tell everyone the truth? What if he hated her for asking him to wait?
What if he left her?
Roark sighed, and planted his hands on his desk. “We can’t stay holed up in here forever. We have jobs to do.”
They filed out of the office, and Sophie did her best to stay close to Dev. The closer she was, the less likely Wright was to intercept her.
“Soph,” Wright called to her once they hit the lobby.
Ignoring him would make her too much of a coward. If she talked to him, surely he’d understand.
Slowing her steps, she created some space between them and the others, but she still couldn’t look him in the eyes.
Once everyone was far enough away, Wright brushed his hand down her arm. “You okay?”
No, she wasn’t okay. Their mother was back, along with all of the emotions that came with her; her brothers were fighting again; and eventually, Sue would leave and she’d be left with the jagged pieces.
“I know. Stupid question. Why won’t you look at me?”
With a shaky breath, she forced her gaze to Wright’s. Her eyes burned, the knot in her throat threatening to give way to sobs.
“You’ll get through this.” He tried to reassure her, but he didn’t know the half of it.
The words came tumbling out as soon as she opened her mouth. “We can’t tell them about us yet.”
Wright blinked, the corners of his mouth turning down. “I kind of figured that was coming.”
“You know we can’t. Not now.”
A gruff sigh as he leaned away, crossing his arms. “I know. We can wait until Sue leaves.”
When Sue left, she’d leave the rubble of raw feelings in her wake. They couldn’t confess their affair in the middle of that. They’d be asking for a huge family blowout. “We need to give it a few weeks. Let the dust settle and then maybe we can talk to my brothers.”
“A few weeks?” Wright’s volume rose as he scowled.
“Shhh.” She stepped toward him, moving them back toward the office and away from the great room. “Yes, a few weeks.”
“I can’t—That’s too long.”
“It’s not too long. What does it matter if we tell them now or next month?”
His eyes wide, he searched her face, then the room around them. “It matters to me. I can’t wait that long. We shouldn’t have to wait that long.”
“Before, you were willing to wait however long it took. You said we’d be casual. Whatever I wanted.”
“I know, but . . . but things are different now. What if waiting one month turns into two or three? Soph, your family could always have some kind of upheaval.”
“No, they won’t.” Defensiveness stiffened her spine.
“Now it’s this, then it’s Dev’s wedding. There’s never going to be a good time. Not anytime soon.”
“My family needs me right now. Who do you think holds the pieces of this family together?”
“You do. That’s exactly my point. I know better than anyone how strong you are. How hard you work to keep this family and this business together. You bend over backward when it comes to saving other people, but I’m not talking about other people. I’m not talking about your brother or your mother or work. I’m talking about you. About us. And you running and hiding from what we could have.”
“When have I ever run from us?”
He gave her a stare hard enough to cut glass.
“We both decided not to tell anyone what we were doing.”
“No, you decided, because you’re scared to so much as bump the apple cart, and I agreed. Because I want to be with you.”
“That’s not . . .” But it was true. Twice he’d been ready to walk right up to her brothers and tell them. He’d only stopped at her request.
“I’ve watched you run every time you had a chance at a personal life. A shot at some happiness of your own. I don’t want to be that guy.”
“You’re not that guy. But we can’t tell them now. You have to see it’s impossible.”
“Waiting weeks and weeks is impossible. Because you’re not just waiting. You’re pulling away. You wouldn’t talk to me or even make eye contact last night, and you’ll barely look at me now. And you don’t want to tell anyone about us for weeks? Months? What am I supposed to think?”
Tears swelled, threatening to spill. “Why does it have to be right now, though? Why can’t we wait until next month?”
His gaze shot from hers, his posture stiffer as everything about him tensed. “Because we’re ready. You told me how you feel. You know how I feel.”
“That’s not it, though.” Alarms went off in her head. A lifetime of waiting for disaster to strike meant seeing the signs.
Signs she should’ve seen before now, but she’d been blind. Blinded by her feelings for Wright. “Wright. What are you not telling me? Why can’t we wait a few weeks to tell my brothers about us?”
“Because I don’t have weeks to wait.” He spat out the words before stepping away.
She stared, frozen, as he scrubbed a hand over his face, his feet moving as he went nowhere. “I . . . shit. I wanted to talk to you about this last night. Or today. Before we told your brothers about us. I . . . I have these really great opportunities. For me, for us. And I’m taking them. Well, one of them. And I wanted to talk to you about them before I decided.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A job offer, from one of the top restaurant groups in the country. They want me to be head chef at their new flagship location, in Asheville. I have an offer for assistant chef in Charleston too, but that’s farther away and—”
“Charleston?” Her heart twisted as it raced, her vision narrowing until the only thing she saw was Wright. And he was talking about leaving her.
“I was going to tell you last night. I didn’t officially accept either one yet, but I need to give them an answer sooner than a few weeks from now.”
“You’re leaving Honeywilde?”
“I’m not leaving leaving. If I take the one in Asheville, I’m maybe an hour outside of Windamere.”
She shook her head, all of his extra words floating past her. “You’re leaving.”
“No. Soph. I’m not—”
“Don’t Soph me. How long have you known you’re leaving?”
“I haven’t accepted yet.”
“No. How long have you known?” It took a while to find any new job, but a chef’s job took several months.
“I . . . I’m not sure. I think I started looking early spring. Maybe March.”
“March?” She raised her voice as well, and didn’t care. “And you said nothing?”
“We weren’t dating then, and there for a while you weren’t talking to me at all. Remember?”
“Don’t give me that crap. I’ve talked to you plenty since then. Done a hell of a lot more than talk too. And not once in that entire time did you even think about telling me you wanted to leave Honeywilde?”
He opened and closed his mouth. Like he had any right to be indignant. “I couldn’t even get you to admit you wanted to be with me until two days ago. What was I going to do? Say, ‘Hey Soph, check it out. I know you might drop me like a hot rock at any second, but I have these great job opportunities in Charleston or Asheville or New York. And I was wondering, if I left Honeywilde, how you would like to commit to being my girlfriend.’”
She curled her hands into fists. “You got an offer from New York?”
“Yes. I did. And I turned it down because I don’t want to lose you. Okay? I know if I go to New York, that’s the end of us. And I don’t want that.”
“So I’m holding you back.”
“God dammit, Sophie. That’s what you hear when I say all of that? That’s what you think?”
With blurry vision, she looked around, shrugging. She didn’t know what to think anymore.
“I don’t want to go to New York. This is home to me. You are where I want to be.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me anyth
ing about any of this?”
“Because it was too soon. You were scared of upsetting your family, skittish about being with someone. I didn’t want to mess things up with you. I knew you’d freak out. Until you told me you wanted to be with me, that you were ready to be together, really together, I was scared I’d lose you.”
Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “And leaving Honeywilde is the solution to not losing me?”
“No, but it sure as shit isn’t the problem here either. No matter what I do, I’m not going far. This”—he jabbed his finger back and forth between them—“our problem isn’t me and some new job. This is about you putting your happiness on hold, again, because your family is a wreck and you’re scared. This is about you serving time as . . . as some kind of punishment or penance because you’re still alive and your parents aren’t.”
“Screw you!” Sophie spat out the words, with tears in her eyes and her hands in fists. “Don’t you dare throw that up in my face. I trusted you.”
“Whoa. What’s going on?”
Sophie spun, her gaze landing on Dev. “Wright is leaving Honeywilde.”
Dev’s face fell. “What?”
Next to her, Wright stumbled over his words. “That’s not—I have some job offers. But that’s not the issue here.”
“Like hell it isn’t.” She turned on him again.
“What is going on?” Dev stepped right in the middle of their argument, his eyes tired.
“Sophie thinks I’m abandoning her. But I’m not.”
He was leaving, had planned to leave for months, and hadn’t said a word about it. Not when they were friends, and certainly not when they were lovers. “Then what do you call it?”
“A great opportunity. For me, for us.”
A pained noise escaped her throat, clawing its way up from her heart. “How can it be an opportunity for us when you were interviewing with groups from New York and God knows where else, and you never said a word about it to me?”
“I was going to tell you. Last night. But then all this shit happened and you stopped talking to me. Again.”
The pain spread, from her heart to her limbs. Everything went numb, her hearing fuzzy. She was too young for a heart attack, but not too young for a broken heart.
A Taste of Temptation Page 23