Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Back to this again. She probably won’t take kindly to me offering to pay for her to upgrade to first class.
I love having money—all the money in the world. I wish I could use it to help others in town the way Ava is. She’s doing it anonymously, but how long will it stay anonymous? The family knows. Of course, as the members of my generation recently found out, my family is very good at keeping secrets.
Our parents kept some pretty treacherous ones from us our whole lives.
“All right, Maddie. But don’t say anything until I’m done, all right?”
Maddie stares at me, her head cocked. “Okay.”
“I want to upgrade you to first class. I want us to have this European experience together. We’ll sit together, be comfortable in our lie-back seats. We’re going to room together anyway. You’ve already agreed to stay in my room. I want you to share this with me too. Correction. I want to share this with you. Yes, I have the money to do this first class. I want to give this to you as a gift.”
“For Christ’s sake, Bree.” She shakes her head and sighs. “I think my family has made it pretty clear on where they stand with taking Steel money.”
“Brock is paying for Rory to go first class.”
“Brock and Rory are engaged. You and I are…”
“Friends,” I say. “The word you’re looking for, Maddie, is friends.”
She looks down at the bar. “Are we, though?”
“We’ve been through this, Mads. I wish I had known how uncomfortable you were feeling. How bad you were feeling about being left out. It’s my fault. It’s all our faults. We’re a very close-knit family, and we didn’t see outside our bubble. I’m so sorry for that.”
Maddie lifts her gaze to mine. “You know? I actually believe you, Brianna.”
“So you’ll take the gift I’m offering you?”
She looks down at her drink—a sidecar—that Ava just slid in front of her. I can’t personally stand sidecars. They’re way too sour. I drink straight Peach Street bourbon, like my father.
Maddie sighs. “You don’t know how much I want to take you up on your offer.”
“Then do it, Mads. I want you to. I want to do this for you.”
“My parents will hate it.”
“Do your parents even have to know? They’re not going.”
“I know that. But I don’t like keeping secrets from my parents. I don’t like keeping secrets from family.”
This time I sigh. “Maddie, I understand that more than you know.”
She looks back to me. “I do know. I know what your family’s been through the last several weeks. I’m sorry, Brianna. I’m sorry your family has such a spotted history.”
“Me too. But at least it has nothing to do with my parents. They were the victims.”
“I know.”
“Uncle Joe and Uncle Bryce took a more active role in keeping all the secrets.” I shake my head. “But I can’t stay mad at either of them. I love all my uncles and aunts. They were only doing what they thought was best.”
“Yeah. And my parents are doing what they think is best when they tell me not to accept handouts from the Steel family.”
“This isn’t a handout, Maddie. It’s a gift. Let’s do this. We’re practically family already. Callie’s going to marry my brother, and Rory’s going to marry my cousin. How much closer do we have to be?” I hop off my stool and kneel in front of her. “Will you…travel first class with me?”
Her features soften then as she laughs. “Get up, you idiot.”
I slide back onto my stool and look at Maddie. Really look at her. She’s quite pretty. Beautiful, actually. Of all three of the Pike sisters, she looks the most like their mother, Maureen, who was a local and regional beauty queen in her youth. Maddie’s nearly as beautiful as Rory with her dark hair and eyes, pink cheeks, and oval face.
It’s funny that I never think of her that way. I’ve always been so involved with the awesome foursome.
“Tell me something, Maddie.”
“What?”
“Why did you start calling us the awesome foursome?”
She absentmindedly swirls her sidecar in the glass. “Because there are four of you and you’re awesome.”
“No. I’m being serious.”
“And you think I’m not being serious?” She lifts the sidecar and takes a sip. “I’ve always envied you guys. You’re gorgeous, talented, rich. Who wouldn’t envy you?”
“But you’re also gorgeous.”
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “But I’m no Rory. And then there’s Callie, who’s also gorgeous and has the brains of a scientist. I’m just the afterthought. How can I compete with a big brother who’s got more talent in his little finger than I will ever have in my whole body, a sister who is widely considered the most beautiful woman in town, and another sister who has the brains to make something truly significant of herself? Not to mention that both of my sisters are engaged to Steels.