“She does?”
“Yes. They all do. I don’t know why I thought we could fly under the radar over there, but the cat’s out of the bag, and well, lass, they want to meet you.”
“That might not be a good idea, Taylor. If they meet me...”
“There’s no way they won’t fall in love with you.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “I don’t want to hurt them when we tell them the truth.”
“I can call her and tell her you can’t make it. She was planning... Well, they planned the whole wedding festival and party. They want you to help bring my grandfather some sense of peace and a happy memory before he dies. I told her you were too busy.”
“Oh, great. So now she thinks your wife is a cold, unfeeling American bitch.”
I chuckled. She didn’t know how right she was. “But it shouldn’t matter because they’ll never see you again. We’ll get divorced. We’ll be done with it.”
“But I’ll know, and try as I might, I can’t help but care what other people think of me. It’s a weakness, I know, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”
“So what do you want to do? You don’t seriously want to come with me. I thought your offer was more to make me feel better than anything else.”
“I think I have to. I’ll go with you, meet your family, and then go back to normal life.”
“So we’ll explain it to them when we get there.”
“No. What, are you new here? I don’t even have parents anymore, and I know that’s not a good idea.”
He frowned at me, but I continued.
“Listen, Taylor, here’s what we do. We go to Scotland. You give me the grand tour of the country I’ve never been to—preferably while you wear a kilt—and I charm the plaid off your family, make them happy, pretend I’m deliriously in love with you, and then we part amicably. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky, and you’ll get traded at the end of our year together, and you can use my business as the excuse for our divorce.”
Maybe she’d get lucky, and I get traded? I didn’t want to move. I liked Seattle. But then more possibilities with her plan tumbled around in my brain. I could prove to my dad that I wasn’t a fuckup. I could make my grandfather happy. My mother happy. I could also spend time with Becca, and a big part of me wanted that more than anything.
“Okay, but I’m warning you, I know how this goes. I’ve seen a rom-com or two in my time.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re going to fall so hard, you won’t want to let me go when our time is up.”
“There’s the cocky alphahole.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “You know you love him.”
“I tolerate him because he’s pretty.”
Then I winked. “Do you have your passport, love?”
“I do.”
“Well then, you’d better let Scarlett know you’re taking two weeks off starting next week.”
“And what are we going to do about the bakery?”
“I’ll hire staff to cover for you. I’m sure I can get someone.”
She let that roll over in her mind, puzzling it all out in her head for a minute before she locked eyes with me. “Okay, let’s go to Scotland.”
13
BECCA