Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian (29 page)

“What?” Brian had heard the words that had come out of her mouth, but his brain wasn’t processing them as being part of the English language. He waited to try and see if he could make sense of what she’d said, but he was lost. “How? What happened?” he finally asked after realizing that he needed more information if he had any chance at computing what she was telling him.

“Your dad took out a second mortgage on the house after my surgery. Then, there have been some complications since then.” His mom sucked in a shaky breath. “Nothing serious. Nothing we wanted to worry you guys about, but still, there were medical issues that had to be dealt with. It’s all added up. Also, your brother’s scholarship covered tuition, but we’re paying room and board. So without telling me, your father decided to take out a third mortgage with an astronomically high interest rate once Brittney decided to apply for all the Ivy League schools at the end of her junior year.”

She shrugged and lifted her hands. “I guess he really believed that she would get in. But then he got sick and he’s been trying to move things around, borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and I guess last month, right at the time we found out Brit got into Yale, all the financial balls he’d been juggling came crashing to the ground. That’s why he came back last week even though Dr. Corbin hadn’t released him and he’d promised both of us he wouldn’t. Because he was trying anything he could to fix this.”

His mom shook her head back and forth as she started breaking down again. “But there’s no fixing this. We’re going to lose everything.”

“No, you’re not, Mom.” Brian wrapped his arms around his mom and hugged her as he made a promise he wasn’t sure how he would keep. “We’ll figure something out. We’ll figure it out.”

Brian’s head was swimming. His heart was breaking for his mom and dad. He couldn’t believe the burden his dad had been carrying around with him for years. Brian knew things had been tight when his mom had been sick, but he’d had no idea it had gone on for years. And then, this last year, he had not one, not two, but three mortgages, plus the business.

No wonder he’d taken on so much work last week.

Whatever it took, Brian would fix this. He was not going to let everything his parents had worked for, and sacrificed for, go down the drain. He was not going to let them lose everything.

“C
an I get your autograph? Oh, and take a picture with you?” a young girl with a mouthful of braces asked Becca, who was sitting—hiding!—in a booth tucked back in the darkest corner of The Grill.

“Sure.” Becca tried to smile and be gracious as she signed the girl’s napkin and prepped herself to take another picture. “What’s your name?”

“Penny. My mom drove me here when I found out this was yours and Brian’s hometown, and then we were having lunch here and I told the waitress that I loved the show and asked her if she knew you and she said ‘yes’ and that they were having a viewing party tonight. But she didn’t say you were going to be here. My mom said we had to leave right after the show ends to get home. We live in Porterville. So I wanted to come ask you for your autograph and a picture before we have to go.” Penny was hopping up and down on her heels. Her excitement was palpable.

“Wow. That’s quite a drive,” Becca commented as she continued signing the small, square cocktail napkin.

Porterville was a four-hour drive to Harper’s Crossing. That was quite a trip just to see where someone lived. Becca felt like the very least she could do was give the girl an autograph and a picture.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here! You are my favorite character! Well, girl character at least,” Penny qualified.

“Thank you.” Becca felt her lips turn up in a smile. It was funny to hear herself referred to as a “character,” but she guessed that was exactly what she was. Handing the napkin back to Penny, she stood to take the picture and asked, “Who is your favorite guy?”

The girl pursed her lips together and looked truly torn. After a few moments, she sighed, lifting her hands in exasperation. “It’s a tie between Colton and Brian. I keep going back and forth.”

That’s because you haven’t met Brian,
Becca thought to herself. Colton was amazing, but he wasn’t Brian.

The woman, Becca assumed was Penny’s mom, snapped several pictures of Penny and Becca and then thanked Becca for her time. As the mother-daughter duo were walking away, Penny turned back and asked excitedly, “Is Brian coming here tonight?”

That was a good question
.

“I’m not sure,” Becca answered honestly as she returned to her hideout, a.k.a. the corner booth.

She’d gotten two texts from him since the show had started, the first saying that he’d be there in ten minutes, the second saying that something had come up and he wasn’t sure when he’d be there.

The show was half over and still no Brian.

Scooting to the center of the booth, where she was clouded in almost total darkness, she couldn’t help but wish that she were invisible. Watching herself on the show was bad enough, but seeing Brooklyn and Brian’s segments were almost more than she could stomach.

Which was totally ridiculous. She knew that there was nothing going on between Brian and Brooklyn, and even if there was (when they’d filmed this), it’s not like anything had happened between her and Brian yet. Still, it was killing her to see Brooklyn sit on Brian’s lap wearing nothing but a string bikini, run her fingers through his hair, and slow dance with him on the beach under the moonlight. All of those things made her sick, but the absolute hands-down, no-contest worst of the worst was watching them kiss.

After last night,
thinking
of Brian kissing someone else was bad enough, but seeing it on a seventy-two-inch television in HD was heartbreakingly unbearable. No amount of logic or reasoning seemed to help Becca process what she was feeling.

She knew what would help her—Brian. He would know just the right thing to say to make this sick feeling, in the pit of her stomach, go away. Heck, he might not even have to say anything. If Becca could just look into his honey-colored eyes, she knew she would feel better.

As they came back from commercial break and Becca saw herself and Colton when they’d been at the beach playing Frisbee on the screen, she wanted to hide beneath the table. No one should have to see themselves in a bikini, running through sand. It was not like
Baywatch
. It was not graceful. It was not cute.

Looking down at her wrist, she saw that it was seven forty. Twenty more minutes and she could get out of here. She’d thought about leaving with Haley, who’d left before the show even started. Emily hadn’t been feeling well when Eddie, Haley, and Em had arrived at The Grill, and before they’d even had a chance to order, Em had gotten sick in the bathroom.

Haley had offered to stay and let Eddie take Em home, but Becca assured her sister that she would be fine and she should go take care of her family. Becca hadn’t missed the relief that crossed her sister’s face when Becca let her off the hook. As much as she knew that Haley loved her and would do anything for her, she also knew where Haley’s heart was, and it was exactly where it should be—with her husband and daughter.

Becca knew that she could go sit with her cousins and their significant others and families. They were at tables spread throughout the dining area, and all of them had tried to talk her into joining them. But she really didn’t feel like watching the show with an audience.

So even after her sister had left, she’d stayed right where she was; in the back booth… in the dark.

People probably thought she was sitting by herself because her fifteen minutes of fame had turned her into a diva when, honestly, the exact opposite had happened. She didn’t want
any
attention at all.

Becca heard chuckles in the crowd and looked up to see Jax and Madison on the screen. They were arguing over who was going to get ready in the bathroom first. Neither of them looked to be backing down. It was seriously comical.

Before she knew it, she was laughing, and she immediately felt bad about it; like she was laughing behind Jax’s and Maddie’s backs. The only thing that made her feel better was that she was ninety-nine percent sure that their little tiff had been orchestrated for the cameras. She’d heard them strategizing about what they were planning on doing to get airtime as they all waited for their cars before they’d left on their fairytale getaways.

A commercial came on after Madison and Jax’s segment, and honestly, Becca wanted to personally call and thank the sponsors. Not because they were paying for the show. She was just so relieved any time her face or Brian and Brooklyn’s PDA weren’t on the screen.

She heard the hostess, whose stand was just around the corner from where Becca was sitting, say, “Table for one?”

Oh thank God
. Brian was here.

Becca scooted out of the booth, which ended up being a lot louder than she’d meant it to because she was wearing shorts and her bare skin slid against the vinyl. Luckily, no one noticed since the commercial was about fifteen times louder than the regular show.

When she straightened, she didn’t see Brian standing in front of her. But it was the next best thing. It was her mom.

Sandy was putting her keys in the side pocket of her purse (because if she didn’t do it right when she got somewhere, she would lose them) as she explained, “Hi, sweetie. Sorry I’m late. I had a ton of loose ends to tie up after the wedd—”

Before her mom could finish, Becca threw her arms around her mom’s neck and hugged her.

Her mom hugged her back and, after a few moments, asked, “Are you okay?”

Becca nodded. “I’m fine.” She felt herself getting teary and she didn’t want to cry in front of everyone in the restaurant, so even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she released her hold on her mom and scooted back in the booth.

Her mom’s brow knitted together as she followed her and sat beside her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” Becca nodded. “I just… I just missed you.”

Her mom patted her hand, her blue eyes filled with concern. “I missed you, too. I wanted to catch up yesterday, but you and Brian left before I had a chance to catch my breath. I’m so glad he took you home. Those dark circles under your eyes had me worried. Are you feeling better?”

Becca was about to answer when she heard her own voice coming from the television.

“Look how beautiful you are,” her mom said, glancing up at the television.

No, thank you
. If she looked up at the screen, then any minute it could show Brooklyn and Brian playing tonsil hockey, and she’d seen enough of that for a lifetime.

Probably sensing Becca’s non-interest in the show, her mom asked brightly, “Oooh, I’ve been wanting to ask you what Stone Castle was like.”

Instantly, Becca felt lighter. Everyone else wanted to know about Colton, what she thought about Brooklyn, what it was like ‘competing’ with her ‘best friend.’ But not her mom. Her mom wanted to know about the castle, which was the one thing Becca actually didn’t mind talking about.

“It was amazing—except for the spiders,” Becca answered.

Her mom’s eyes widened as her face scrunched up in an “Oh no!” expression. “I didn’t even think about
spiders
. But it makes sense, I mean, how long did it sit vacant?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but I know that it has stayed in the Stone family all these years. And that William Stone’s great-great-niece Avery is now the owner. She’s the one who rented it out to the show, and she said that she plans on either opening it to the public or, she’s even considering turning it into a hotel.”

“Wow. I would love to go see it.” Her mom had the same look in her eyes that Haley had over Colton.

If there was one thing that Sandy Sue Sloan fan-girled over, it was buildings and architecture. When Becca was growing up, every time her mom would see an old, abandoned schoolhouse or church, her eyes would light up and she would talk about how fun it would be to renovate it. Her dad would always say that it sounded more like a lot of work than a lot of fun. But her mom never let his Eeyore mood affect her happiness and excitement over the endless possibilities for whatever space she was coveting.

The bar area erupted in whistles,
woo
ing, and shouts of, “Go Brian!” Becca looked up at the screen and saw Brooklyn backing him up into their hotel room, sucking his face like she was a Hoover vacuum. The door shut, and as the camera panned around the bungalow, sounds of Brooklyn moaning and crying out filled the restaurant.

Becca felt tears instantly fill her eyes. She hadn’t even thought to ask him if he’d slept with Brooklyn. For some reason, she just assumed he hadn’t.

“You look tired. I’m going to take you home.” Her mom patted her hand as she was already scooting out of the booth.

“The show’s not over. I can’t go yet,” Becca said quietly. She did not want to make a scene by leaving before it even ended.

“Says who?” her mom asked. When Becca didn’t answer, her mom said, “Well, I’m your mom and I’m saying that I’m taking you home.”