LOVE on The Horizon (Breaking The Rules #1) (22 page)

“I only came by to wish you guys a happy Thanksgiving. I’m on duty tonight,” Ginny said while Sam’s eyes drilled holes right through me. I was seconds away from asking him what his fucking problem was; the only thing stopping me was how much that would upset Rebecca.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a nurse,” she responded with a smile. “I love it, except for when I’m called in on holidays.”

Minutes later, Rebecca walked in, holding a glass of red wine for each of us. “Thanks,
bella
.”

She smiled and sat on the arm of my chair. “Ginny, have you set a date yet?”

“Not yet.” Ginny fiddled nervously with her modest engagement ring and suddenly looked close to tears. “Sam’s been so busy at work it’s been difficult to think that far ahead.” I noticed she and Sam kept distance between them when they sat on the couch, and he never so much as glanced at her as she spoke. “What about you two?” she asked quietly.

Rebecca chuckled, placing her arm around my shoulders. “We just got engaged a few days ago. We haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“Maybe you’ll elope tomorrow. Your middle name is impulsive, right, sis?” The accusing tone in Sam’s voice caused Rebecca to flinch beside me. “How long have you two known each other? Three months?”

“Don’t be a jerk, Sam.”

“I’m a jerk because you come home with a perfect stranger and claim you’re engaged?”

“He’s not a perfect stranger.”

“Really? You could possibly know everything about him in such a short amount of time?”

“Okay, say what you have to say so we can move on.”

“Fine. What the hell is going on with you?” He barked across the room. “You take off without a good-bye, jump on a cruise ship, and show up months later, engaged? What the fuck, Rebecca?”

“Samuel!” Mrs. Stanton scolded.

“No, Ma. It needs to be said. It’s time to stop coddling her. Her crazy antics have always been cute, but now they’re just stupid and irresponsible!”

Rebecca stood abruptly, taking a step closer to her brother. “Really, Sam? Let’s not get into who’s the stupid one here.”

Sam glared at Rebecca and said, “Because meeting a man and getting engaged in three months was brilliant?” 

Rebecca placed her wine on the side table and wordlessly walked up the stairs. Without hesitation, I followed, opening the door to her room and not bothering to knock.

“I’m so sick of him interfering in my life,” she blurted out before I had both feet through the door.

I closed the door behind me and moved to sit beside her on the bed. “He cares about you, and he thinks it’s his job to protect you.”

“Well, it’s not. He has his own problems to deal with. He should be worrying about marrying the wrong girl.” She looked up at me with tears shimmering in her ocean blue eyes.

I reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear, asking, “Ginny is not the right girl?”

“No. He’s making a huge mistake marrying Ginny, and it’s not fair to her. She loves him so much, but my brother loves someone else.” She shook her head in disbelief. “He of all people should know better than to judge others. His life is a clusterfuck of mistakes.” One of the tears escaped and slowly rolled down the side of her face. I wiped it away, my heart squeezing tightly in my chest as I did.

Emotions were running high on both sides, and Rebecca and I were completely caught in the middle.

I wanted nothing more than to suggest we leave, run toward our future and away from all this negativity. But I couldn’t be the one to tell her that; she needed to make that decision on her own.

Instead, I said responsibly, “The bottom line is they love you. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t care this much.” I stood and offered my hand. “Come.” She waited a pause before placing her hand in mine. “Let’s try to have a pleasant dinner and celebrate all that you and I have to be thankful for.”

My mom and dad were dealing with a turkey crisis in the kitchen when we came back downstairs. Their bickering filtered into the living room where we found Sam and Cooper talking quietly.

“You can stop talking trash about me, Sam,” I said when we walked into the room.

Unlike Sam, Cooper’s face lit up when he saw me. “Becks!” He stalked over to me and immediately pulled me into a headlock to give me a noogie.

“Stop!” I squealed, resorting to pinching his nipple to force him to release me.

“Ow, you little witch.” My method worked, as it always did. Once we straightened, he pulled me into another hug and said, “Seriously, Becks, I really missed you, kiddo.”

“I missed you, too.”

Cooper and I weren’t as close as Sam and I were, but we also didn’t fight as much as Sam and I did. As the middle child of five, Coop was often the peacemaker between us all. My friends all thought Sam was adorable, but they swooned over Coop. His hair was always longer than my other brother’s, his scruff heavier, his clothes trendier, and his attitude more laid-back. He taught English Lit at Ocean County College, which made him a pure-hearted romantic who had yet to find his soul mate.

“Coop, this is Marco. Marco, this is my brother, Cooper.”

“Nice to meet you.” My brother put his hand out instantly, and Marco accepted with a polite hello. Cooper moved his eyes back to me with a warm smile playing on his lips. “You look good, Becks.”

“Thanks.” I moved to stand beside Marco and wrapped an arm around his waist. “I’m happy. I wish the rest of this family would realize that.”

“You were also happy when you got a hamster and then a few weeks later released him in the backyard when you were sick of cleaning his cage,” Sam said before tilting his beer to his lips.

“You’re such an asshole. Seriously. Why can’t you be happy for me?”

“Because I’m pissed at you.”

“Yeah, I get that.” I sat heavily on the couch, exhausted by him and his attitude. “Guess what? Ditto.” He narrowed his eyes, but purposely chose not to respond to my comment. Marco joined me, the grim look on
his face
was hard to ignore. My man was miserable, and it was breaking my heart.

I felt like we were thirteen and twelve all over again. No one on earth aggravated me like Sam could…yet no one could make me laugh as hard as he could either.

“I didn’t take off to hurt you, Sam. I was lost and I needed a change.”

“It’s not the fact you took off to find yourself, Becks. I get that. It’s that you took off with barely a good-bye.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You weren’t here to see Mom crying every day because she missed you so much, or Dad running to answer the phone every time it rang, thinking that was the time you’d finally call.”

“I called as often as I could.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

A lump of remorse formed in my throat. Thinking back to the day I left, I’d practically run out of here. For the first time in my life, I’d put my needs above the rest of theirs. I didn’t regret that part. And I really couldn’t regret leaving as I did because, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met Marco.

Nonetheless, his words stung.

“Knock it off, Sam,” Coop said with an eye-roll.

“Stop defending her. It’s time she grew up.”

Before I could respond, Marco did for me. “I can assure you your sister is very grown-up and one of the most mature people I know.” He put an arm around my shoulders before adding, “I love your sister, and I will spend every day for the rest of my life making sure she’s happy. If that’s what you’re worried about, there’s no need.”

If it were at all possible, I fell more in love with Marco in that one moment.

Sam cut his eyes to Marco but didn’t respond.

It hurt that two of the most important men in my life may never get along. I could bet money to guess what Sam was thinking. He probably felt Marco would be gone sooner rather than later, just like every other man I had ever dated. It had to be more than just me leaving and coming back engaged.

Something was bothering him. Even when we fought, I could still see the spark in his eye that made Sam who he was. It was missing now, and I ached to know what was really going on with him.

“Where’s Ginny?” I asked to change the subject.

“She had to go to work.”

Ginny was a nurse and a good one at that. Her sweet, kind, compassionate personality was a perfect fit with her career choice. She and Sam were the same age and met when Sam dated Ginny’s best friend, Lydia. Lydia’s family ended up moving to California during their senior year. She left with promises of a long-distance relationship until she and Sam could apply to the same college. Over time, Lydia’s calls came less frequently until one day they stopped altogether.

Sam was devastated, and Ginny was there for him. That’s when their friendship slowly turned into more.

“I get you’re hurt. When you got engaged a few months ago without telling me, I was hurt too, but I was still happy for you.”

Sam met my eye and a flash of compassion passed over his face, but it was gone as quickly as it came. There was so much I wanted to tell him, so much I wanted to convince him of. Mainly what a good man Marco was and how lucky I was to have found him. But this was neither the time nor the place, and instead of sharing words, the only thing we shared at that moment was a weighted silence.

Thankfully, dinner wasn’t as torturous as I feared it would be. For a while, I thought the worst was over. That was until Cooper and Mom started a nice conversation with Marco regarding Italy and his career path as a cruise director. Sam and Dad were in the middle of their own heated discussion regarding why the Giants were playing so pitifully when Sam suddenly stopped midsentence and asked Marco, “What made you choose that as your career?”

Marco suspiciously met his gaze before responding, “It was something I had wanted to do since I was a little boy. I considered it an honor to help people have the best time of their lives, one week at a time.”

“It sounds like your family’s business would have been the more natural career path to take. What is it they import?”

“Olive oil and Italian specialties that are hard to find elsewhere.”

“Oh, kind of like the mob does?”

If I could have stabbed my brother with my butter knife, I would have. Marco clamped his jaw tightly as he dragged in a deep breath through his nostrils. “No, not like the mob does. My family is not involved in illegal activity of any kind. Not every Italian is in the mafia.”

The look of death my mom and I threw Sam’s way could have been the reason he changed the subject, but it was most likely the one he received from Marco.

People who knew Sam often felt his ball-busting ways sometimes bordered on being prick-like, but today his prick-ness was off the charts.

From the way Marco kept his fists clenched on his thighs, I knew he was hanging on by a thread. Being here was killing him, and that was killing me. I decided right then and there that we’d leave in the morning.

During dessert, I reached for his hand and whispered, “I love you.”

“Me too,” he said automatically.

After the men helped clear the table and leftovers, I pulled him aside. “Why don’t you go get some air while I help Mom finish up and then we’ll go for a ride?”

He turned his head and attempted a smile. “Okay.”

Marco excused himself, while my brothers and dad plopped themselves on the couch to watch football.

I watched through the window as he walked out onto the patio. The look on his face spoke volumes. As my mother handed me the last pot to dry, rambling on about the meal and all the things she may try differently next year, my eyes were glued to my fiancée.

“I think everything came out delicious, though, right?” she asked for the tenth time. “Do you think he enjoyed it? He didn’t eat much.”

“Everything was delicious, Mom. I’m sure Marco loved it,” I responded mechanically.

She dried her hands and smiled when she turned to face me. “Sweetheart, he’s a lovely man and I can see how much he cares about you. Your dad and Sam will come around once they get to know him better.”

We won’t be around to see it if and when they do,
I thought to myself.

“Why don’t you stay for the holidays, relax and enjoy some family time? Griffin and Janis should be home next week. The kids miss you.”

“Mom, we need to get back. Ricky is waiting on us to start the process. Besides, Marco and I are anxious to begin a life together in Florida.”

“Why can’t you just take some time to think it through first? This new business will be around in six months, even a year from now. You can stay here with us until you’re both sure this is what you want…or until you’re sure he’s who you want.”

“We are sure this is what we want, and most importantly, I am sure he’s who I want.” I threw the dishtowel down on the counter in frustration.

Was I speaking Chinese?

Why was it so hard to believe we fell in love in such a short amount of time? Who was to say that time was the only guarantee to a happily ever after when starting a new relationship? I knew so many couples who didn’t have a sliver of the love and mutual respect that Marco and I shared, even after being together for years.

“Well, then stay a while just to be with us. We miss you. Once you get to Florida, who knows when we’ll see you again?”

“We can’t.”

Her lower lip quivered as tears welled in her eyes. She walked closer to where I leaned against the counter and placed a gentle hand against my cheek. “Just remember this is your home. And if things don’t work out, you’re always welcome to come back.”

I nodded quietly to appease her. I could argue I wasn’t coming back until I was blue in the face, but what would be the point?

My family didn’t work this way—and when I say this way, I meant the crazy, impulsive way I usually handled things. Everything they did was planned, carefully thought out, debated, and argued until there wasn’t a doubt in their minds their choices made the most sense. And their methods held true whether they were buying a new toaster or new house.

I wasn’t sure where I went awry. I was so different from every one of my siblings, as well as my parents, so much so that I often wondered if maybe I was adopted.

Deep, masculine voices arguing in the backyard had our heads swinging toward the window. My gut clenched with anxiety when I saw Sam and Marco nose-to-nose, standing on the patio behind the house.

I ran outside with my mother close behind.

“What is it you get out of all this?” Sam lashed out viciously.

“I get Rebecca beside me.”

“Or behind you? She has absolutely nothing to contribute to your little multimillion-dollar project, so maybe this is your sick way of controlling her? Keeping her secluded, keeping her from us? Maybe she’ll be your trophy wife, a convenient concubine at home with other whores in every port?”

One swing of Marco’s arm landed one punch to my brother’s face.

Damage done.

Irreversible.

Never to be taken back.