The Substitute (36 page)

“Why would I do that?”

He gave her a soft smile, but it was full of sadness.

“Does this have to do with what happened with Blair and Noah at the restaurant?”

Surprise flickered on his face and he rolled to his side, bringing her with him. He grabbed the blanket next to him and flipped it over to cover them both to their waists. “What do you know about it?” he finally asked.

“Nothing. Only that Noah must have done something terrible to make you hit him like that, and I suspect Blair instigated the whole thing since she was hot on your heels when you came back from the restroom.”

His body stiffened below her. “Noah betrayed me.”

What could that mean? “Does this have to do with your business decision or me?”

His hand tangled in her hair and tightened. “Both.”

Both?
“And Blair was involved.”

Wariness filled his eyes. “She loves you, Megan. She’s going to do what she thinks she needs to do to keep you safe.”

Megan pushed up on her elbow. “What did she do?”

A gentle smile lit up his eyes and his hold on her hair loosened, but he continued to play with the loose strands. “It doesn’t matter. She’ll tell you tomorrow, I’m sure.” He searched her eyes. “I thought about talking to you about this first, but I’ve decided to let her. I know her version and you know most of mine. All I ask is that you think of what we have—what I’m so desperate to keep—before you make up your mind.”

What was he talking about?

“But if you decide you believe me and you believe that I care about you, I still want to go through with the ceremony tomorrow. Let’s give Knickers her last hurrah.”

“You really want to go through with
the wedding?
”

“Yeah, but don’t worry. I’ll stick with the plan and tell her I lost the marriage license. You’ll be off the hook, but Knickers will still get her fancy party. We’ll figure out this—you and me—later.”

It was still a crazy idea, but for some reason it didn’t seem so crazy anymore. She would do it for him. “Okay.”

He took her hand in his. “I’ll take you home in the morning, and I’ll be at the gardens in time to do my part tomorrow afternoon. If you decide to go through with it, I want to talk to you before the wedding, before you go down the aisle.”

“But—”

“Please.”

“Knickers will have a
fit
if she knows you’ve seen me in my dress before the wedding,” she said, trying to look serious. It didn’t last; her face broke out into a huge grin. “Count me in.”

A smile spread across his face. “That’s my girl.”

She lay her head on his chest, desperately hoping she really was.

Megan and Josh spent the night under the stars, making love until the sun rose. They went for breakfast before he drove her back to her parents’ house.

He turned to face her once they were parked in the driveway. “I feel like I should walk you to the door,” he teased, taking her hand in his.

She chuckled. “Trust me, you don’t want to do that right now.”

His smile fell. “Then maybe I
should
go with you. You shouldn’t have to deal with the fallout from last night on your own.”

She leaned over and kissed him, her lips lingering on his. “I love that you want to protect me from my mother. But I think it’s time I started standing up for myself.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to go through with the wedding?”

She paused, studying his face. “No, as strange as it sounds, now that I’m used to the idea, I kind of want to do it. What about you?”

He didn’t answer her for several seconds. “I want what
you
want, Megan. From here on out, you’re calling all the shots. You want to have the wedding, we’ll do it. If you change your mind and decide to say screw it all and hop on a plane back to Seattle, we can do that too.” He hesitated and swallowed. “And if you decide you don’t want to see me again, you only have to text me and tell me to go to hell.”

She forced a smile. “I can’t break it off. I don’t have your number.” How could that be? How could she have experienced so much with this man and still not have his cell phone number? Maybe because they had spent nearly every minute together.

“Give me your phone.”

She dug it out of her purse and turned it on, entering her passcode before she handed it to him.

He entered his number and gave the phone back to her. “See you at our wedding.”

She reached for the door handle, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, kissing her as though he was never going to see her again. “Josh, you’re scaring me.”

“Maybe that’s because
I’m
scared, Meggie.”

“Tell me what Blair’s going to tell me.”

He shook his head. “I want you to decide for yourself.”

She got out and walked to the house, checking her phone before she walked through the door—there were multiple missed calls and voice mails from her mother, as well as calls, texts, and messages from Blair, Libby, and her brother. And there was one text from Jay.

Call me.

She pressed delete. She never wanted to hear from that asshole again.

The front door opened before her hand could reach the knob.

“Where have you been?” Her mother’s voice was icy. “I’ve been worried sick about you. I was about to call the police.”

“The police? Why would you call the police?”

“Josh punched his brother in the face, then dragged you to off to God knows where. I was frightened for you, Megan…” Her mother’s voice broke.

Oh, God. She really
had
been worried.

Megan pushed her shock aside and wrapped her mother in a hug. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m fine. We both just needed to get away. I was getting cold feet, and Josh knew I needed some time alone with him to sort everything out.” She shut the door behind her, then hastened her mother into the living room, where Gram sat munching from a box of fiber cereal.

They’d only just walked in when Kevin stalked in from the kitchen, a coffee cup in his hand. He set it down on the end table next to the sofa. “Did he threaten you?” he demanded of her, the veins on his neck bulging.

Megan released her hold on her mother and turned to look at Kevin. “What? No!”

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Gram said, still crunching on her cereal. “So Megan wanted to have one last night as a single woman.” She grabbed another handful. “You can’t blame her for wanting wild, single sex.”

Knickers’ face turned beet-red. “Mother!”

“Gram,” Megan laughed. “I don’t think it counts if you’re having wild, single sex with the man you’re marrying.”

Kevin looked even angrier. “I do
not
want to hear about my little sister’s wild sex. Especially with that violent asshole.”

She shook her head. “Josh would never hurt me. His brother did something related to their business that he saw as a betrayal.”

“
Their
business?” he asked, incredulous. “I thought he was an investment banker. Does he own the freaking bank?”

Oh, crap.

Gram continued, oblivious to the change in topic. “I heard something on the news about how all you kids are into BS stuff because of that
Fifty Shades of Steele
book. I read it, you know.” She lifted her eyebrows at Megan, grabbing another handful of cereal. “Are you and Josh into whips and colored rooms?”

“
Mother!
” Knickers gasped in shock.

Megan began to laugh, despite her horror. She cast a glance at Kevin, who looked close to losing his breakfast. “It’s BDSM, not BS, although some people might call it that too.” She tried to get serious. “You really don’t expect me to discuss my sex life with Josh in front of my mother, do you?”

Gram shoved some of the cereal in her mouth. “It might loosen her up. Maybe she and your father should try it.”

“
Gram!
” Kevin shouted.

She shrugged, reaching into the box again. “I’m just saying a little spice in the bedroom might loosen her up. Or she could put some of those contraptions in the basement. There’s room for a dungeon down there.”

Megan burst into laughter.

“Although I’m worried Bart might get carpal tunnel if he uses a whip.” Gram lifted up her hand and began to flick her wrist, mimicking the motion.

“
Mother!
” Knickers shouted.

Gram gave one last wave of her hand and cereal went flying across the room, a piece of it hitting Knickers in the face.

“Oww!” she screamed, covering her face. “My eye.”

“Mom,” Megan groaned. “Don’t be so dramatic. It was a piece of cereal.”

“It was a piece of cereal that hit my
eye
.” She staggered past a chair as tears streamed down her cheek. “I need to wash it out.” But as she stumbled across the floor, her foot slid on a piece of loose cereal on the wood slats, and she knocked her shoulder into the kitchen doorjamb. Releasing a loud cry, she started to fall.

Kevin hurried over to her to keep her on her feet, but she cried out again.

“Mom?” Megan asked, running over to her. “Are you okay?”

But as soon as she reached her, she knew she
wasn’t
okay. Her shoulder was sticking out at a weird angle. “Dad!” she shouted, then looked up at Kevin. “Where’s Dad?

Kevin’s eyes bugged out and his face turned pale. “I…I…”

Megan groaned. “Don’t you wimp out on me and pass out, Kevin. I haven’t forgotten what happened when we were kids and I needed stitches in my hand.”

“If you pass out, fall that way,” Gram said, waving her hand to show him where to fall. More cereal spread across the floor. “It would be better if your head hits the overstuffed chair than the coffee table.”

“Put that cereal away!” Kevin shouted, probably in an attempt to take attention off himself. “It’s a deadly weapon!”

“Nobody’s passing out,” Knickers said through gritted teeth. “And your father’s at the store getting me a pair of pantyhose.”

“No one wears pantyhose anymore, Mom,” Megan said as she led her mother to a chair.

“
I
wear pantyhose.”

“I rest my case. Kevin,” she said, turning to look at him once their mother was settled. “Call Dad. We have to take her to the hospital. I’d do it, but Josh has my car.”

Kevin looked livid. “You gave him your car?”

“He has to get to the church somehow. Besides, in ten hours or so, it’ll be his car too.”

Kevin scowled at the reminder, then glanced at his mother and turned a shade of pale gray.

Megan’s mother tried to wave her hand and cried out in pain. She glanced up at Megan with one eye. The other was bright red and squinted shut. “No one is going to the hospital.”

“Mom! Your shoulder looks like a Barbie doll part popped out of it socket. You have to go to the hospital.”

“I don’t have time for that. There’s too much to do.”

Megan glared at Kevin. “Call Dad!”

He stood next to the front door, peering through the side window and looking like he was preparing to bolt. “I don’t have to. His car just pulled up.”

Moments later, the front door opened and Megan’s father stood in the doorway, his gaze landing on the group. “What happened?”

“Mom dislocated her shoulder. She needs to go the hospital.”

Her mother shook her head, gritting her teeth. “I don’t have time to go to the hospital.”

Bart took one look at his wife’s shoulder and his face turned ashen.

“You can’t pass out, Dad!”

Her mother narrowed her one good eye. Leave it to her to make a one-eyed squint look intimidating. “The women are the strong ones in the Vandemeer family.”

Her father took a deep breath. “I’m okay.”

Taking in his pale complexion, Megan wasn’t so sure. “We have to get her to the hospital.”

“I’m not—” Megan’s mom started to say.

“Yes, you are!” Megan shouted. “Now shut up and come out to the car with us.”

Her mother looked shocked, as did everyone else in the room. No one spoke to Nicole Vandemeer that way.

“Now is not the time to be stubborn! If you try to go to the wedding like this, you’ll gross everyone out. If you go to the hospital now, you’ll probably be there in time to help me get dressed.”

“I…okay.”

Megan blinked, sure she’d heard her mother wrong, but decided to trust her hallucination. “Okay, then. Dad and Kevin, get her to the car. Mom, what else needs to be done for the wedding?”

As her father and brother lifted the unwilling invalid out of her chair and led her to the door, Megan walked beside them.

Knickers grimaced as she hobbled along with their support. “We need to make sure the cake gets delivered and that the orchestra sets up on the west side and not the east. The staff at the gardens can handle both of those things. Just make sure everything goes according to plan.”

“I can do that.”

“You need to be at the church two and a half hours early. It’s in the itinerary, but I know you didn’t read it.”

For once, Megan wished she had.

“The hairdresser will be there at one.” They led her out the door and down the sidewalk. “Be sure to eat, Megan. You’ll probably be too excited and nervous to eat, but otherwise you’ll get lightheaded standing up there so long for the ceremony.”

“Okay, Mom.”

As Bart sprinted around the car to climb into the driver’s seat, Kevin helped Megan’s mom get settled in the passenger’s seat. She gripped Megan’s hand. “I’m so sorry, honey. I wanted this day to be perfect for you, but I’ve ruined everything.”

Megan squatted next to her. “You didn’t ruin anything, Mom. It
is
going to be perfect. I promise.”

She nodded, tears now streaming from her good eye too.

Megan gave her a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Kevin and Megan watched the car drive away, both in shock.

“Did what I think just happened really happen?” Kevin asked.

“Which part?”

“The whole convoluted mess.”

“Yep.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the house. “Come on, we have work to do.”