Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,108
now. “I’m sorry,” she said.
He gave a sigh. “It’s not your fault. She’s an adult. She’s got to figure out how to move on.”
He sounded so certain. Louisa felt anything but.
“Louisa?” Concern washed over his face.
“I can’t.” She took a step back.
“You can’t what?”
“I saw the look on your mom’s face,” Louisa said.
“She just needs time,” he said.
But he didn’t know that—not really. It had been years, and his mother looked every bit as angry as she had been the day she left the island.
“Maybe we need some time,” Louisa said.
He frowned. “What are you saying?”
“Just that I don’t want to be the reason for any of this. My whole summer has been about trying to find a way to fix things, to put our families back together—this is the opposite of that.”
He let out a sound that was part scoff, part sigh and drilled her with his eyes. “So that’s it? You’re ending it because you’re worried my mom doesn’t like you? That’s ridiculous, Lou, and you know it.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I’m not ending anything. You know how I feel about you.”
“Then what?”
“We pause. Let this blow over. Figure things out after the party.”
“The party—” He practically groaned the words. “You’ve got so much riding on this party. If it doesn’t go the way you want it to, what then?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I don’t know.”
“We’re not kids anymore, Louisa.”
He reached over and placed a hand on her cheek. She pressed her hand over his, closed her eyes, and drew him in, inhaling a scent that had become familiar and reassuring. She wanted to remember it always, so she marked it in her mind. Just in case.
“I’m tired of things tearing us apart,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to take a break.”
“We’ll figure it out. There’s a lot of history to wade through.” She opened her eyes and found him watching her.
He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek (a sure sign their relationship was doomed), jogged back out to his Jeep, started the engine, and drove away.
And Louisa went upstairs and cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“YOU LOOK TERRIBLE.”
Louisa glared at her mom, who stood on the porch wearing a pink top, white linen pants, and the unmistakable expression of disapproval.
“I thought you would’ve been up for hours.” Her mom pushed her way inside the house, stopping in the living room.
Louisa plopped back down on the couch, where she’d been since the sun rose several hours ago. She pulled the blanket up and closed her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” her mom asked.
Louisa covered her face with a pillow. Her mother was the last person in the world she wanted to talk to right now. Why was she here? She didn’t even like Louisa.
Louisa couldn’t be sure, but she thought Mom had just sat down, which meant she wasn’t leaving.
“Why are you here?” she asked from underneath the pillow.
“I came to see if you needed any help with Maggie’s party,” her mom said.
Louisa sat up. “It’s tomorrow, Mother. You’re a little late.”
Her mom looked wounded at Louisa’s cross words, which had come out much harsher than Louisa had intended.
“What’s gotten into you?”
Would it be appropriate to scream into the pillow? Louisa was dangerously close to finding out.
She whipped the blanket off and tossed the pillow aside. “Mother, I am in love with Cody Boggs. I’m in love with him, and I’ve been in love with him practically since the day I was born. And I know I screwed up, but there’s more to it than my mistake. Teenage foolishness wouldn’t have kept you and Marissa apart, especially not after Daniel died. So tell me the truth—what happened between the four of you? What happened with you and Marissa, with you and Daniel, with Dad and Daniel? With all of you? Because whatever it was—it’s ruined my chances of being with the man I love, so don’t I deserve to know why?”
Her mother’s eyebrows appeared to be permanently raised, the unmistakable expression of shock on her face. “Well, I don’t know what’s going on with you, Louisa Elizabeth Chambers, but I—”
“Mom.” Louisa let the word serve as an entire sentence.
Her mother perched on the chair, the innocent expression falling from her face. Louisa could almost see the pretense drift away.
“What is it? Were you and Daniel having an affair?”
“No, Louisa,” she said. “But I’m not so sure Marissa and your father weren’t.”
Louisa frowned. “What?”
“Marissa is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known,” Mom said. “But