Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
What if he fell in love with Scotlin? What if this fake engagement and forced proximity caused him to develop feelings? I stopped walking and pressed my hand against my chest to ease the sharp pain that struck me at the thought. If that happened, how would I survive it?
“Rumor? Is that you?” Maeme called out.
I stared back at the kitchen doorway. I had to reply. Go in there. Not look like I was going to be sick. I was letting my imagination get away with me. I had to calm down and find a way not to care.
Maeme stepped into the hallway. “There you are,” she said with a bright smile. “I thought I’d heard you. Come on in and eat.”
I followed her into the kitchen. No one was here. There was something positive I could add to my list.
“You need to get out. See something other than this place and the Shephards. We are going to Annette’s for afternoon tea. Her stylist is coming, and we are going to do some shopping. You need some things that are your own, and there is nothing Annette loves more than to host a fashion show in her sitting room.”
I was leaving the property? Going to Storm’s parents’ home?
“Is that safe?” I asked her, not sure if I should be going anywhere, as lovely as the idea sounded.
Maeme handed me a plate. “Yes. Storm is taking us, and the Kingston property is as secure as we are here.”
King wasn’t taking us. He wasn’t here to talk to me either. No explanation or even an apology. I was relieved he wasn’t here, but then it also stung. I’d wanted him to care enough that he’d at least try and talk to me.
Not wanting Maeme to see that I was upset, I focused on getting food on my plate, then took a seat at the bar.
She set a cup of coffee down in front of me. “It has Splenda and almond milk in it,” she told me.
I looked up at her. “Thank you,” I replied, surprised that she had both of those things.
“King told me you prefer almond milk in your coffee instead of creamer.”
King had told her. That was thoughtful. NO! I wasn’t going there. King was manipulative. He had kept things from me. He had probably had sex with Scotlin last night.
My grip on the fork in my hand tightened, and I took in a slow, deep breath. I had to stop thinking about him.
• Seven •
I’d missed so many red flags in my desire to belong to someone.
Rumor
Barrett and Annette Kingston’s home wasn’t as stupendous as the Shephards’, but it had the historical architecture that made it breathtaking. Two hundred years ago, this would have been considered a mansion.
Maeme sat up front with Storm in the black Escalade he had arrived to pick us up in.
I’d listened to their conversation and responded when Maeme brought me into it, but for the most part, I had taken in the landscape as we drove. It had been dark when I arrived here over a month ago now.
The town was beautiful. Like something out of a history book. The homes that we’d passed were antebellum, and many had historical markers. I was so caught up in it all that I missed when Maeme spoke to me more than once. She chuckled at my distraction and informed me that Madison was Georgia’s best small town, according to the internet. But she believed it was the best town in the South. She also told me that it had been named for President James Madison.
I understood why they had all chosen to live here and not leave. Who would want to leave?
Storm opened the car door for me, and as I stepped out, I saw one of the large double doors to the front of the house swing open. Annette came outside, dressed in a pencil-straight white skirt that hit just above the knee and a sleeveless dark blue button-up blouse that was tucked in at the waist. She was always so well groomed and dressed. I wondered if she ever had a hair out of place.
“I expect mint juleps are on the veranda,” Maeme called out to her.
Annette laughed. “They’re already made and waiting on us.”
“You grew up in this house?” I asked Storm.
He nodded. “Yep. Third generation of Kingstons to live in it.”
Wow. What it must be like to have that kind of family history. To know who you had come from, where they’d lived, what their names were. Things I would never know about myself.
“It’s beautiful,” I told him.
“The azaleas are coming in nicely,” Maeme called out to Annette as she walked over to me.
“Aren’t they?! I love spring,” she replied. “Wait until you see my tulips out back. They are to die for.”