“I like my view right now.”
He laughed and pulled me into his arms. “You really like it?”
“I’m happy wherever we are, as long as we’re together. Aren’t you?”
He raised his eyebrow as he looked down at me. “Is that why you’re upset? Baby, I didn’t buy this place because I wasn’t happy in our old apartment. You know that. I just want a fresh start.”
“From what exactly?”
“We moved to New York to get away from all the rumors. But it was hard to put it all to rest while you were still in school.”
My stomach churned. I was a burden.
“Now you’re not. Your graduating puts it all in the past. I want to start our life together.”
“James, we already have.”
“You know what I mean. As husband and wife.”
“We could have just rearranged the furniture or something.”
He laughed and pulled me toward the wall of windows. “But then we wouldn’t have this view.”
I could feel my jaw drop. Dusk was just settling over the city. A few lights had already turned on in Central Park. We were so close that it almost seemed like the building was in the middle of the park. I could see the Tavern on the Green in the distance. That was where we were getting married. Every day, I was going to be able to look outside and remember our wedding.
I knew that James didn’t care about having this view. He had picked out this apartment because he knew it would make me happy. I felt him wrap his arms around me and kiss the side of my neck. I leaned my head back against his chest. Maybe we did need a fresh start. It was time to brush off the chip on my shoulder whenever people snickered about how we met. I was ready to let it all go. “When did you want to move our stuff in?”
He rested his chin on top of my head. “I took the whole week off.”
“What are your employees going to think? A whole week off now and then time off for our wedding and honeymoon at the end of the month?”
“They’re going to think that my fiancee isn’t starting her internship until next Monday and I wanted time off to spend with her.”
“If I don’t get a different position.”
“Of course. Although, I really only want you in one position right now.”
I laughed and turned around, clasping my hands behind his neck. “Aren’t you going to give me a tour of the rest of the house?”
His hands slid to my ass. “Is that really what you want to do right now?”
I bit my lip and shook my head.
Before his lips met mine, his phone started vibrating.
“Don’t answer it,” I said.
“It’s probably work.”
“I thought you had off this week?”
He squeezed my ass before putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out his phone. He turned around without even looking at the caller I. D. “Hunter.”
His body seemed to stiffen. He cleared his throat. “Hi, Mom.” He turned to me, put his finger in the air to signal he’d just be a minute, and then quickly walked back toward the foyer.
I folded my arms across my chest and turned back to look down at Central Park. The apartment suddenly seemed even colder. I closed my eyes, picturing myself in my wedding dress. All that mattered was that he wanted to marry me. His parents didn’t have to be there. They didn’t have to ever even meet me. James’ love was enough.
I opened my eyes and stared down at the Tavern on the Green. The lights hanging in the trees outside the restaurant were shimmering, dancing in the summer breeze. James’ love was all that I needed. But Jen said that their parents not wanting to meet me was weighing on James too. It was hurting him. Which meant I was hurting him. And it killed me. I ran my hands up and down my arms. It was freezing.
A few months ago, I had found their address and gotten a taxi to their house. I had stood outside the gate for several minutes before retreating. I had wanted to barge in on them and tell them they were being ridiculous. That they were horrible for treating their own son like this. I hated them for making him feel like he was unlovable. They had hurt him, in more ways than James would ever admit. But my telling them that wasn’t going to help. They didn’t respect me, so they wouldn’t care about my opinions. I couldn’t force it.
What it came down to was that they didn’t want him to be happy. They put their own wants in front of his. And that wasn’t what parents were supposed to do. It certainly wasn’t what I was going to do with my own kids. I shook the thought away. That was just another reason to despise them. James said he was scared to have kids because of his problems. But really, it was their fault. He was worried he’d be a horrible parent because they were so awful.
“So, that was my mother.”
I jumped. I hadn’t heard him come back over to me. “Oh?” I used to get so excited whenever she would call, hoping that it meant she had changed her mind. Now I knew better.
He smiled. “They want to meet you.”
“Sure.” I laughed. “Let’s set a date so they can cancel at the last minute. Can we not talk about this right now?”
“Apparently they found out the Caldwells were throwing us an engagement party. They’ve decided to commandeer it.”
“What?”
“Jen told them about it or something. The party is being thrown at their house now. Apparently they just needed to feel like they were being cast aside.” He shrugged.
“I think that’s awfully rude to the Caldwells when they’ve been so nice.”
“Yeah.” He ran his hand through his hair. “That’s what I said. She assured me the Caldwells were fine with it.”