Table Of ContentCopyright © 2013 Priscilla Glenn
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1481988867
ISBN 13: 9781481988865
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63001-185-7
CONTENTS
SEVENTEEN MONTHS EARLIER
PRESENT DAY: CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Seventeen months earlier
This was going to be weird.
There was no getting around it, and there was no one who would be able to
convince her otherwise. She knew what her best friend would say if she were
there. “It’s no big deal. You’re not signing away your soul in blood. Just go have
fun. Don’t get all Andie.”
Don’t get all Andie was always Tracey’s closing argument, the term she
would use whenever she felt someone was being too analytical, or when
someone expressed anxiety or disapproval over something. But this time, Andie
thought, getting all Andie was completely justified.
She leaned closer to the mirror, putting on a second coat of mascara.
Tonight would only be the second time she’d be going out with Colin, and yet he
was taking her to some party with all of his old friends from high school. She
had agreed to go, because she liked Colin, and because she had no good reason
to turn him down, but she couldn’t shake the image of being the awkward
outsider at some high school reunion. Not really the ideal situation for a second
date.
“Shut up and be happy you’re getting a second date,” she could almost
hear Tracey say in response, and she smiled to herself as she capped the mascara
and tossed it back in her makeup case. Andie had known Tracey since the third
grade, providing her with a front row seat to all of her friend’s relationships, if
she were being kind enough to call them that. With the exception of one long-
term boyfriend in college, Tracey was the quintessential serial dater, with what
she claimed was appallingly bad luck in love.
“Okay, it’s not like he’s taking you to meet his parents,” Andie said to
herself, channeling her friend as she dabbed on a little bit of lip gloss.
She took a few steps back from the mirror, adjusting the V-neckline of her
shirt. She liked Colin. There was no reason she couldn’t have a good time with
him tonight. After all, she could think of much worse places he could be taking
her. Andie smiled at her reflection, holding onto that little bit of reassurance as
she walked over to the closet and stepped into her shoes.
A few minutes later, a polite knock sounded on the door, and her stomach
flooded with butterflies of both excitement and trepidation as she approached it.
Her hand landed on the knob, and she took one final deep breath before pulling
the door open.
“Hi,” she said with a smile.
“Hey,” Colin said, looking her up and down, managing to make the gesture
look appreciative rather than sleazy. “Wow. You look incredible.”
“Thanks,” she said. “So do you.”
Even though it was usually customary to return that particular compliment
when someone gave it, she really did mean it. Colin was extremely attractive;
there was no denying that. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a beautiful white smile that
belonged in a toothpaste commercial, nice athletic build, and, as Andie had
noticed the first day she met him, impeccable hands.
He smiled. “Ready?”
She nodded and he stepped to the side, allowing her out of the apartment.
They walked down to his car, and he opened the door for her, placing his hand
on the small of her back as he guided her into the seat.
“So,” Andie said as he slid into the driver’s seat and started up the car,
“whose party is this again?”
“A good buddy of mine,” he said, glancing in his rearview before backing
out of the space. “He just got engaged.”
“Oh. So it’s an engagement party?”
“Not officially. He lives in Florida with his girlfriend. Or his fiancé, I
should say,” he corrected with a smile. “Anyway, he’s in back in town for the
week, so he figured he’d kill two birds with one stone, you know, celebrate his
engagement and see a bunch of his friends. But it’s not an official engagement
party or anything.”
“Oh, okay.”
He glanced over at her. “Are you uncomfortable with this? We don’t have
to go.”
“No, not at all,” she lied. “I was just wondering what the occasion was.”
“It will be fun,” he said, flashing his Colgate smile before turning his eyes
back to the road. “Wait until you see this house.”
“He’s got a nice place?”
“Well, he’s staying at his parents’ place while he’s in town. That’s where
the party is. Just wait. You’ll see.”
They drove the rest of the way into Connecticut, the conversation flowing
easily, until they turned onto a street where the driveways were farther and
farther apart and the houses were no longer visible. Instead, they passed a series
of large stone pillars and imposing monogrammed gates, the houses concealed
somewhere behind the long, winding drives.
He turned into one of the driveways and stopped at the gate, saying
something into the intercom that Andie didn’t quite hear. She was too busy
squinting out of the windshield at the image before her. In the dusk she could
just see its outline at the end of the long drive; to her, it looked more like a castle
than a home.
“Jesus Christ,” she said, more to herself than to Colin as they drove up the
cobblestone drive that ended in an enormous roundabout with a huge fountain
right in the center; in the twilight, the rippling water glittered as if a thousand
twinkle lights were floating just below the surface. The house itself was made of
brick and stone, sprawling out forever in both directions, with enormous bay
windows adorning the entire exterior.
“I know,” she heard Colin say, and she looked over to see him smiling at
her. Andie realized her chin was practically in her lap, and she quickly closed
her mouth, glancing back toward the house.
“Your friend grew up here?” she asked in awe.
“Yeah,” Colin said. “We all did, in a way. Justin’s house was sort of a
second home to a bunch of us. We spent most of our time here.”
Andie sat in stunned silence as she stared out the window at the impressive
mansion. When she noticed a valet approaching the side of the car, she glanced
at Colin in alarm.
“Am I…I mean, is this okay?” she whispered, gesturing at herself.
Suddenly the skinny jeans and cute wrap shirt she had chosen for the party
seemed horrifically casual.
He shook his head. “You look great. I know this looks pretentious, but the
people inside are totally unassuming. I promise.”
“Okay,” she said, feeling extremely unconvinced as the valet opened her
door and offered her his hand, helping her out of the car. She looked him over,
his bowtie and vest and pressed pants, before glancing back down at herself. As
if she needed another reason to feel uneasy tonight. Andie stood there,
completely frozen, suddenly lamenting her choice in footwear; there was no way
she would be able to scale the wall and make a run for it in her heels.
Colin came around to her, placing his hand on the small of her back again.
“If it’s uncomfortable, we leave,” he whispered in her ear. “I know a great
little diner near here. No valets,” he added with a wink, and Andie finally
laughed, feeling a bit of the anxiety leave her body.
They started walking up the wide steps that led to the front doors, and she
shook her head. “I couldn’t imagine having access to a place like this when I was
in high school.”
Colin laughed, a guilty look on his face. “Yeah, I’m not proud of all the
stuff we did here.” He looked up at the house fondly. “But it makes for some
good stories. I’m sure you’ll hear some tonight,” he said with a smile, opening
the door and gesturing for her to enter.
The foyer was exactly what she should have expected, considering what
she’d already seen of the house, but still, Andie was flabbergasted. Gorgeous
marble floor, high ceiling, a double staircase that seemed to embrace the
expansive space, each side curling in toward the other until they met at the huge
loft overlooking the entryway.
A man dressed in a suit stood in the doorway, smiling at them as he directed
them toward the great room. Colin nodded his thanks as they turned down the
hallway, and Andie glanced around inconspicuously as they walked, trying with
all her might not to look like some awestruck tourist at a museum. She wasn’t
sure how anyone who owned a house like this could be unassuming.
The great room was, of course, enormous; floor-to-ceiling windows
covered one entire side, and tables and strings of lights were set up outside,
shimmering through the glass, setting a soft and classy ambiance in the room
teeming with people.
“Colin!” said one of the men as they stepped down into the sunken room.
“Good to see you!” He walked over with a woman at his side, and both gave
Colin an enthusiastic hug.
The man turned to look at Andie. “Is this your girlfriend?”
She opened and closed her mouth, glancing at Colin before smiling at the
man. “I’m Andie,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand.
She didn’t care what Tracey would have said; this was what would make it
awkward. She and Colin were clearly more than friends; there had been an
instant attraction when she met him at a coworker’s barbecue a few weeks
earlier. He happened to be the brother of a friend of the hostess and had just
intended to stop by to say hello; instead, he ended up staying the entire evening,
sitting with Andie as they dipped their feet in the pool, talking about everything
and nothing. And then, of course, he had asked her out. Their first date was
cliché, but fun and sweet: dinner and a movie, followed by some playful
conversation over ice-cream cones.
And an extremely hot make-out session.
But was she his girlfriend? She couldn’t quite say that yet. She didn’t even
know if she wanted to say that yet. Or if he did, for that matter. And they would
undoubtedly have to field that question all night. Andie hoped this guy, whoever
he was, would just drop it.
“Hi, Andie. I’m Doug,” he said. “It’s great to meet you. This is my
girlfriend Sara.”
“Hi,” the woman said, reaching forward to shake her hand. She was
adorable, Andie thought, a tiny little thing with big blue eyes and a short brown
bob.
“So you’re not gonna believe this,” said Doug. “Justin’s parents gave him
and Stella a Bentley for the engagement.”
“Of course they did,” Colin said with a laugh. “Jesus.”
“Come see this thing. It’s incredible,” Doug said, already walking toward
the glass doors that would take them outside.
Colin looked down at Andie just as Sara said, “You boys go. We’ll stay
here and have girl talk.” She turned to Andie. “Unless you want to go see a car
that looks just like any other car but costs more than my house?”
Andie laughed, feeling a little more at ease. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’ll stay here
while you go check it out.”
“You sure?” Colin asked.
