Their Festive Island Escape

He wasn’t sure what that last part meant, decided to push on anyway. “Only if you’d like to talk about it.” She certainly appeared as if she could use the excuse to get something off her mind.

“You said yourself that he and I seemed to be incompatible. Turns out you were right. As I’m sure you heard from the man himself.”

“I’d like to hear your take on it,” he prompted.

She shrugged ever so slightly, trailed a finger over the condensation down the side of her glass before she finally spoke. “Jack gave me a final ultimatum as a test. And I failed miserably.”

* * *

Celeste couldn’t bring herself to look up away from her glass. But she could feel Reid’s questioning eyes on her nevertheless. He remained silent at her cryptic remark, simply waited for her to continue. But she’d be hard pressed to decide exactly where to begin. The troublesome signs that her engagement was doomed had grown more and more frequent as the wedding day had approached. She’d just chosen to ignore them.

“What kind of test?” Reid wanted to know.

This was all so difficult to talk about, Celeste thought. She’d done her best to try to put it all behind her. To try to forget. What kind of woman was left behind at the altar? How could she ever trust in her feelings again when she’d fallen for a man who had been cruel enough to do such a thing?

Visions of that nightmarish day flooded her brain. Her coworkers seated in the pews, her friends from school, various other invitees. All of them giving her looks of unmitigated pity. The disappointment flooding her mother’s face. She’d never felt such a strong desire to sink into the floor and disappear. There’d been no father to walk her down the aisle. Celeste had asked a former mentor to do her the honor. The look on the man’s face as they’d waited and waited for a groom who’d never appeared had nearly crushed her soul. Bless him, he’d been the one to finally make the announcement as she’d fled, trying to squelch the flood of tears before she could get away. She’d vowed never to give her heart to another man unless she was absolutely sure of his love and commitment.

“Celeste? What kind of test?” Reid repeated.

She forced herself to shake off the thoughts. “A week before the wedding, Jack decided he wanted to elope.”

Reid’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. She’d always wondered if Reid had been in on the idea as best man. His reaction just now made it clear he hadn’t been.

“I see,” Reid answered, clearly confused.

He didn’t really. And there was no way to explain it to him, Celeste thought. Jack’s sudden decision to forgo a traditional ceremony had had nothing to do with wanting a private event between the two of them.

It had everything to do with being embarrassed in front of his friends and loved ones about the kind of family she came from. Eloping would keep Tara and her mother out of sight. The love Jack supposedly felt for her wasn’t enough to overcome the shame he felt about her family.

She’d called his bluff. And he’d walked away.

“I take it you weren’t keen on the idea,” Reid said.

She shrugged. “I wanted a traditional wedding,” she answered simply, leaving out the more relevant part—mainly that her fiancé had been too much of a snob to accept her for who she was and where she came from. In hindsight, Jack’s strategy was all too clear. He’d wanted a cowardly way out of marrying her. So he’d given her a choice that wasn’t really a choice. How could she have turned her back on the two most important people in her life on the biggest day of her life?

Reid’s expression held every indication that he suspected there was far more to the story than she was telling. Well, this was as much as she was willing to divulge. As much as her heart could take to reveal.

“I’ve known Jack for most of my life,” Reid finally spoke after a long bout of silence, one where she couldn’t quite meet his questioning gaze. “I’ve seen him act downright reckless all too often.” He paused to take a deep breath and looked away off to the side. “But losing you has to be the most foolish thing he’s ever done.”