The Match (It Happened in Charleston 1)

Honestly, I’m shocked. I shouldn’t be, but I am. I

knew my family was capable of some manipulative stuff, but this is so out of bounds. “Mother,” I say, using that title as a warning. I’m about to lay into her at this table in front of everyone when my daddy pipes up, blotting his mouth and setting his napkin down.

“Come on, Evelyn. Enough’s enough. It’s time you stop this hippie lifestyle of yours and get back to real life. Tyler is your future. No offense to Jacob, because I’m sure he’s working very hard in his business, but he can’t give you the life you’re accustomed to by owning a small-scale residential architectural firm. But Tyler can give you the life you deserve right now, and he’s willing to do it. I’m sure he would even bankroll your little dog business, too, if it means that much to you.”

“Don’t you remember how good together you two were in high school?” asks Amy, jumping in with a smile that I want to smack off of her plastic face.

“It’s true, Eves. We were great together, and I’d like for us to be a we again. What do you say?”

Is this really happening? Please tell me this is just a nightmare, and any minute now, I’m going to look down and realize that I’m not wearing pants. I’ll wake up in a cold sweat and then immediately call Jake, and he will make me feel better by laughing and saying it was just a dream, because in real life, we would never be so stupid as to set foot willingly in my parents’ house. I feel so stupid for believing her that this was ever about her giving me a check for the company.

I don’t want to look at Jake. I’m so humiliated by the way my parents are treating him, especially when his parents were so kind and welcoming to me. But I do, and the look on his face breaks my heart further. His brows are pulled tightly together, and he looks deep in thought. I can feel him slipping from me. I want to cry right here at the table. This night had started out so well for us, promised so many things for us, and now, here we are, sitting at this table, and a wall is physically being constructed between us for all to witness, just like they planned.

And now, I’m pissed. I shoot up out of my seat and make the legs scrape painfully loud against the floor. Good! I hope they leave a big ol’ scratch! “That’s it. We’re leaving. Come on, Jake.”

He stands up beside me, but his movements aren’t as full of fire as mine are. I grab his hand and Charlie’s leash, and we start walking from the room, hearing everyone’s protests behind us. I then whirl around and level each of them with a searing glare. “For the last time, I’m not going to marry Tyler. And all of you should be ashamed of yourselves and the way you treated me and Jake tonight. Consider yourselves uninvited to the benefit.”

“Evelyn Grace,” my mother says, fire blazing in her eyes. “Are you forgetting about something?” She’s referring to the check she’s trying to dangle in front of my face.

“Keep it. I don’t want your manipulative blood money supporting my company, anyway.”

I grip Jake’s hand tighter and race us through the house and out the front door like we just robbed a bank. The second we have put enough feet between us and the enemy, I drop Jake’s hand and turn around to face him. “Jake, I am so sorry! I had no idea they were going to gang up on us like that. It was a trap, and I should have seen it coming!” He’s not meeting my eye. He’s looking over my head into the distance, and I can feel that wall between us grow taller. “Jake, look at me.” He does, but the look in his eyes says things have changed. My heart squeezes painfully.

I feel desperate to get him to understand that I do not share my family’s opinions, so I put both of my hands on his face to hold his attention on me. “Everything they said was a lie. They are master manipulators, and you can’t trust anything they say. Please believe me. And I swear I didn’t tell them you own Goddard Smith…because I don’t even care what company you own. I just want you.”

Jake doesn’t say he wants me too. He doesn’t say everything is okay and that he trusts me. His eyes are meeting mine, but I don’t think he’s really even seeing me anymore.

“I don’t know….” is what he says before pulling away and walking toward the truck.

My arms fall back to my sides. “Where are you going?”

“To get in the truck and take you home.”

“So that’s it, then? We’re just done talking because you decide we are?”

He pauses and turns to look at me—but he looks so hollow I want to cry. “Believe me, Evie. You don’t want me to keep talking right now because I will say lots of things that I’ll regret. I just endured an hour of belittling that has my blood boiling, and I have a lot to think about.”

“Jake!” I say, taking a desperate step toward him. “None of what they said was true. Are you worried because of Tyler?”

He grimaces at the sound of Tyler’s name and shakes his head. “No. That guy’s a tool, and I know you’d never go for him.”

“Then, what is it? And why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what, Evie?”

“Like you’ve already said goodbye to me!”

Jake holds my gaze for a minute, and every breath I take sounds excruciatingly loud in my ears. His jaw flexes, and he breaks eye contact to look down. “Maybe I have. I heard them in there; they don’t think I’m good enough for you. And…I’m not entirely sure that I don’t agree with them.”

“No,” I say as an expelled breath. “That’s not true! You’re so much better than those people, and I don’t want the life they have!”

“Maybe not now,” he says, raising his eyes to meet mine with a new look of fire and determination. “But what about in two years? What about when you start missing your old life? When I don’t make as much money as you need? Or have the connections you need? What then, Evie?” I hate the way Jake just said my name. It was like a jab to my stomach. “This is the opposite of what I need right now. Sam and I need support and stability. We need someone we can trust. And…”

I shut my eyes. “Don’t say it.”

He holds my gaze for the span of three breaths and then quietly says, “And I don’t know that that person is you.”

He turns around and gets in his truck and starts it. I stand there motionless, feeling like I’ve just been hit with a stun gun. I feel angry and hurt and betrayed. But it’s odd because I know that’s exactly how Jake feels too. The selfish people in that house accomplished exactly what they set out to do, and now my heart feels shattered.