Restoring Romance (Welcome to Romance 1)

“You’re leaving Romance today?” This time it was Aunt Donna’s voice, tinged with hurt. “But Thanksgiving is next week.”

How did everything go so wrong? Now I’ve offended my entire family.

Ash turned back, avoiding Adam’s gaze. “I’ll be back for the Christmas holidays, Aunt Donna. I promise.”

With purposeful strides, Ash headed to her car, hoping she hadn’t ruined every relationship in her entire family. So much for her awesome plan to make Adam’s dreams come true.

I’m such an idiot. I guess, being in love screwed with my brain... what’s left of it.

As she opened the car door, she heard footsteps running behind her. She whipped around, ready to confront Adam, but found Erin instead.

“Ash, were you really going to leave Romance without telling me goodbye? I thought we were friends.”

“I didn’t plan to run off.” Ash sniffed. “But that didn’t go the way I thought it would.”

“Let’s have breakfast.” Before Ash could protest, Erin climbed in the passenger door. “Want to go to The Good Egg? I’m dying for Mandy’s French toast.”

To Ash’s great relief, Erin kept her usual steady chatter going throughout breakfast, never mentioning the embarrassing early morning scene. When the check came, she picked it up, refusing Ash’s offer of splitting the tab.

“No. I owe you, Ash. Remember the day you adopted Lucky? I believe the bet was fifty dollars.” Erin looked her square in the eye and waved the paper in front of her face. “That is, unless you’ve fallen in love and haven’t told me. Well? Have you?”

Ash opened her mouth, ready to spew a vehement denial, but she choked on her answer. It was hard to state a bold-faced lie. Erin continued to wait, watching her face with narrowed eyes.

With blood rushing to her face, Ash grabbed the bill out of the air and slapped it onto the table. “Please, Erin. I’m begging you... don’t tell anyone!”

Erin’s face broke into a rapturous grin. “It’s Adam, isn’t it? You’re in love with Adam?”

“I don’t think that’s part of the bet,” Ash snapped. “I don’t have to say who it is.”

Erin inclined her head to the side, scrunching her nose. “It has to be Adam—who else could it be? Unless you fell in love with Ryan Cooper over the weekend...”

Ash fumbled for her credit card. “I’d like to drop the subject, if you don’t mind. I’ll give you the rest of your money before I fly out.”

Unfazed, Erin continued her relentless pursuit as if solving a great riddle. “Considering you’ve experienced abuse, I understand why you’d be afraid to trust Adam. But I promise, even though my brother-in-law is gruff on the outside, he would never ever lay a hand on you.”

“That’s not the problem.” Ash gave up trying to hide the truth, and went for logic instead. She lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper, glancing over her shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. “Have you forgotten we can’t be together? It’s illegal.”

Erin’s eyes rounded like saucers, and her mouth made a big “O” before she clamped her hand over it. Ash mentally kicked herself for confessing the truth.

“Erin, please don’t judge me. I tried to do the right thing.”

“Ash...” Erin squeaked. “Don’t you know Donna and Mark adopted the boys while they were in Romania? All four of them?”

“Adopted?” All the air whooshed out of Ash’s lungs. “Adam isn’t really my cousin?”

“Nope.” Erin popped the last “p” so it almost sounded like a two-syllable word.

Ash’s intestines tied themselves into knots with no hope of unraveling. “It doesn’t matter, Erin, because Adam doesn’t think of me like that. I’m just a sister to him—the same way he feels about you.”

“Ha! I’m pretty sure Adam hasn’t been having sisterly thoughts about you.”

Ash blinked back tears, shaking her head at Erin’s misplaced optimism. “No, there’s nothing more. I’ve already ruined any chance I might’ve had. I kept egging him on, suggesting crazy house colors, criticizing antiques and anything old, and poking fun at the great Romance love story between Georgina and Douglass Scott.”

“Oh! That is bad.” Erin grimaced. “Why on earth did you do that, if you love him?”

“Because...” Ash pushed her fingers through her wavy hair in frustration, knowing she looked a mess. “Because I wanted to give him Grammy’s house, and I figured, if he thought I didn’t belong in Romance, he wouldn’t argue about accepting it.”

“Oh, fudge!” Erin banged her fist on the table, clattering the silverware. “I really wanted to be a bridesmaid.”