The Kissing Contract by Amy Andrews

Author:Amy Andrews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romantic Comedy; General Humorous Fiction; Two-Hour Romance Short Reads; Action & Adventure Romance Fiction; Contemporary Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance Fiction; Romantic Themes Workplace; Romantic Comedy Romcom; Laugh out Loud, Contemporary Romance; Bunnies; Colorado; Enemies to Lovers; Feel-Good Romance; Funny Romance; Amy Andrews; Entangled Publishing; ebook Romance; Amara;
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2022-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Okay. Wow. Gus blinked. She hadn’t expected that. “A little too late, though, right?”

“Nah.” Marshall shrugged. “Jeremy got a full scholarship, so it worked out okay. And the old man’s name did open some doors for him after he finished college.”

“So why’d he do it, do you think? Leave Jeremy the money after denying it to your mom, your family, for so many years?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he felt guilty at the end of his life. Maybe he felt some remorse as he was about to meet his maker and Jeremy didn’t have any monetary association for him. Plus, he was already a successful lawyer, so maybe that played to his giant fucking ego.”

“How’d that make you feel? Being left out of the will?” Gus could imagine something like this compounding old hurts.

“Honestly, I didn’t give one single fuck. I didn’t want his money or his damn island. Neither does Jeremy. We gave it all away. To charity. Women’s shelters and underprivileged kids and a fund that helps uninsured people pay medical expenses.” He tipped his torso slightly and bumped his shoulder briefly against hers. “No bunny homes, sorry.”

Gus laughed. “You’re forgiven.”

He grinned, and for the first time tonight, the tight ball of tension in her gut eased a little.

“And we came up with this idea for the island. He’d always kept it as his own private retreat, so we wanted to do the thing he’d have hated the most—open it up to the public. Turn it into a place for families and kids, to have it echoing with their laughter and teeming with love and family and togetherness.”

“But hang on, wait.” Gus frowned. “If you were estranged from your grandfather, how did you and Jeremy and your mom come to spend vacations here?”

“Vacation. Singular. Once. For three glorious days, not long after my father died. It was magical. We couldn’t believe our grandfather owned an island. And Mom…” His voice grew wistful. “She told us all these stories of coming here as a kid with her parents, and she was laughing and smiling for the first time in months and it was wonderful.”

“Sounds like there’s a but coming.”

“Yup.” Marshall nodded. “My grandfather found out we were staying on the island and sent the cops to evict us.”

“Oh no.”

Gus cringed just thinking about that scene. Thinking about how mortified his mom must have felt and how bewildering it must have been for two young boys to be hauled off the island by the police.

“Oh yes. Apparently we’d been squatting. Mom obviously knew, but…I guess she thought we’d slip under the radar. He made her cry that day, too. I think that’s when I hated him the most.”

No wonder he and Jeremy wanted every last trace of their grandfather razed to the ground on Hitchkin.

“She just had…such a hard life.” He shook his head, his voice suddenly thick as he stared out over the lake. “He could have made it a little bit easier for her, you know?”

He turned to her briefly, appeal in his eyes before returning his gaze outward.

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