Arden stormed in the front door of her house, right past her smiling parents who had heard the car pull up and rushed to greet her. Nick was close on her tail. She stopped at the base of the stairs and turned on him. "That was the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me!" she shouted at him.
"You want to talk about humiliating? How about having to watch your fiancée be kissed by some knuckle-dragging, white trash hick. And what were the two of you doing back in the kitchen alone, huh? What's going on between you? The truth this time!"
"I've been nothing but truthful. I wasn't feeling well and he came back to check on me. Then we came out and he grabbed a quick kiss under the mistletoe. It barely even qualifies as a kiss. You saw him practically making out with Kristen."
"Bottom line, you left me no choice but to defend you."
"Defend me? Don't blame me because you're insecure!"
"Whoa!" Mark Butler interceded, holding his hands up. "What's going on?"
Arden took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Once she'd regained her composure, she opened her eyes and spoke calmly. "Travis stole a kiss from me under the mistletoe and so Nick picked a fight with him and got beat up."
"Hey," Nick said, "I got a punch in."
"Yes, dear," Arden said with mocking sweetness, "but Travis is a neanderthal. His skull is this thick." She held up her thumb and forefinger as far apart as they would spread. "You'd have to have a crowbar to have any effect whatsoever. So I wouldn't be so proud of your one punch."
Nick glared at her. He actually looked sexier with blood drying on his lips and a soon-to-be black eye than she had ever seen him. Travis had looked extra sexy too. She wondered why her hormones were kicking into gear over two grown men engaging in such a childish act as street fighting.
"Nick, perhaps you'd better go home," Mark said. "You'll both feel better in the morning and be able to discuss this in a more civil manner."
Nick pulled himself up straight and schooled his expression. He nodded, turned and left. Her parents turned on her then. "Arden," Laura said, "this has got to stop."
"What?" Arden asked, opening her eyes in wide innocence. "What has to stop?"
"This infatuation you have with that mechanic. The flirting. Whatever else it is that goes on. You need to stay away from him." Arden's father nodded in agreement.
"You're all being unreasonable. I'm not doing anything to encourage Travis. And I can't be held responsible for his actions and for Nick's. What they did was their fault, not mine."
"Nick might not feel so insecure, darling," Mark said, "if you reassured him of your love and put out more effort to distance yourself from Mr. Lanier."
Arden huffed. "So now it's my job to worry about Nick's feelings of insecurity?"
Laura and Mark looked at each other and laughed nervously. "Well..." Laura said hesitantly, "...what did you think marriage meant?"
"Marriage means my own house, car, credit cards; freedom to shop whenever I want..."
Laura and Mark looked at each other again, this time frowning. "Arden," Mark said, "You can have those things on your own. Without a husband. Is that all you want from Nick? Don't you love him?"
Arden froze. For some reason it had never occurred to her that she could have that kind of independence alone. She had a job she loved. A good relationship with her family. If she wanted a house of her own, cars, credit cards...just general independence...she didn't need Nick.
Arden sank to the steps and sat. Laura sat next to her and rubbed her back. "The thing I love most about Nick," Arden said softly after a few minutes lost in thought, "is that being with him won't change anything about my life."
"Oh, dear," Laura said quietly.
Arden stared in front of her for a long time. She didn't pay any attention when her parents wished her goodnight and went upstairs to their bedroom. Maybe she sat there a half an hour. Maybe longer. Finally she stood to go to bed.
There was a knock at the front door. Arden rolled her eyes. It was probably Nick. She went to open the door.
As she started to open it, it was suddenly pushed the rest of the way in. Arden stumbled back as a bedraggled young woman barged in, her dark hair a mess and makeup streaking down her cheeks.
"Ashley? What the..." Arden started.
"I came here to tell you that me and Nick have been sleeping together," said the woman.
Ashley Strauss, the daughter of June and Rory Raymer, was a year younger than Arden and a few inches shorter. She made this abrupt confession in a slurred, high-pitched voice.