She’d just executed a typical Costas-woman move by making a scene. Well, Quinn had started the spectacle, and if he wanted to talk, he’d just have to damn well follow her and accept that the family thought she had complete power over him.
In reality, Ari knew better. Even if he followed, the man had the power to break her heart.
• • •
Quinn didn’t know what had possessed him to provoke Ari in front of her family, but he was furious at her and when the opening presented itself, his frustration and anger had spilled over. Now he had to pay in the form of humiliation in front of all her relatives.
Ignoring Connor, who stood in a corner trying not to laugh, Quinn glanced around the room at the expectant faces, especially Nicholas’s.
Finally he merely shrugged. “You said it yourself.” He spoke directly to Ari’s father. “It’s the best part of making up.”
“When you are married.”
Quinn groaned. “Then tell your daughter to stop running away.”
“I heard that,” Ari called from the doorway.
Quinn had had enough. He strode through the crowd, grabbed her hand, and pulled her through the entryway and out the front door.
“Where are we going?” she asked, outraged, as he opened the door to his truck and nudged her inside.
“Somewhere we can be alone.” But somewhere he could get to quickly, which didn’t leave him with many options.
Minutes later, he’d parked near Islet Pier. Once again, he grabbed her hand and led her to the vacant snack shack where they’d first officially met. She didn’t have a coat and neither did he, which suited him fine. It would force her to talk fast and openly or freeze to death.
No sooner had he pulled her into the shack and slammed the door and the cold wind behind them, than Ari cupped his face in her palms and kissed him. A quick, hard, determined kiss.
“What was that for?” he asked, stunned at her complete reversal in behavior.
“For being you. For loving Sam enough to put yourself out for her. For being a master at handling my family. For putting them in their place. For gaining their respect and mine.” As she spoke, she rubbed her hands together to keep warm.
He knew she was cold but Quinn wasn’t ready to pull her into his arms and provide body heat. “I’m so glad you approve of my actions.” He wasn’t anywhere close to understanding where this crazy female’s mind or heart was, and he refused to let Ari trample him again.
“You need to understand a few things.” She paced the floor, an obvious attempt to keep moving and stay warm. “You think that I should get the concept of family because I’m so lucky to have one.”
Quinn shook his head. “Honey, I know exactly what it was like for you.” And he’d offered her as much understanding as possible. “Maybe you need to hear what it was like for me. My mother was a drug addict and a hooker. My father was any one of hundreds of guys who paid for the right to her body. I don’t know and I don’t care. Neither did she as long as she had the money for her next fix. Food wasn’t as important as drugs and because of that, she OD’d one day and I found her.”
Ari winced. “Go on,” she said, apparently knowing not to offer sympathy.
Smart girl, he thought. He hated talking about where he’d come from. Now he started pacing the floor, trying as always to outrun what was always there, inside him.
Ari remained silent, frozen in place, waiting for him to continue.
“From there it was one foster home after the next. I’ve been on my own for longer than I can remember, and I always lived by rules that I understood. Nobody watches out for you except yourself, and everybody will take off one day if given the chance. Including you. Hell, especially you. I told myself over and over that not only would you leave, but you wouldn’t want anything to do with me long-term. And man, you proved me right.”
He refused to meet her gaze. “So whatever game you’re playing now, dressing and talking like Ari, I’m completely prepared for you to morph back into your prissy Ariana mode. I’m through trying to convince you I love all parts of you. Hell,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m just through.”
“Good,” she said, coming up beside him. “Because I’m just getting started. Everything you ever said about me was right. I was running. I’ve always been running. Growing up is a scary thing for anyone. Some more than others. I never realized how good I had it. The truth is, you get the notion of family a lot more than I ever did.”
He shot her a disbelieving glance. “Now, that’s a laugh.”
“You didn’t have a family and you created one out of Connor and Sam. You met my parents and my wacky relatives and you didn’t judge or condemn. Instead you fit right in and a part of me resented you for it.” She shook her head. “It was just so easy for you, when it never was for me.”
Though he warned himself not to, he reached out and touched her arm. “To fit in anywhere, all you need to do is accept yourself.”
She blinked, tears forming in her eyes. “I know that now. From the minute I heard Zoe was missing until right this minute, I’ve had to really look inside myself.” She bit down on her lower lip.
The uncertainty in that small gesture tugged at his heart. “I’ve seen inside you all along.”
She smiled. “I know that, too. You helped teach me to accept myself.”
“Is this your way of telling me you’re leaving for Vermont, Ariana?” He used her full name for the first time, hating the feel of it on his tongue because it signaled the end.
“I can understand why you’d think that, but no. I’m trying to tell you that I’m staying. I love my family and I miss them and I want to come home. Well, not to their house. That would be too much for any partially sane person. But home to New Jersey,” she said, her words rambling, coming as fast as her thoughts. “It has to be after I finish the semester, because I really do owe the school and the students that much. Unless of course they don’t need me after all. We’ll see.”
“That’s all great.” His head spun from the unexpected revelation.
She met his gaze. “And I’m so grateful to you for helping me reach this point in my life.” She grabbed his hands and held on tight.
He remained silent.
“Don’t you have anything else to say?” she asked, hope and something more in those huge green eyes.