Don't Tell the Wedding Planner by Aimee Carson Read Free Book Online

trouble in high school?”
    “Nope. I did well,” she said. “Straight-A student. I wound up with several acceptances to excellent schools. My parents wanted me to accept the scholarship at a smaller college closer to home, but I...”
    Callie stared at her reflection in the mirror. She’d been so dumb, thinking her ability to adjust to a new high school translated into an easy adjustment to a new town and a large university.
    “I wanted to get out and see the world,” she said. “I mean, high school seemed fairly easy. How hard could an out-of-state larger university be? So I accepted the Wimbly Southern deal.”
    His gaze ticked back to hers in the mirror. “Scholarship?”
    “A full ride,” she said with a nod. “Tuition. Room and board. Books. The works. Even some spending money so I didn’t have to get a job. I only had to concentrate on my studies. For a girl with parents who could barely afford the rent, it was a big deal.”
    He cocked his head, the fingers at her back now motionless. “Let me guess. You flunked out and lost the scholarship.”
    Callie hesitated. She could say yes and let that be the end. His short sentence summed up the events accurately. But she knew leaving out the most important bits would be taking the coward’s way out, and certainly wouldn’t explain about her commitment to Matt’s brother and his fiancée—a couple she’d only spoken to once on the phone.
    “Yes, but there’s a little more to the story,” she said.
    “How much more?”
    “My grades slipped because I fell in with the wrong crowd. I was lonely, and the party kids were the only ones who would have anything to do with me.”
    In hindsight, she realized how lucky she’d been in high school. Moving just before the tenth grade should have meant she’d been the odd one out, friendless and alone. Instead, things had come together easily. She’d had plenty of friends and was well liked by her classmates. Some of that might have had to do with her dating Colin, his popularity rubbing off on her. Either way, things had fallen into place and she’d never missed a beat.
    College, on the other hand, had been a disaster.
    Callie cleared her throat. “But the party crowd comes with certain expectations, and I went out too much.” She rolled her eyes. “That alone would have been enough for the Moron of the Year Award, but one night I went to a party at a house.”
    Matt’s going to hate what comes next.
    She gripped the skirt of her dress, wishing the silken folds could sooth her nerves, and she gathered her courage before she went on. “The police raided the place because the man was a drug dealer.”
    Matt sucked in a breath and his lips went white, and she knew the news had hit him viscerally. He looked as if he’d received a solid punch to the solar plexus. She whirled around to face him, laying a hand on his arm. Her heart pumped hard in her chest.
    The rest tumbled out of her mouth. “I didn’t know who he was or what he did to make money, Matt.” She stared up at him, emphasizing every word and trying hard to convince him of the truth with her gaze. “He was a friend of a friend of a friend. It sounds like a stupid cliché, I know, but I honestly had no idea who the man was. But—”
    She bit her cheek and held her tongue, staring at Matt. Callie shoved her hair back from her face, disturbed by the slight tremor in her fingers.
    “We all got taken down to the station and...and they found marijuana in my purse.”
    “Jesus, Callie.”
    And then Matt just seemed to stop breathing, as if this final piece of the sordid story was just one insult too many. There was no way out but the truth. And the faster she got this over with, the sooner her heart would start beating again.
    Callie drew in a shaky breath and pushed on. “I know. I know. I was stupid and depressed and I just wanted something to make it all go away. It was the only time, I swear.”
    The stupid move would follow her around the rest of