Chapter 26
The wedding preparations were going smoothly with Lacey and Kathy’s help. I didn’t know the first
thing about nning a wedding, but I learned it came with a lot of price tags. Too many. It was
overwhelming.
“Tip number one,” Lacey told me grinning. “Don’t tell them it’s for a wedding. The price shoots up to
unbelievable prices. If you say it’s like an anniversary, you get the same thing for much cheaper.”
“Isn’t that lying, though?” I asked, looking at her seriously.
“It’s good business!” Lacey refuted with a sly grin.
In addition to the wedding ns, the remodeling on the set for the movie was getting done at
hyperspeed. Cassidy was a genius, and a fast one, too. I had to admit, I was happy Damon had called
him.
“We’ve just got some more painting to do, and you’ll be all set,” Cassidy told me over the phone one
morning in his usual rough voice.
I really felt like things were looking up, like puzzle pieces I didn’t know were missing suddenly slid into
ce. I couldn’t believe it fell together so well.
The only thing that bothered me still was Corinna and Ashton.
I knew how much their lies would hurt my grandmother. Damon managed to convince me to keep it
quiet so we could gather more evidence.
He wanted to make sure we could take them both down in one fell swoop.
In the meantime, though, I was going to enjoy my life. I wasn’t going to let them ruin the happiness I
was feeling.
“Grandma!”
I grinned as I pulled my grandmother into a hug. She chuckled, patting my back like when I was a child.
It was always soforting.
“You saw me only a few days ago, child,” my grandmother said, amused. “Did you miss me that
much?”
“Yes,” I smiled into her warm sweater. When I pulled back, Grandma caught sight of Damon behind me.
“And I see you brought your husband,” she said with a warm smile, her eyes falling on Damon.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Hildebrand,” Damon said, politely smiling at her.
“Oh, none of that nonsense,” Grandma huffed, reaching out to pull
Damon into a hug. Despite her shorter stature, Grandma was incredibly strong. “I’ve known you since
you were a tot. I keep telling you, call me Grandma.”
“Okay, Mrs. Hildebrand,” Damon chuckled, hunched over from their height difference.
“You stubborn boy,” Grandma said yfully, pping him on the arm with a chuckle.
“Stubborn is right,” I said with a smirk. I saw him roll his eyes over her shoulder and stuck out my
tongue in retaliation.
“Oh,e on in. No use standing out in the cold,” my grandma said, hooking both of us by our arms as
she pulled us into the house.
Neither of us were going to tell her it was almost 80 degrees out. It wouldn’t stop her worrying over us
anyway.
“Where’s Grandpa?” I asked as we entered the modest home. My grandparents had never liked
unting their wealth and found a big house too difficult to move around in, so they’d downsized when I
was a kid.
The cozy home was packed to the brim with photos and memorabilia. It had that feeling of coziness
that always made me feel warm.
“Oh, he’s in the kitchen,” Grandma said with a smile. “He’s making your favorite.”
“Double chocte chip s’mores cookies?” I eximed.
“Of course,” Grandma chuckled.
“You and your chocte,” Damon rolled his eyes, grinning.
“It’s obviously the superior vor,” I said, proudly. “Why? What’s yours?”
“I’m partial to strawberries,” he smirked like it was some inside joke I wasn’t getting, but I smiled at him
still.
“Oh, you two are so sweet together, just like when you were kids.” Grandma chuckled as we all settled
into the family room. She poured us some tea, still as graceful as when she was a young woman.
Grandma had attempted to teach me the art of tea-making, but I was never good at it. I could never be
as gentle and precise as she was.
“Us? We fought like cats and dogs,” I scoffed. “We never agreed on anything.”
“Well, yes,” Grandma chuckled. “But you were also quite close, even if neither of you would admit it. I
remember you’d follow Damon and Ashton around like a little duckling after its mother. The three of you
getting into so much mischief.”
Damon sent me a pointed look, but I rolled my eyes.
“You mean the four of us,” I pointed out. “Corinna stuck to them like glue 100.”
“Oh, yes,” Grandma said, quietly. “But I mean before Corinna got taken in. When Maelyn was still
alive.”
I stiffened at the mention of my mother, her name was practically taboo after her death. Especially
around my father. Hearing it always made my breath catch in my chest for a second.
I didn’t remember much about my mother, only that she was soft and pretty. She’d died when I was still
a toddler, too young to even process what death was.
My father married my stepmother and brought in Corinna soon after that.
“Oh, but the four of you would have so much fun ying as kids,” Grandma chuckled, as she pulled out
one of her many family albums. “This one is my favorite.”
I leaned in close to her to see the picture.
It was old and faded but clearly well-taken care of. It was a cardboard house named ‘Bakery’ and the
four of us as kids. We were all posing for the camera. Corinna was in a pretty red dress, much too big
for her, and clearly, she had too much makeup on.
I smiled at the funny faces we were making.
“You decided to shoot a movie,” Grandma said and smiled. “Addie directed everything, and Damon
made the ‘set.’ Ashton provided the materials, and Corinna was the star, of course. It was the first time
I’d seen you four do something together without it starting a fight.”
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“I remember that,” Iughed. “It was supposed to be a haunted bakery, but I had to change it because
ghosts scared Corinna too much.”
“I’m pretty sure we raided Odessa’s closet and makeup for that look.” Damon grinned saying, “I can’t
believe we ever thought that looked good.”
Looking at our chubby cheeks and smiling faces, I felt sad that none of us were this close anymore.
I didn’t always hate Corinna. There was a time when I was excited to have a sister, a time when we
actually got along.
But as we grew up, those times became smaller and smaller until all we felt for one another was
resentment.
Even though the box set was crude, the acting was atrocious, and the story was tooplicated to
follow, I think that was the best movie I’d ever directed.
“Grandma…” I nced up from the photo, my mouth moving to confess everything about Corinna and
Ashton and me and Damon and how messed up things had gotten.
“Are those cookies done yet?” Damon interrupted with a smile. “I’d really like one.”
“Oh, let me go see. That man, I swear. He’ll bete to his funeral, mark my words,” my grandmother
grumbled as she got to her feet, heading to the kitchen.
I swallowed, ncing down at the photo.
“We have to tell her,” I insisted.
“Addie, if we tell her now, the two will juste up with another scheme, and this will never end. We
have to make sure they’re down for good before we reveal what we know,” Damon frowned, reaching
out to brush a lock of my hair over my ear. “I know it’s hard, but you can do it.”
I sighed, knowing he was right but hating it anyway.
I carefully tucked the photo back into the family album. We weren’t kids anymore. We’d all chosen our
own paths, and we had to live with them.
Corinna and Ashton would never stop trying to get the family money no matter the cost, and I would
never stop trying to protect my family from their deceit.
This wasn’t about the money anymore. This was about protecting my family.
I leaned my head on Damon’s shoulder.
“When did things get soplicated?” I sighed.
“Puberty,” came his deadpan response.
I burst into giggles just as Grandma and Grandpa both entered the family room, the smell of double
chocte s’mores cookies drifting through the
air.
“What’s so funny?” Grandpa asked, sitting in his old recliner.
“Nothing, Grandpa,” I said with a smile. “Thanks for making cookies. I’ve been craving themtely.”
“Anything for my favorite grandchild,” Grandpa winked at me.
“Archibald!” Grandma scolded, half-heartedly but offered the te of cookies to me with soft eyes.
I took one, the cookie still warm and melty from the oven. As I took a bite, I thought that maybe, this
was what Corinna and Ashton’s downfall would taste like.
The sweetness of revenge and double chocte s’mores cookies.