Julie's nice, but she talks all the time, mostly about nothing at all. In the end, after hours and hours of trying stuff on at her insistence, I'm physically exhausted and have no clear idea about what I actually want left. My resistance doesn't faze her at all either.

Amid shoving dresses and pants and skirts and shirts into my arms, she keeps assuring me to just enjoy it. Because the Worthingtons have more money than a hundred people can spend in their lifetimes, and if Eric wants to treat me, I should just say thank you. Maybe she's right.

In the end, I just choose all the things she says I absolutely must have. It comes to six huge bags, and it takes the cashier forever to pack it all up for me. My hand's shaking when I hand her Eric's credit card to pay, and I'm sure she'll yell at me, call the cops because I stole his credit card, and I'll end up getting arrested. But she just swipes it, and I punch in the PIN, and that's that.

My fingers are hurting from the weight of the bags before we even reach the exit of the store.

I stop dead just outside the door, causing Julie to bump into me. Terry, Eric's brother, is leaning against his parked car and all the drunken warnings he gave me about Eric just a few days ago flash through my brain, loud like he just uttered them.

"You bought a lot," he says, smiling at me. Julie passes me, and kisses his cheek, her lips actually connecting this time.

He walks over and takes the bags from my hands.

"Yes, I sure did," I manage, since I don't want to be rude.

"You must be starving," he says, unlocking his car. "Me and Julie are going to grab a bite to eat. Why don't you join us?"

I want to go home, take a long shower and wait for Eric.

"OK, sure," I hear myself saying, since I have no idea how to say no without being rude.

Terry puts my bags into the trunk of his car and then I'm following them across the street to a restaurant. We sit at a small table on the sidewalk. I am starving, and my feet are killing me, so sitting down feels so good, my apprehension about this whole situation wanes. Terry's looking at me very intently though, like he's about to deliver more warnings.

I get the chicken sandwich and some fries when the waitress comes to take our order.

"All that?" Julie asks. She ordered a small salad for herself.

Maybe that's what I should've done, just gotten a salad, but I haven't eaten anything since breakfast.

"Leave her be," Terry says, winking at me, and gets the same thing I'm having.

I look away, don't want to share eye contact with him for too long. Despite his easy smiles, and twinkling blue eyes, I sense a coldness, a sharpness about him. But not the calm kind I sense in Eric. Anger, rage even, is boiling just beneath the surface with Terry.

"So, I take it you found everything you needed?" Terry asks.

"All that and more," Julie answers, smiling at me and saving me the trouble of actually replying. So I just nod.

"And how are you enjoying life in the big city so far?" Terry asks. My heart stops. He sounds like he knows all about the deal. But how could he? I'm sure Eric didn't tell him. So who did?

"It's nice," I say, playing with my napkin. "But very busy. I prefer small towns."

"You look it," Terry says, a laugh bursting from his throat. "How long are you staying?"

"Stop interrogating her," Julie says, swatting him on the arm. "Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable? And after all that craziness at your stepmom's party on Sunday, who can blame her?"

Here we go. Now I'm about to get more warnings. But I don't believe any of it. Eric is a good and thoughtful man. Not this monster his brother wants me to believe he is. I've met the real Eric, I'm sure of it, and I want to get to know him even better.

The food arrives, and I pick up my sandwich as soon as the plate is in front of me. I take a bite immediately, probably in a subconscious effort for this lunch to be over as soon as possible.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about all that," Terry says, picking up his own sandwich. "Emotions were running high and things were said that probably shouldn't have been."

His words might be apologetic, but his eyes are far from it, and they're boring into me like I'm the only person left on this planet.

"It's OK," I mutter between bites, since he's clearly waiting for an answer. And I'd do anything to make him look away.

"You know what?" he says, looking at Julie. "We're holding a small dinner party this Friday. Just a couple of friends. Why don't you and Eric join us?"

"Yes, that'd be great," Julie adds.

"I don't…"

"Then you could see a nicer side of our family," Terry interrupts me. "Come on."

"I have to ask Eric," I say as firmly as I can.

"Nonsense. He'll bring you, if you ask him to. Go on, say you'll come." Terry won't let up.

They're both looking at me now with toothy smiles plastered across their faces, and I feel like some mannequin on display in a shop window.

"OK, we'll be there," I hear myself saying. But for some reason, it feels like I just made the biggest mistake of my life.