Last Minute Fiancé

Chapter 19

August

The noise from the dining room increased, so I decided to make my exit. It wasn’t that I didn’t love my family. I did. I loved them and everything they did. I loved being with them, and had moved here to be with them. I could have stayed in Oregon. It probably would’ve been easier. I wouldn’t have had to deal with getting a new teaching certificate and finding a job that worked for me. I changed schools, had to deal with a whole new set of curriculum, and a whole slew of other issues. But it wasn’t as if I thought it would be anything different. It wasn’t like I regretted it. I wasn’t sure how I could regret it when I got to be with all of my siblings and their growing families.

We had moved here to be with Greer because our parents had fucked us up enough that we didn’t even know our baby sister. But she wasn’t a baby any longer. She was married and happy. And my twin, Heath, was a dad, and so was Luca. Their kids were going to grow up running around as best friends, cousins who would never be separated. And yet, somehow the guy who had gotten married first, who thought he had it all set, was left behind.

I rubbed my hand over my face, annoyed with myself. I needed to get out of my head.

I was in a funk and I didn’t know why. I shouldn’t be jealous that my family was moving on and growing up. I moved here to watch them do that specifically. To be able to participate in their lives, and get over the fact that our parents hated each other. Hated each other enough that they had married not once, not twice, but three times. And were getting divorced. Again.

I didn’t know what tether held them together so tight that all they could do was hurt one another. They didn’t care that their children were collateral damage.

But honestly, the only good thing that was coming out of this final divorce was that we were going to protect the next generation. Heath’s and Luca’s kids were not going to have to deal with my parents. I would be the one to stand in front of them all. Greer had already walked away, as our parents couldn’t understand the fact that our baby sister had two husbands that loved her and each other. Their relationship wasn’t conventional in their eyes—the people who had gotten divorced two, going on three, times were the ones that apparently had a normal relationship and Greer didn’t because she happened to be in a throuple. And now we knew that if our parents had a chance, they were going to latch their poisonous and dangerous claws into the next generation and dig in and slowly take away their confidence, their joy, and their sense of what was right and wrong. They would lose the concept of what it meant to be family.

My brothers and sister were just now figuring out what it meant to be family. I thought I’d figured that out once but had been wrong. But that didn’t mean I was going to stand by and let my parents hurt them. So I wouldn’t.

I would be the first line of defense.

I sighed, listening to everybody enjoy the dinner and party, and went out to the balcony, needing fresh air. The mountain air that came from the Rockies was so crisp, even though we were in a suburb of Denver. If you looked west, all you saw was darkness, and a few tiny lights of cabins in the woods. It was so damn cool. Yes, I loved the trees and the mountains of Portland, being able to see Mount Hood and everything like that, but I loved the Rockies more.

It took a few moments to realize I wasn’t alone.

That she was there.

It shouldn’t be a kick in the gut anymore. Not after so many years. It wasn’t like I was the same person that I had been when my ex-wife and I had separated. Paisley was an all-new woman. Strong and gorgeous as ever, with a new shell over that fragility that I had not been able to see in time.

She was close friends with Addison and Devney, so it wasn’t as if I could stay away from her. Only I still couldn’t quite believe she was here. In Denver, making millions for others and herself. She had become the powerhouse she had always wanted to be.

All she needed to do was watch me walk away to make it happen.

See? Some good things happened when it came to being with me and watching me leave.

She stood there under the moonlight, her shawl tight around her shoulders as she looked up into the sky. Her bright red hair shone under the moonlight, and she looked so damn gorgeous.

Paisley had always taken my breath away with her high cheekbones, porcelain skin, and curves that filled out a suit and skirt like nobody’s business.

She realized she wasn’t alone anymore and turned to me, and I didn’t let myself think those thoughts anymore.

“How’s Jacob?” I asked. I hadn’t realized I was going to think it, let alone say the words. They were ridiculous. They shouldn’t matter. But they were out there.

Apparently the other man had dug his claws into my psyche and now I couldn’t get him out.

She looked at me but didn’t frown. That little V between her eyebrows not even making an appearance. She didn’t react.

I used to be able to read her face, or perhaps I had lied to myself about thinking I could read her face. Because I hadn’t been able to.

I had just been standing in her way.

“He asked me to marry him.”

I swallowed hard and tried not to react.

She was going to marry Jacob. That had to be what was coming next. The man who wore business suits and had investors. The man who would probably one day be the governor of Colorado. The man who was just damn good at everything.

The two of them always looked good together, though I wondered where he was tonight. Why he wasn’t at our family dinner when she was.

I broke up with Paisley because we had been too young, and knew even then she was destined for great things, not to be stuck in a rut with a high school teacher with student debt.

We had fought all the fucking time. No matter what we tried, we had fought. But I had never stopped loving her.

Well, hell.

“And?”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Why couldn’t I read her face anymore? “And I said yes. He loves me. He respects me.” When I didn’t say anything, she smiled again, but this time I read sadness. Sadness I had put on her face. Because that’s what I was good at. “I told myself I wouldn’t make the same mistakes I did with my first husband.”

The words sounded bitter, so I smirked, doing what I did best. “Glad you are getting your second chance. He’s an asshole though. But I guess you’re good at choosing assholes.”

“I chose you after all.” She rolled her eyes, before her shoulders dropped and she sighed. “I don’t hate you, August. I stopped doing that a long time ago.”

I snorted. Too bad I hated myself.

“Fine. But just leave Pretty Boy Jacob at home when I’m around? I’m not in the mood to deal with his smirking. And I guess you hanging out with your ex-husband and his family probably isn’t the best for his political aspects?”

She stared at me and shook her head. “Jealous?” she asked, that biting tone back. I loved that biting tone. It meant there was still some emotion there. Some of the Paisley I remembered.

And yes, I was jealous. But I wasn’t going to say it out loud.

“Never.”

She searched my face, just like I was searching hers. But I knew she couldn’t read me. We were both so good at hiding. That’s why it never worked out. Why he was better for her.

“Goodbye, August.”

I lifted my chin and met her gaze. “Goodbye, Paisley.”

I watched her go, thinking it a bit ironic, as I was the one who had left last time.

I regretted it ever since.

And now it was far too late to fix it. Far too late for second chances.

If you’d like to read a bonus scene:

Check out this special Epilogue!

NEXT IN THE FIRST TIME SERIES:

Things are going to get messy in Second Chance Husband with Paisley and August.

I can’t wait.