CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Breck
A knock on the front door startles me out of my TV stupor. I’m not even sure what’s on at this point. I was zoned out, in my head about the plans I want to put into motion starting tomorrow. I jump up from the couch and glance toward the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. Eight thirty. Who…?
The river rock floor is cold under my feet when I pull the door open. The sight of Rory chewing her thumbnail, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes from under her long lashes, is a shock.
“Rory? Bloody hell, what’s going on?” I reach out and pull her into the warmth of the house, encasing her in my arms, my hand finding her face to wipe a stray tear that tracks down her cheek.
She sniffles and presses her forehead into my chest. She says something, but it’s muffled and watery through her tears. “What was that?”
“My parents—” she whimpers. “They’re threatening to… kick me out.”
I push her back to an arm’s length away. I need to see her face, need to see her.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I growl out, but then rein in my anger. “Why?”
“They know about the elopements.” She hiccups. “They said they only let me have the condo because I’m a good investment, but if that isn’t the case anymore, they won’t let me stay there.”
I close my eyes and will the red filling my vision to subside. They called her a fucking investment ?
“Baby…” The endearment slips from my lips, but it doesn’t feel wrong. If anything it feels right. I let it sit between us while I reach again for her face to wipe yet another tear. “Come on, let’s sit and you can tell me what happened.”
I lead her to the couch, pull her down next to me, and wrap my arm around her shoulders.
“Okay, start at the beginning.”
“I forgot to call them last week when we got back from the elopement, so when I texted them the next day, I told them I wasn’t feeling well.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pressured you to have dinner with us. I—” I press my forehead against hers, hating that I played a part in this mess.
“No, I wanted to be here. That’s what’s so frustrating. I did exactly what I wanted to do, and I got burned for it.” She sounds defeated. “And then my dad had lunch with my boss this week and he brought up the elopements.”
“Asshole,” I mutter.
“No, it’s not Logan’s fault. He doesn’t know my parents are—well, the way they are. I’m sure he assumed my parents knew and supported me.” She slumps against me, like the weight of that hurt on her shoulders is crushing her.
“I’m sorry, Rory. I’m so sorry. How can I help, what do you need?”
“I don’t know. The condo’s been my home for years and I don’t know where I’d go without it.” I nod, hearing the pain in her voice. “So I need to cancel the elopements I have booked over the next few months and—”
“What? Why?”
She pulls away, breaking our connection as she slides back on the couch. “Didn’t you hear me? They know, and me staying in the condo is dependent on not doing them anymore.”
“But Rory—”
“No. It was stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a pipe dream, Breck.” She wraps her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest.
“You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t think it really matters what I believe. I won’t have a place to live if I don’t quit. Do you know what it would cost for me to find somewhere else to live this close to the mountain? My parents aren’t playing around. If they say they’ll kick me out, they will.”
“What if you did?” I ask tentatively. “Have someplace else to live, I mean.” I was going to tell her about my plan tomorrow anyway. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I’m not going to change my mind.
She raises both brows. “Like where?”
“Okay, hear me out. I’ve been looking for a new rental the last two days. I’m not ready to go home yet, and neither is Willow. Your parents said this place is rented after we leave, and also… they’re assholes.” She almost smiles. “What if you come with us? I can find a place with three bedrooms. You could leave their condo on your terms, make your own decision about what you want to do about the business and your current job.”
“But that’s a short-term solution, Breck. You’ll go home eventually. It’s not like I can bounce from rental to rental with you forever.”
“You’re right, it is short term, but it would buy you until the end of February. A little over a month to figure out a plan, find a place of your own. I can help you. I need something to focus on if I’m going to put Adventure Chasers behind me for good, and helping you set up Adventure Elopements could be that thing. If you want it to be. I won’t pressure you, but I don’t want to see you give up.”
She chews her lip, thinking, eyes flitting around the room. “Adventure Elopements?” She smiles, just the smallest lift to her lips. “Sounds a lot like Adventure Chasers.”
“I was just trying it out. You’re going to need a name one way or another, and it can be whatever you want.” I shift to close the distance between us and ask, “Do you really believe they’ll kick you out?” She nods. “Do you want to quit? Do you want to let Rory’s Elopements go?”
She shakes her head but also chuckles. My little “name the business” game is helping.
“Then we figure it out. We have an opportunity to help each other here, Rory.” Our eyes clash and I see the wheels turning, her brain working to see every angle of this option. It’s not ideal, I know that, but if quitting isn’t what she wants, then I’ll be damned if she does it because her parents told her to.
“What if they hate me?” she whispers, the words barely audible as her head lolls back on the arm of the couch.
“They won’t hate you, Rory. They might not like your decision, but they’ll eventually see that they’re wrong. You can do this. Then it’ll be up to you if you want to forgive them for not believing in you.”
She lifts her head and looks me straight in the eye. “Do you believe in me?”
The question hits like a tornado, creating a swirl of emotions in the center of my being. “I believe in you, one hundred percent.”
Her eyes water and her lip trembles.
“Why does that make you sad?”
“Because it’s rare that anyone does.”
“You know that’s not true. Wes believes in you. He’d be ripping your parents a new one if he was here right now.”
“But he isn’t,” she says, and though she tries to hide it, there’s hurt in her voice. “I know he can’t be. I wouldn’t want anything different for him, but I feel his absence like it’s a physical thing.”
“I know, and I get that. But you have Jamie too. He’s doing what he can to help you here. He’s agreed to officiate the elopements you already have booked, right?”
“I know. I guess I’m just so used to their support. They feel like anchors that are always there, but someone else believing in me… I haven’t had that in a long time.”
“Well, I can’t imagine why; you’re easy to believe in. You’re not just ‘trying’ to do this, you are doing it. You’ve already got, what? Four more elopements scheduled for February and March? These are all word-of-mouth recommendations. You aren’t even advertising Elope to Tahoe yet.” She smiles again and I smile back, reaching to grab her hand. “This isn’t a pipe dream. It’s your passion. I can see it every time you pick up your camera. Your clients see that too, and they’re bringing their dreams of getting married here to you. You can’t walk away from this.”
“What if I fail? What if I throw away the life I have now and I fail?”
“You won’t.”
“But what if I do?”
“Then you’ll figure it out. Do you think I haven’t spent some part of every day for the last two months wondering how I failed so epically that I no longer have either my business or the family I always envisioned?”
“Breck, I—no, you didn’t…”
“Believe me, those things feel like failures. I might’ve sold the company and made a profit… but to be without it, to have nothing left of the legacy I thought I was building…” I scratch at my jaw. “To have poured everything I had into a nine-year relationship with a woman I thought I’d be with forever, only to have her walk away without a second glance? Yeah, that feels like failing.”
She’s so quiet. I wonder if I’ve said too much, but I can’t seem to stop. “You know what, though? I’m learning that I am not that business, and I wasn’t just a partner to Talia. Those two things didn’t define me then, and they don’t define me now. Adventure Chasers lives on, maybe not with my name attached to it, but I built it, and that sale has given me the means to build something else, maybe something better.
“Even if you fail at Runaway Elopements—which you won’t, I won’t let you—it will not make you a failure. It’ll be something that you build on, create around, grow from. So long as you’re fighting to move forward, you’ll never be a failure. Never.”
Her turquoise eyes haven’t left my face for a second, and I’ve watched every word hit their mark. They’re hitting their mark for me too. Even though I’m saying these things about myself, it’s the first time I’m fully and completely understanding just how far I’ve come in the last couple of months.
“Please, Rory. Let me help you.”
She smiles. “We can build Willow Tree Elopements together?”
“Willow Tree Elopements?” Tears prick my eyes, each word said with awe.
She nods. “I’ve been thinking about names since we talked about expanding this into a real business. Did you know that willows represent strength and resilience, vitality and new life? It seems fitting, doesn’t it?”
It’s my turn to nod. I can’t speak, too choked up that Rory would consider naming her business after the most important person in my life.
“She’s going to be okay, Breck.” She wipes a tear from my cheek and I lean into the touch. She’s right. Willow will be okay, and Rory will be too.