Chapter One - Sebastian
CHAPTER ONE
Sebastian
THREE YEARS LATER
I walk into the living room to find my fiancée sitting on the couch with her wedding planner and my dog. She looks up, smiling brightly at me. “Hey, how was your day?”
“It was good,” I say, leaning over the couch to kiss Kiera’s cheek sweetly. “How was yours? Did you go to your dress fitting?”
Kiera shakes her head, patting the couch next to her. “It’s next week.” She is still looking in her planner, clearly distracted by something.
I sit on the couch as she straightens her legs out to put them across my lap. “Sorry, I thought that was today.” I immediately start rubbing my thumbs into the muscles of her calves. “I was talking to Alec today and he said we could use his beach house for a few days, so I thought we could go away this weekend?”
“That sounds nice, Seb, but I’m volunteering at the clinic this weekend. I don’t know if I could find someone to cover for me, and I need the hours for my class.” Kiera’s pale blue eyes are shining with remorse.
“It’s okay, baby, we’ll just have to go another time,” I reassure her, as Zeus climbs over Kiera’s lap, sneezing directly in my face.
I wipe away the spray of saliva, scratching the St. Bernard’s soft head. “Was that really necessary, buddy?” I ask as he blinks his dark eyes at me as if to communicate that it was. I can’t explain it, but Zeus sneezes when he’s happy.
“Zeus, down.” Kiera laughs, pushing him off her.
“Now that is the reaction of someone who missed me while I was gone,” I tease Kiera playfully as she rolls her eyes in response. She sets the planner down on the coffee table before moving to sit in my lap, looping her arms around my neck.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t more excited to see you. I missed you a lot today. I’m just trying to make sure everything is in order. We only have three months left until the big day,” she says, smiling nervously. I know it’s a lot of work planning the wedding, and taking classes for her nursing degree, but I thought most of the important stuff was already done.
“It’s all going to be great.” I tilt my head forward to press my mouth against hers. “I can’t wait to call you my wife,” I mumble against Kiera’s lips, feeling her smile.
“And I can’t wait to call you my husband.”
Hearing Kiera say that makes my heart swell with happiness. I kiss her deeper, feeling her run her fingers through my short hair.
Zeus barks, the sound rattling the frames on the walls, clearly wanting our attention. I pull away, chuckling as he pokes Kiera with his wet nose. She sighs and pets him gently. “Really? You couldn’t just let me kiss your dad for a little bit?”
“Are you expecting him to respond?”
She sticks her tongue out at me. “You talk to Zeus too. Don’t act like you’re better than me.”
“I don’t have to be better than you, but I do have to be faster than you in case there’s a zombie apocalypse. We live in a nice neighborhood, but I’m not sure if the gates would be enough to keep them out,” I jest, causing Kiera to push herself off me. She’s trying to scowl, but her smile is threatening to poke through. She can’t keep a straight face to save her life.
“I’m mad at you.”
I chuckle and give her my most charming smile. “No, you’re not. You love me.”
“I can be mad at you and still love you. But I have the perfect idea for what you can do to not make me mad at you for saying you’d leave me behind to be eaten by zombies?” Kiera smiles sweetly and motions to the book on the coffee table. I immediately understand what it is too.
“I’m sorry, but no.” Zeus nudges his nose under my hand and I scratch behind his ear.
“Seb, please will you just call her?” Kiera asks, and I look over at her wedding planner. She’s stopped on the page from Blake and Owen’s wedding last year that Thalia helped photograph.
Even I have to admit that for someone who doesn’t enjoy photographing people, the wedding portraits Thalia took turned out great, especially when she was also playing the role of maid of honor. Thalia brought another photographer with her since she couldn’t do it all by herself due to being in the wedding party, but she played the role of Superwoman that night.
Walking down the aisle with her on my arm brought up all kinds of terrible memories of what could have been. It was awkward as hell and I was as thankful for Kiera then as I am for her now.
I hold back my sigh, but I’m tired of being made out to be the bad guy for not wanting to call Thalia. “Can’t you call that other person? The one you found at that wedding expo you went to with your mom? I thought you said it would be a good fit.” I have no idea if Kiera said that, but I’m grasping at straws at this point. Having Thalia at our wedding is my idea of spending a day in hell.
Kiera shakes her head quickly, refusing to back down. “Nope. She isn’t available for the day we picked, so unless you want to reschedule the caterer, the DJ, the baker, the pastor, and tell all of our wedding guests who have RSVP’d that we need to change dates to find a photographer because you’re too chicken to call Thalia.”
Honestly, yeah, I would rather do all of that instead of calling Thalia. I suspect that Kiera hasn’t tried very hard to find a photographer because she’s set on Thalia.
“There has got to be someone else—literally anyone else, Kiera. I don’t care how much it costs, but please find a different photographer,” I plead as she pouts, jutting her bottom lip. I hate disappointing Kiera, but I missed my window a long time ago to explain why I avoid Thalia like the plague.
“I want Thalia, though. She’s perfect, and think of what our pictures will look like,” Kiera protests, proving me right. Fuck. What do I do? I know that marriage is all about compromise, and it’s my fault that I haven’t explained the depth of my past relationship with Thalia, but I need to think.
I stand up and whistle shortly to get Zeus’s attention. He immediately trots to my side, his head tilting to look at me eagerly. “We’re going for a quick run. Please look for a different photographer.”
“You just got home. Seb, I promise I’ll drop it.”
“I’ll be back in a little bit,” I promise, leaning down to kiss her cheek briefly. I’m not mad, I just wish she’d respect my decision to say I don’t want to call my ex-girlfriend to ask if she’ll photograph my wedding. I clip Zeus to his leash, walking out the front door feeling pretty shitty. I don’t tell Kiera no often, but this is something I don’t think I can ask of Thalia.
She skipped Christmas to stay in Spain, and I spent Thanksgiving at Kiera’s family’s house instead of the Lewis’s. It’s been constant avoidance the past few years and petty fights when we are together. The way Thalia hurt me the night I proposed has a way of turning me into the worst kind of person when I’m around her.
The last time I talked to her was at Mimi’s funeral in October, and to say it didn’t go well would be the understatement of the year.
Zeus and I run until I’m focusing more on my breathing instead of the cruel words I threw at Thalia to see her bleed. The fact of the matter is that no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to forget Thalia. I find pieces of her everywhere I look that fit into a puzzle I can’t complete.
It doesn’t matter that it’s been years and we’ve both moved on.
I shake my head as Zeus keeps pace next to me at a light jog. “I need to call her, don’t I?” I ask him, talking to the dog just like I made fun of Kiera for doing not even half an hour ago.
His tongue falls out of his open mouth as we slow to a stop in a park near our neighborhood. I unlock my phone to dial Thalia’s number from memory since I deleted her contact to try and keep myself from reaching out.
I’m doing this for Kiera , I remind myself.
I hold the phone up to my ear as it rings, nearly dropping it in shock when the line connects.
“Hello?”