Chapter 1
one
. . .
Presley
“What’s the saying? When life gives you lemons, make yourself a gin martini?” I asked my best friend Lola, who’d been here for all of thirty minutes, listening to me whine about the current state of my life.
“Ummm… You’re holding a bottle of vodka, and you’re making a lemon drop, my love.
Clearly, Harvard Law didn’t teach bartending 101.
It’s all that fancy wine you wealthy people drink that has you clueless about the good stuff.
” Lola laughed as I handed her a glass, and we clinked them together.
I wasn’t much of a drinker, but with my life being a complete shit show lately, I was open to trying new things.
“Ahhh… good to know. And it’s tasty.” I licked my lips after taking a long pull. “Thanks for coming over.”
“Are you kidding? I love coming to Chateau Country Duncan.” She and I both sat down on the couch, facing one another. My parents had purchased this ranch decades ago, and it actually was one of my favorite places in the world.
I’d met Lola in Cottonwood Cove the first summer I’d started coming here. I’d grown up in San Francisco but had fallen in love with spending summers in the small town. Lola had become the sister I’d always wanted.
She’d moved out to New York after college, and I’d been thrilled to have her nearby. But she’d missed home, and she was looking to simplify her life, so she’d left New York a few months ago to return to Cottonwood Cove.
I understood the appeal of this town.
I’d always loved it here, until the memories of this place had made it so that I never wanted to come back.
“So, you’re loving small-town life, huh? Any progress with finding a location for the spa?” I asked as I sipped my cocktail.
“Yeah, I just wish you’d consider doing it with me, and not just financially. Don’t you remember that dream of ours?” she teased. Her dark hair was cut blunt at her shoulders. She was effortlessly stylish and naturally gorgeous.
“Um… I remember. We’d had it all figured out back then, didn’t we?”
“Yep. We were going to be business partners, and you were going to tell your parents to fuck off because you didn’t really want to go to law school or be a lawyer.
You were going to marry Cage Reynolds, and I’d marry some bad boy who rode into town on a white horse.
We’d raise our kids together and have a little nursery at the spa for all our beautiful, well-behaved, genius children.
” She set her glass down and fell back against the couch. “The good ole days.”
“Please. That was a fantasy. Clearly, bad boys don’t ride on white horses.
” I tipped my head back and finished the rest of my drink.
“My mother already resented me for not being a pageant queen; she wasn’t going to let me be the first family member not to attend Harvard, too.
” No, Presley Duncan was groomed to be an intellectual.
All through school, I’d had tutors on the side to give me a ‘step up’, as my mother would say.
Dad wanted me on the rodeo circuit. I was his champion jumper, and my mother eventually embraced my competitions, but only after I started winning.
Lola pushed to her feet and made her way back to the counter, where she poured us two more drinks. “Barbie Duncan does not play around. She’s such a freaking powerhouse, too, and she has a gift for making others feel like they’ve failed comparatively.”
“It’s her superpower.” I chuckled.
“And your poor dad has had two major medical emergencies in his life, and the timing has been horrible. Although, there probably is never a good time for a medical emergency, right?”
“Yeah, very true. Maybe it’s my life that’s the problem.
” I shrugged. “First, he gets into a skiing accident and spends eight months in rehab. His so-called motivation to recover was to help his baby girl move into her new place to start law school in Cambridge, his alma mater. As if my parents would ever help me move anyway. They hired movers. But, boy, did my mom lay it on thick while he was recovering.” Fortunately, his broken bones healed nicely without any complications, and they did show up when I moved in to take me to dinner.
“And then…” My best friend settles on the couch and hands me my filled-to-the-rim glass. “What are the chances that your dad has a stroke now with all that’s happening?”
“Sadly, I don’t think you get to choose your time for something like that.
” I still vividly remember getting the call from my mom and the complete panic that I felt.
This was the most severe illness my father had ever encountered.
“Wait, are you referring to now as the time when my husband decided to knock up his assistant, who then went and took the story public? Is that the now you’re referring to? ”
Yes, I’d married Wes Wellington, the famous music producer who was ten years my senior, and to say that life had not gone as planned would be a massive understatement.
“Are you really that shocked?” Lola asked as she studied me.
She knew everything about me. She knew my marriage was a total fraud.
Wes and I hadn’t been in love in years, and I couldn’t say for certain that I ever was in love with the man that I’d spent the last five years with.
I didn’t fully blame him for the demise of our marriage, but he sure took us out with a bang.
Literally and figuratively.
But I had a hand in this mess. Wes had been the one to fill a void when my heart was shattered into a million pieces, but he’d never been the love of my life, not in any way, shape, or form.
He’d known it on our wedding day, and one of the biggest gripes he’d had was that there wasn’t room in our marriage for him, because he’d known that my heart already belonged to another man.
We’d spent a lot of time apart, as he traveled often, and I’d wondered if he’d strayed, yet he’d denied it vehemently. I’d always assumed it was just a coping mechanism for me to expect the worst.
But now, I really questioned if his dalliance with Corona was the first time he’d strayed.
Yes, his mistress was named after my favorite beer. Go figure.
I’d threatened to divorce him a year ago, but he’d insisted I was being paranoid, and honestly, it was embarrassing to admit. But Wes and I hadn’t even been willing to take the time to end our marriage the way we should have a long time ago.
I worked crazy hours, and he traveled all over the world with clients.
We’d been living separate lives for the last few years.
Sure, we’d make public appearances together and present a united front when he was home, because that was important to him. Wes had become more like a friend than a spouse, but it wasn’t like I wanted to go out and date someone else.
I’d given up on finding love a long time ago.
I’d found it once, and it had burned me bad enough to never want to go there again.
So, I’d settled.
And this is where you land when you settle.
“Am I shocked that he cheated? Not really. But a part of me believed that I was being paranoid for thinking it all those times. I mean, I wasn’t happy either, but I sure as hell wasn’t out there sleeping around.” I shrugged.
“He’s a selfish asshole,” Lola hissed and shook her head with disgust. “And to get her pregnant and let you find out with the rest of the world? He didn’t even have the decency to tell you privately.”
“That’s the part that surprises me most. He’s the one who claimed he was still in love with me, and now he keeps sending texts begging me not to leave him.
He never wanted to separate, no matter how many times I suggested it.
Why wouldn’t he have just let me go so we both could have moved on without having to humiliate me publicly?
And what are the chances that all of this happened right when my dad had a stroke? When it rains, it pours, I guess.”
She set her glass down and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Maybe this is a sign that it’s time to make a change. You would have just stayed in an unhappy situation, and now he’s forced your hand.”
I nodded and drained the last of the liquid from my glass.
My nose was numb, and my hands were tingling.
“It’s all so complicated. My firm represents his company.
I’m about to be named partner, which is what I’ve been working so hard for all these years.
I just want to be completely free of him, you know?
I love my job, and I want to bury myself in work when I get back home.
But I am glad that I was able to leave when the story broke, to get out of New York and come here for a couple of weeks to be with my father. ”
“Ahhh… Cottonwood Cove heals all.” She turned to face me. “So, go ahead and ask what you’re dying to ask.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The man we never talk about. Cage Reynolds. No, I haven’t run into him since I’ve been back, but I saw his brother, Hugh, and his wife, Lila, the other day, and they are too freaking good-looking for their own good. Damn, that family is so beautiful. It’s just not fair.”
“This is helping me, how?” I fell back on the couch and groaned.
“I did some snooping when I had dinner with Madison and Felicia, and I tried to find out if Cage was in a relationship.” She hovered beside me, her cheeks all rosy from the booze. “But they said he’s so private that they don’t have any idea if or who he dates.”
“Why would I care if he’s in a relationship?
I’m in a disaster of a marriage. I’m not looking for a new man.
” I bellowed out in laughter. “That’s the last thing I need.
Especially that man. He broke me once. I would never let that happen again.
I’ve avoided this town for years because I can’t go there. ”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Time heals all wounds. And let’s be honest, he wasn’t the only one who messed up, bestie. You know I love you more than chocolate mousse and good sex, but you played a role in that breakup, too.”