Chapter Fourteen
Maisie
The best part of my job is that it keeps me busy and distracted when things in my personal life are going to shit.
The bad part of my job is that it keeps me busy and distracted when things in my personal life are going to shit.
And then I have to face reality.
I can easily drown out the thoughts when I’m reading manuscripts and contracts, replying to emails, video chatting with my assistant, or negotiating offers.
But as soon as I close out of my thirty-seven tabs, I’m forced to face reality and contemplate what the hell I’m doing.
After a perfect night with Warren and my mother scolding me to grow up, I need to do the right thing and confess to Hayes. He deserves to know the truth of why I came here, besides the baby shower, and that I have feelings for both of them.
Telling him while he’s on a deadline isn’t ideal, but the longer I wait, the more I’m hurting him by lying. Truthfully, I’m not sure how he’s going to react, but I’m also not sure how I want him to.
The decision between Warren and Hayes is more than deciding which future I want—it’s either going back to the place I’ve called home for seven years or moving my whole life back to Willow Branch Mountain—and risk regretting making the wrong choice.
The worst part is having no one to talk to about this.
I’m not super close with my brother, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t a clue what’s going on.
The only other person I trust is my friend Jessica, who happens to be Hayes’s agent and the one who introduced us.
Before I flew here, I told her what I was doing and she promised to keep it between us, but considering she cares deeply for Hayes, I’m not sure she’d be on my side once I tell her I kissed another man.
My parents will be furious if I call off the wedding, but that can’t be why I go through with it. However, I’ve gone almost thirty years trying to please them, so the thought of disappointing them makes me sick.
I’m so grateful for everything they’ve done, paying my way through college and supporting me early on in my career. It’d kill me to lose them.
But I have to be able to look myself in the mirror every morning, which means I need to be honest with Hayes before this continues. I’m supposed to meet with our wedding coordinator in a couple hours, and I can’t do that without getting this off my chest.
“Hello, honey.” He picks up on the fourth ring.
“Hi, are you busy?”
“No more than usual, but I can take a short break for you. It’s nice to hear your voice. How are things going?”
My heart pounds harder, and I swallow down the vomit threatening to surface.
“There’s somethin’ I need to tell you about my past that I never shared and the real reason I came here. ”
A brief pause and then he clears his throat. “Okay. What is it?
“I got married when I was twenty-one to my high school sweetheart and we never got a divorce. After I left for New York, I hoped he’d move with me, but he never did.
I served him divorce papers several times, but he’d never sign ’em and at the time I wasn’t in a huge rush to file for a default divorce, so I kept waiting and hoping he’d sign ’em the next time.
I sent ’em twice since we got engaged and decided to ask him in person since he sent those back unsigned too. ”
“Okay…” He breathes out slowly. “Did you get him to sign now?”
“Not yet, but…” I lick my lips, confused. “You don’t sound surprised to hear that I’m married to another man.”
“I’m not.”
I wait for him to elaborate.
“I knew you got married young.”
“You knew ? Why didn’t you ever say anythin’? And how?”
“I figured if you wanted me to know, you would’ve told me. I hired a PI to do a full background check on you before things turned serious and he found your marriage record but no divorce decree or obituary that he had passed.”
“Wait…” I blink hard, not believing what I’m hearing. “You did a background check on me?”
“Of course. I had to make sure the woman I was bringing into my life wasn’t a secret obsessive fan or someone with a criminal record who would make me look bad. I had to make sure I was making the right decision.”
“So this whole time…for almost three years, you knew I was married and still proposed to me?”
“I hoped it’d help move things along. I figured there was a reason you never told me, so I thought maybe a little push would help get it done. I didn’t like the idea of the woman I love being someone else’s.”
I’m speechless, too shocked to fully comprehend his words. My chest is so tight, I can’t breathe.
“Maisie?”
Squeezing my eyes, I lean back in my bed to stop the stars from taking over my vision.
“Honey, speak to me.”
“I-I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”
“You’re not upset, are you?”
My mouth falls open. “That you did a background check on me? No. I understand needin’ to be cautious. But the manipulatin’ me part…I’m upset about that, yes.”
“Well…I could say the same about you for not being honest with me, and yet, I’m not mad.”
“If you knew, why didn’t you ask me about it? Why act like you wanna marry me just so I’ll get divorced?”
“Like I said, I figured you had good reason for not telling me, but I don’t want to share you, Maisie. I want you as my wife.”
“I dunno if that’s gonna happen, Hayes.”
“Which part?”
“The gettin’ married part.”
“I take it he hasn’t signed them?”
“No, he hasn’t. But he will in a few days…if I ask him to.”
“That’s great.” There’s hope in his voice. “What’s the problem, then?”
“I—” I gather the courage to say the words I need to say. “I’m not sure I want him to.”
The line goes quiet, so I continue explaining.
“When he wouldn’t agree to signin’ and I threatened goin’ the default divorce route, he offered to make a deal with me, and if I still wanted a divorce, then he’d sign.”
“What kind of deal, Maisie?” His tone is harsh, filled with suspicion.
I explain in detail about Warren’s seven-day deal, that we’ve gone on four dates so far and have three left, including tonight. I tell him that Warren thinks he can make me doubt my decision to get the divorce and then I admit it’s working because I am second-guessing it.
“You can’t stay married to him and be engaged to me,” he says after I spill everything.
“I know,” I say softly. “That’s why I’m tellin’ you. It didn’t feel right deceivin’ you, even though my mother seemed to think it was, but I respect you more than that. At the very least, I couldn’t continue with these last three dates without you aware of ’em.”
“I don’t want you going on them.”
“Whaddya mean? You don’t want him to sign the papers?”
“File for a default divorce and we’ll push the wedding date until after it’s finalized. I don’t want him getting more time with you than he’s already had.”
I stay quiet, trying to organize my thoughts, but I can’t think straight. When it’s Hayes and me, I feel like one person, but when I’m with Warren, I feel like a completely different one.
And I can’t decide which person I’m meant to be.
“Unless you aren’t sure you want him to sign them because you’re choosing to stay married to him?”
“I dunno…” I confess, my breath hitching before I say my next words. “I kissed him last night.”
“Is that all that happened?” he asks after a long beat of silence .
“Yes.”
“Do you still love him?”
I gulp. “Yes.”
“And do you still love me ?”
“Yes,” I say with certainty.
“Then I guess you have a decision to make.”
“I dunno that I can,” I admit.
“I don’t want to have to convince my fiancée to be with me, so do whatever you have to do these next few days to make up your mind, and I’ll see you on Saturday.”
“You’re comin’ here this weekend?”
“I was going to surprise you since I’m on the final two chapters of my book. That way I could be there to help with wedding plans, go to the baby shower with you, and spend some quality time together since I’d been so buried in writing.”
My heart aches. “Hayes…”
In any other circumstance, I’d be excited for him to come down and spend a week together without worrying about his deadline.
“I’ll fight for you—if that’s what you need for me to prove I want us—but I’m not going to be made a fool either while you string me along. I love you and want to be your husband, but if you don’t make a decision by the time I arrive, I’ll make it for you.”
Guess that means I’m the one with the deadline now.
A dagger pierces my heart because while I don’t blame him for not wanting to be strung along, the thought of losing him and the home we made together has my stomach in knots.
Three days ago, I was confident that my life was perfect with Hayes. I knew it deep in my bones, and not because he’s in New York, but because there’s a level of mutual respect that I cherish. We have similar goals and the determination to hit them.
But after that kiss with Warren? That confidence evaporated into a layer of dust that appears after a bomb gets destroyed and all that’s left is the fallout.
He’s reminding me of things I forgot—my roots, how much fun we had, how to laugh at myself. When I’m with him, I’m my true self again.
I should hate him for making me second-guess my plans, and for a while, I loathed him for complicating my life every time he returned those papers. But all those feelings of frustration have long vanished.
“Is the music super loud or are we gettin’ old?” I lean into Warren’s ear so he can hear me over the bass.
“Both?” he muses, then tightens his grip on my hand and leads us through the crowd toward the bar. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to a place like this, but only after a few minutes, I feel out of place.
After my call with Hayes, I did a lot of thinking and decided I’m going to spend these next three days doing what I set out to do from the start—give Warren what he wants in terms of trying to change my mind.
Then come Saturday, I’ll make my decision.
That way no one’s left wondering and everyone can move on.
No more second-guessing or wondering about the what-ifs .