Chapter Twenty-Two
Rhett
The moment I saw Brynlee, I felt guiltier than I did last night. I know I’m the reason she feels as badly as she does. She looks beautiful because she’s always beautiful, but she looks ill. And it’s all my fault.
As much as I want to go and join her in the shower, I sit at the island with my leg bouncing on the stool.
It’s been over two days since I last made love to her, and I’m itching to touch her, dinner be damned.
But just as I stand to jump in the shower with her to show her I’m not really the asshole I was last night, I spot her phone on the counter.
I shouldn’t. No, it’s an invasion of privacy.
But even as the thought crosses my mind, I’m already reaching for it. I can’t stop myself, and I enter the passcode she told me. If she didn’t want me looking through her phone, she wouldn’t have given it to me, right?
Yeah, justify being a shitty dude. That won’t backfire at all.
Her text messages show a few one-sided messages from Kevin, and I feel a little better knowing she doesn’t respond. That seems strange for someone who plans to marry him, and maybe there is something to Carter’s theory that there’s an explanation for the wedding countdown.
Feeling a little more confident, I’m about to lock her phone and set it back on the counter.
This should be all the proof I need, right?
But, of course, I’m a glutton for punishment.
I click on her call log, and I feel sick myself.
She had a fifteen-minute phone call with Kevin that ended right before I showed up for our date.
That might be why she doesn’t feel well. She knows she’s finally in a position where she needs to decide between us. I guess I should feel somewhat flattered that it’s not an easy and quick choice for her. But at the end of the day, I can’t give her half of what he can.
How much more can I put us through? I know she’s going to marry him, so why am I just sitting around, waiting for her to be the one to leave?
The waiting makes me crazy, and I’ve turned into a stalker who just went through his kind-of-girlfriend’s phone.
I mean, what label can I really use in this scenario?
What am I if she’s engaged to another man? Besides a sucker.
I play on my phone until she comes out almost exactly thirty minutes later, and I swear she’s been crying. Even as upset as I am, I hate seeing her this way.
“Ready?” I ask as she pulls her purse over her shoulder.
“Yes.”
We walk to the door, and I stop her. “Don’t you want your phone?”
“Why? Everyone I talk to will be at the bar,” Brynlee says with a shrug.
“Not everyone,” I mutter, and shut the door behind us.
She doesn’t wait for me to walk to the passenger side of the pickup, and I can’t stop thinking it’s probably best for the both of us if we just end this. Maybe it’s time.
A delivery van pulls up behind my pickup, and she looks confused. “I didn’t order anything.” Hopping out, she meets Earl, an older man with large ears I’ve known since I was a kid.
“Bryn…lee? Did I get that right? Brynlee Carmichael?”
“Yes.”
“I have a delivery for you,” Earl says with a toothy grin.
“From where?”
I walk with her to the back of the van as he pulls out a vase of red roses and hands it to her. “Where do you want the others?”
“Others?”
He points to the back of the van where vase after vase sits in special crates to keep them from tipping over. “All of these are for you.”
“Who in the world…” Pulling the card from the vase, she crumbles it and sighs. “Can I pay you to bring these somewhere? A nursing home or hospital?”
“You don’t want any of them? There are five hundred long-stem red roses in here,” Earl says in awe.
My eyebrows lift. That’s a spendy flower bill, and Brynlee just shakes her head. “No, I really don’t. I appreciate you driving out here, though. I’m sorry you had to make the trip. How much do I owe to bring them somewhere else?”
He waves a wrinkled hand in the air. “The old folks will be so delighted to get these; that’s payment enough. Do you mind if I take some home for my wife?”
“You can take all the flowers you want,” she says and gives him a small smile.
I walk back to the pickup, ready to move to open the door for her, but she beats me to it and hops right in. There’s nothing left to do but follow Earl out to the highway.
She sits on the far side of the seat like last night and looks out the window, and I want to reach out and take her hand. Touch her. Anything. Then I realize who the flowers came from.
“Those were from Kevin, weren’t they?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Brynlee says, never looking at me.
“It does because I know you talked to him today.”
Turning, I glance over to see her staring with narrowed eyes. “How? Oh… My phone was on the counter. That’s what you meant when you muttered under your breath.”
“Remember how I said he doesn’t seem to be on the same page as you—”
“No, you don’t get to be angry when you went through my phone. You don’t trust me, and I obviously can’t do anything to change that. I’m not sure what I did to lose the trust I think we had, but it’s clear it doesn’t exist now. Maybe I was stupid to think it ever did to begin with.”
I hate how she stays on her side of the cab with her arms folded under her chest, and she turns away from me to look at the fields again.
Resting my hand in the middle of the seat between us, I hold out hope she’ll see it and meet me halfway.
I hear her sniffle and see her discreetly wipe her eye in the reflection of the window.
It’s hard to believe we’re not past trying to meet halfway.
“Was it a good conversation?” I ask and mentally kick myself as the words tumble out.
I’ve already made her cry, so I’m on track to completely ruin any chance I have of making her see I’m not a complete asshole.
“He wants me to go back. I said no. He disagreed. I said I didn’t care, and then I blocked him.
If I’d grabbed my phone, I could show you he’s blocked since I know you don’t trust what I say.
Maybe I should just leave it with you whenever we’re around each other, and that way you can go through it to make sure I’ve been a good girl.
Assuming we spend any time together beyond tonight. ”
There’s a harshness to her tone that surprises me, even if it’s not unwarranted. There’s no way for me to explain why I feel the way I do, because no matter how many times I say that I know she’s marrying this guy, she denies it.
But then why did she block him?
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
I glance over at her, willing her to look at me as I say, “I don’t know. Everythin’?”
“I learned a long time ago that blanket apologies aren’t sincere. You’re one of the sincerest people I know, so please don’t insult us both.”
“Brynlee—”
“I told you I love you last night, and you told me you don’t think I know what love is. You didn’t say it back, and you basically said you don’t believe me,” she says when I shift into park, and she jumps out before I have the chance to react.
Oh my God. She told me she loves me, and I didn’t say it back. She thinks I don’t love her. Worse than that, I told her I don’t believe her.
Do I?
Climbing out, I walk up to the door and grab the handle before she can, opening it for her to walk through first.
“Hey!” Carter calls out, waving at us.
Brynlee’s back straightens, and she plasters on a smile that looks all too familiar now, but at least she lets me take her hand as we walk over to the table. “Hi.”
“Is everythin’ okay?” Darla asks, glancing between us even though I’m the one who gets the glare.
“I don’t feel very well.”
“We could have planned another night if you don’t feel up to it.”
Smiling, she shakes her head and sits. “I’ll be fine. I’m feeling better than earlier today.”
“So? How did meetin’ the family go? You met everyone at once. That had to be pretty intense,” Carter says, but he keeps looking at me.
No, I didn’t tell her I love her. In fact, I’m a goddamn moron.
Brynlee looks at the menu, which is odd for her and screams that things aren’t right with us. “I was showered with flour.”
“They showered you with flowers?” Darla asks and looks at me as though she heard that wrong.
Shaking my head, I can’t help but chuckle at the memory. “No, Brynlee was talkin’ with Mom in the kitchen, and the kids were runnin’ around. Somehow, one of them tripped, grabbed the flour bowl, and it went flyin’. Right on Brynlee. Covered her head to toe.”
“No!” she gasps. “Like, all over you?”
“I had to pull dough from my hair last night when I showered. Before we could eat, I had to go shake off outside like a dog. Good thing I’m basically a trained poodle. It wasn’t all that difficult,” she says.
Carter’s eyes widen. “Wait, this isn’t a joke?”
“It was like being in my very own animated movie,” she says, and the smile on her face is the first genuine one I’ve seen in days. “It was the funniest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Maybe you ingested raw flour, and that’s why you don’t feel well,” Darla says. “I can’t imagine it’s great for you.”
Shrugging, her eyes look at the menu again. “Maybe.”
Everett and Honor walk past us holding hands until he locks eyes with me. For some reason, he drops her hand immediately, and Honor glares at us. I haven’t cared about the two of them together since meeting Brynlee, and I’ve seen them together more times than I can count over the past two years.
Rather than leave us alone, Honor leads him to our table, and I want to groan. I didn’t think this night could get much worse, and as great of a show as Brynlee puts on, I can tell Darla and Carter know something’s wrong.
“Hey, guys,” Everett says when it becomes awkward.
“Hey,” I say back, willing them to move to a table across the room.
Honor mumbles something, and I hear my name. Brynlee’s head snaps up, and she glares at her. “What was that?’
“I was sayin’ that it looks like you two may not be an item after all,” Honor says.
“They are,” Darla says. “You got a problem with that?”
Laughing, she shakes her head. “With the way they’re lookin’, I’ll give it a month, tops.”
“Why would you say that?” Brynlee asks, leaning into my space and resting her chin on her hand with her elbow on the table. From the outside looking in, it would appear she’s incredibly interested in whatever Honor has to say, but I can feel a different vibe. An unfamiliar one.
“You’re obviously out of his league.”
“Is that why you and Rhett didn’t last? He was out of your league, and you had to move onto someone else before he caught onto it?”
My jaw drops, and both Carter and Darla snort with laughter. Honor doesn’t appreciate the remark, and her eyes shoot towards me when Brynlee doesn’t even flinch.
“He’s not out of my league,” she sputters.
“Well, I know firsthand how you like to make assumptions about others, and in my experience, those who do that are actually projecting how they truly feel about themselves onto others. Which is entertaining because you put a lot of effort into coming across as though you’re above everyone when no one has forgotten that you wormed your way between friends as well as twin brothers.
Let’s just drop the fake pretenses that you’re anywhere near the same league as Rhett, okay? ”
She gasps and looks at Everett, who just shrugs at her. “What do you want me to do? You started this.”
“Defend me!”
“I love you, but you’re kind of a… bitch.” He walks away and takes a seat at the bar.
Brynlee just shrugs and gives a smile to Honor when she glares and storms out. “I seem to have that effect on her often.”
“That. Was. Amazin’,” Darla says and claps. Others around us join her, and she bows at Brynlee. “I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”
“She caught me on a bad day,” Brynlee says. “I’ll have to apologize. Not today, but one day. Maybe.”
I hear a familiar song playing, and I stand up from my seat to hold my hand out. “Dance with me?”
“I don’t know—”
“Please?”
Sighing, she takes my hand and stands. I lead her to the dance floor and hold her close. We both know everyone watches, so she smiles up at me adoringly. As great as she is at acting, the smile isn’t real. I know what a real Brynlee Carmichael smile looks like.
“That was amazin’,” I say.
“I don’t like people who think they’re better than others.”
She defended me. Even though she’s upset with me, she defended me. She loves me, and I made her think I don’t feel the same way. That I’m not head over heels, tripping over myself in love with her. Worse, she thinks I don’t believe her.
Just as I’m about to tell her how I really feel and confess what I found, her eyes widen, and she freezes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Okay, Bryn, you’ve had your fun. It’s time to come home now.”
I turn around and see none other than Kevin Sandoval standing in the middle of the dance floor wearing a suit I’m sure costs more than my first pickup. He’s shorter than me, but he’s definitely better looking. I wouldn’t mind leveling the playing field by breaking his stupid nose.
“How did you… You sent flowers to my house. You found out where I was,” Brynlee says, and she shakes her head. “What are you doing here? You’ve caused enough problems for me.”
Her tone is even but deathly serious. Everyone around us stares in awe, and I know what they’re thinking. She makes more sense with him than she ever did with me.
“I came to get you. It’s time to come home.”
Just like that, I know my world has officially fallen into the inevitable black hole I’ve been fighting against accepting. It’s clear I’ve lost her.