Chapter 21 #2
“I got a ‘thanks for everything, see you around’ text from her after she left.” I sink into my seat and glower out the window as he pulls away from the fence and bumps across the pasture. “So I guess we’re done.”
When we hit the road, he doesn’t take the turn to his place.
I sit up. “I need to get my pickup.”
“Yup.” He continues going straight.
“It’s parked at your house.”
“Yup.”
He’s being obtuse on purpose. “I have to be at the reception in three hours.”
“You sure do.”
The wedding starts soon, and I sure as hell won’t go to that. I won’t witness two people who hurt Campbell get a happy ending, and I can’t watch Campbell and not be able to hold her. I take my hat off and stuff a hand through my sweaty hair. “Is this payback for being an asshole?”
“You can’t pay back an amount that high,” he says dryly and turns down the road that’ll take us to Iverson’s.
“Dammit, Haven. Are you and Ivy going to crawl up my ass?”
He slides his dark gaze toward me. “You deserve it.”
Why? Because I’m easy for women to walk away from?
Iverson’s garage door is open and the sawhorses are lined up on the concrete with some boards across the top.
He’s brushing them with stain, the brim of his ball cap shading his face.
Kacey has a giant pack of sidewalk chalk and there are stick figures all over the concrete pad in front of the garage.
Lane and Cruz are watching the distillery so we can be free for the wedding, since we’re all tied to the bride through the Hawthornes. Haven’s going to help me serve the reception tonight, and Iverson’s staying with his family.
My niece sprints toward us after Haven parks, arms out, and her sandals slapping against the ground.
Her ponytail swings behind her. It lifts my destroyed heart out of the gutter.
Not far, but enough to get me out of the pickup to swoop her into a big hug.
Iverson clicks off the music playing, some Dolly Parton song.
“She just saw me this morning,” Haven says as he climbs out, “or she would’ve hugged me first.”
“Daddy said it’s almost quiet time,” Kacey says solemnly. She studies my face with her doe-brown gaze. “You need quiet time.”
I must look as bad as I feel. “I could use some, but I think Haven has other plans.” I set her down, and she runs to Haven for a hug.
After he places her on her feet, he cocks his head toward me but keeps his gaze on Iverson. “This guy needs some girl talk.”
“I like girl talk,” Kacey says.
Iverson holds his hand out. “Time to go in. I’ll read you the first book.”
She looks to us, like she’s hoping we’ll insist she stays for girl talk. Her lips turn to a pout, and she takes her dad’s hand.
Coal runs around us while we’re waiting for Iverson. I lean against the pickup and tip my head back.
After several minutes, Haven says, “Beautiful day for a wedding.”
I glare at him.
“So it’s really Campbell, then.” He nods. “What a relief. I thought you were gonna go running after Natalie.”
I hold my hard stare until Iverson pushes out the door. “What’s going on? Is the wedding imploding?”
“Natalie was trying to get a hold of Durban about moving to Bozeman, and Campbell saw,” Haven answers. “Durban told Natalie to take a hike.”
“Good,” Iverson says, coming to a stop in front of us. “She’s not good for you.”
“I know,” I say woodenly. Knowing isn’t doing me any good right now.
He folds his arms. “So what about Campbell?”
I tell him about this morning and how it ended, and how I had been planning to wait until after the wedding to ask Campbell if she wants something more serious.
Felt pretty goddamn serious to me. “But she walked away without looking back or letting me explain. I know she’s stressed, but I thought what we had was worth more than a ‘see you around.’ ”
Iverson whistles and folds his arms over his chest. His eyes are shaded by his ball cap when he pins me with his gaze. “I think both you and Campbell are spinning your wheels going in the same direction.”
He’s the oldest, but that doesn’t make him always right. “I’m done spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. My time with Natalie at least showed me that I deserve more than that.”
Haven shakes his head. “And Campbell’s time with her ex, and this whole goddamn wedding hubbub, showed her that she can’t trust a guy.”
His words are a frigid splash in the face. “She can trust me.”
“Or . . .” Iverson says, “she panicked, thought history would repeat itself, and left before she could get hurt more.”
Ah, hell. I didn’t factor in her history. Mine was too busy clouding my view. She might’ve looked at those messages, and fuck. Her mind could’ve gone anywhere about me and Natalie, even that I’d lied about her in the first place.
“Campbell is crazy about you,” Haven says. “I only had one meal with the two of you, and it was like you’d been together forever.”
“Pretty sure she’s devastated,” Iverson adds.
My heart wrenches at that. “Why would you think that?”
His expression turns thunderous. “Because Jamison’s been gone since Campbell called. I heard the sobs from the phone, and now I know it wasn’t because today’s the wedding day.”
“She was crying?” Shit. I push off the pickup.
If she’s distraught and it’s my fault? I have to get to her.
I have to reassure her and tell her how I really feel.
A few minutes ago, I was so righteously upset about how she could leave without talking to me, but I was doing the same thing.
Natalie’s texts made us both revert to our old hurt selves when we got together in order to move on from all that. “Give me your keys.”
Haven doesn’t move. “I’ve never seen you think less, Durban.”
“I need to find her.” I advance on him, but he starts backing up.
I can take him in a fight and wrestle the keys from him. If Iverson jumps in, I’m in trouble, but the adrenaline pumping through my blood will make me a formidable opponent.
“And then what?” Iverson asks.
I stop and gravel skitters around my boots. What will I do? She’ll be at the lodge, helping the bride and all the guests, overseeing the staff. Do I just march in, pick her up, and carry her off?
That’s exactly what I want to do. “I don’t care about the goddamn wedding. It never should’ve happened.”
“William agrees with you. Jamison said her parents have been bickering about how they should’ve just told Rayburn to pound sand and deal with the consequences, but once the planning started, Campbell was too embroiled. They don’t want her to look bad.”
They’re too afraid to start the drama. “She wouldn’t look bad if the truth came out about everything. If people were fucking honest about how they’re screwing her over, she wouldn’t have to absorb the blame.”
“So you’re going to what?” Haven asks. “Ride in and sweep her off her feet and to hell with everything else?”
All of the work she’s been doing runs through my head. Coordinating, planning, even goddamn riding lessons.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s a great idea.”