Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
JOSH
Milly’s shrill chatter drilled into my right ear, but none of it stuck.
All I could see was Knox with his arm snug around Erika, Vinny’s small hand tucked into his, and the three walking ahead like they were a picture-perfect family unit.
That should’ve been me. That’s what I wanted.
Not whatever the hell this mess was with the person I was supposedly dating.
I felt one breath away from splintering apart.
Back through the gate, I curled my fingers around the locket until the metal bit into my palm, stealing a shred of courage from the familiar pain.
I stopped, scanning the festival grounds until I spotted the cake tent.
Then I headed for it, ignoring Milly completely.
I didn’t care what Drew planned to do next.
Erika had tossed both of us aside without ceremony.
Why was I the only one bleeding from it?
Of course, it didn’t help that I’d frozen the instant Milly caught Erika and me together like I was a kid with his hand in the candy jar. Embarrassment, guilt, confusion, they all knotted inside me until I couldn’t tell whether Knox’s little display was because of me or because of her.
Inside the cake tent, I pulled on my practiced work smile—the one that felt like it belonged to someone steadier than I was right now—and approached Marty. “Here to help.”
Marty flicked a pointed double eyebrow raise in Milly’s direction. It was all it took to snap Milly’s mouth shut.
Drew appeared behind Milly. “Perhaps, we let Josh cool off, Mills. Let me take you on that Ferris wheel ride for real this time. Not just wait in line and then flip out the moment the car arrives.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her away.
I went through the motions of selling raffle tickets. I smiled, handed out stubs, and made change. Time blurred. Maybe twenty minutes passed. Maybe an hour. It all felt the same—thin, fragile, unreal.
Then Milly was back, turning on a sugary smile for one of the senior ladies from the Baptist Ladies group, praising her white cake with its glittery sugar frosting like Milly was judging a national bake-off.
The level of sucking up almost stunned me.
And somehow, for the first time since I got here, I actually saw her—tight jeans, black shirt, puffy jacket—put together, intentional. Like she belonged here. Like I didn’t.
“Are you about done here?” Milly asked, still wearing that polite smile.
“Should I be somewhere else?” I asked.
“We’re at a festival and I’m hungry. Aren’t you?” Milly shrugged. “Let’s get some food.”
For a single second, I pictured stepping out of the tent with her into the crush of bodies, the noise, the laughter, and the chaos. My stomach lurched so violently I honestly thought I might throw up. The edges of the world tightened, shrinking in on me, that familiar panic barreling in fast.
All I could manage was a small, breath-thin, “No.”
“Why not? Because I’m not her?” Milly’s voice pitched high, slicing through the tent.
“I’m not going out there.” I pretended to count raffle tickets, my hands shaking just enough that the act was pathetic, but it was something to keep busy.
“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “So you had some childhood trauma thing? You’re an adult now. Time to get over it.”
“I am not going out there,” I said, each word forced through clenched teeth.
Over her shoulder, I caught Timothy staring at us from the entrance of the cake tent.
He’d frozen mid-step, expression unreadable.
Whether he was shocked by Milly’s words or by the sight of me barely holding it together, I couldn’t even begin to guess.
Milly swept around the table, grabbed my hand, and tugged, trying to haul me toward the opening. “Enough. Time to get over it.”
I ripped my hand free so hard she stumbled. “No,” I spat. “I said fucking no. Are you incapable of hearing anyone but yourself? I’m not going out there. I don’t even want to be here. I sure as hell don’t want to be here with you.”
I didn’t mean to scream that last part, but it tore out of me anyway, raw and loud and impossible to take back.
Milly recoiled, eyes wild. “You wish I was her, don’t you?”
I met her stare, breath shaking. “Maybe I do.”
Her mouth dropped open. “We’re done. I don’t even know why I wasted my time on you.” She flung her arms upward. “You’re such an asshole.”
She stormed out of the tent, leaving me shaking, exposed, and drained in the quiet she left behind. Timothy slipped out behind her as if he planned to follow.
Marty’s voice came low and steady from somewhere beside me. “You okay, Doc?”
Mother of all… She’d seen the whole thing. And she wasn’t the only one. At least ten people milled around inside the tent, two I recognized as clients. Heat slammed into my face, humiliation rising so fast it made me dizzy. “Sorry. I just—I gotta go.”