Chapter 48 – Eden
EDEN
“Ithink we should give these two a minute,” Maura says, breaking the silence in the barn. “Let’s go back to the house. I think we might be done here.”
Everyone falls in line, because Maura has those mom superpowers now where she gives orders and everyone follows them, no questions asked. Luke and I are left alone in the barn. His arms wrap around me the second the barn door closes.
“Are you okay?” he asks, rubbing a soothing hand up and down my spine.
My fingers crawl up his shirt and clench it in my fists, pulling him closer. That’s when I realize that I’m shaking. My fingers are trembling, and my whole body feels weak. Pressure builds behind my eyes, threatening tears, but I’m still too overwhelmed to let them fall.
“No,” I whisper. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”
“I know.”
“Brinley was never supposed to get hurt. My brothers weren’t supposed to find out. We planned it for so long, and just like that—god, they know everything.”
“You know what? I'm glad they know,” he says fiercely. “I’m done with the fake relationship. Hell, I've been done with it for months. This is real for me, Eden. I have feelings for you, and I want to make this into the real thing.”
“But we’re supposed to end it,” I choke out. “That was the plan.”
“Fuck the plan.” He holds my face in his hands like it’s something precious and angles it up so I’m looking in his eyes. “I love you, Eden Locke. I’ve wanted to be with you for a long time, and even if the way we got here was a total fucking mess, at least I can tell you the truth. It’s you, Eden.”
I swallow back tears. “I love you too, Luke. I have—probably since I was too young to even know that’s what I felt. But we can’t. There’s no us until we make things right with Brinley.”
He exhales, the only sign that he’s disappointed. He still holds me, stroking my back and keeping me tethered to the world around me.
“Brinley’s not just my best friend,” I tell him. “She’s my family. Growing up around my brothers, I always wanted a sister, and that was her. I should have been honest with her from the start. That’s the only thing she asked from me, and I was too cowardly to tell her the truth.”
“Because you love her,” Luke says. “You didn’t want to risk her.”
I nod against his shirt. The scent of his cologne wraps around me like a second hug. I inhale him as I will myself not to cry.
“I’m going to fix this,” I murmur. “I’m not going to let it ruin the wedding. Brinley deserves a perfect day, and I’m going to make sure she gets it.”
“What do you need from me?” he asks gently.
I take a moment to consider. The barn around us is in chaos, lights half-hung, centerpieces partly unpacked, half the tables still legless. I force my brain to pivot back to planning mode.
“Right now, I need you to get up on a ladder. We have twinkle lights to hang.”
Luke drops a kiss on my head and gets to work.
It takes me ten minutes of pacing up and down the walk to get up the courage to knock on Brinley’s guest cottage door.
Once, I even raise my hand to knock, just to stroll right back to the main house again.
I know I’m overthinking it, but after tossing and turning all night, I’m just not thinking straight.
I gave Brinley the night to cool off. I figure, since she’s the one whose feelings were hurt, she gets to decide when to have this conversation.
She didn’t text or talk to me, so I assume she was still pissed at me.
I don’t blame her. She gave me every chance to be honest with her, and I put it off.
I wouldn’t be forcing the issue if it weren’t for the wedding. All drama aside, I’m still Brinley’s wedding planner, and her rehearsal dinner is tonight. I’m not going to let an argument stop me from doing my job.
Finally, I stride up to the front door and knock. I have no idea what I’ll face on the other side of this door, but knocking is the first step.
Beau’s the one who opens the door. He smiles in that warm way of his that brings my blood pressure down a degree.
“Hey,” he says. “Brinley was wondering when you’d come.”
“Well…I’m here,” I say weakly.
He gestures toward the living room. “She’s in there. Good luck.” He squeezes my shoulders supportively.
Brinley’s sitting on the sofa, halfway through a cozy romance—the kind she always reads when she’s stressed. She puts the book down when she sees me and gestures to the sofa seat next to her.
Well, at least she’s not throwing me out.
Once I’m seated, she waits for me to talk. She doesn’t look angry—just curious.
“I’m sorry,” I start. “I’m sorry for everything.
For choosing your brother for my fake relationship.
For breaking my promise and not telling you when my feelings got real.
I should have told you the truth when you asked me directly.
Hell, I should have told you the second the lines started to blur. ”
“Why didn’t you?” she asks quietly.
“Honestly?” I gnaw on my lower lip. “Because I knew you’d tell me the truth, and I was afraid you’d show me something I wasn’t ready for.
Scared you’d see how far I’d fallen for him and tell me all the reasons we wouldn’t work out.
None of that matters now, though. All I care about is making things right between us.
Because if it comes to choosing between him and you, then Brinley, I’ll always choose you. ”
She shakes her head. “No. You mean between choosing between your happiness and my happiness, you would choose mine. And as much as I love you for that, there’s just no way it’s going to work.”
My chest aches. Even though I chose Brinley, I’ve still messed things up too much for her to accept it. I’m going to lose the friendship I’ve had since I was ten years old. I dig my fingers into my jean-covered legs and will myself not to cry.
Then Brinley puts her hands over mine, gently prying my fingers up. “Do you love him?” she asks.
I can’t lie to her anymore. I just have to tell her the truth and hope we can weather it.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I think I’ve loved him for a long time now. I was just lying to myself about it.”
Brinley nods. “That’s what I thought. Well, I gotta say, I think you could do a lot better. But at least one good thing has come out of this mess.”
“What?”
She squeezes my hands. “My brother is the only man on this planet who can make you my sister for real.”
There’s no stopping the tears then. I break into messy, snotty, ugly sobs. Brinley pulls me into a hug, and it only takes a few minutes before my shoulder is wet, too.
“Are we both crying?” I choke out.
“Yes,” she sobs. “I’m getting it all out pre-wedding. I refuse to be a bride who cries.”
“It’s okay. I might cry for you, though.”
We pull apart and Brinley grabs a tissue box from the coffee table. She rips a huge wad out and hands them to me before wiping her own tears.
“For the record,” she says, “If Luke hurts you, I’ll kill him myself. But if you’re happy with him, then I wouldn’t dream of taking that from you.”
“I know,” I whisper. “And I appreciate it.”
She folds me into another hug. “Just don’t forget about your best friend. You were mine first, Eden Locke.”