25. Clara
CLARA
I walked into book club at Once Upon A Bookseller and stopped in my tracks.
She was here.
Not only here, but talking with my friends as if she wasn’t scheming to get her hands on my husband. A man twice her age! What was she thinking?
“Calm down,” Georgia hissed as she rushed over, wrapping me in a hug to hide the fact that she was talking me off the ledge. “I think it’s possible you may have been wrong about the whole flirting thing.”
“I was wrong?” I snapped, wondering what the hell she was talking about.
As the whole book shop turned to see what the commotion was, I pinched my lips shut as Georgia took my hand and dragged me to the bathroom in the back, locking the door behind us.
“Okay, don’t be mad, but she’s out there right now, telling us about this guy she’s dating.”
That didn’t make sense. “If she’s dating someone else, why is she flirting with my husband?”
Georgia shushed me, glancing over her shoulder as if she could see through the damn door.
“Georgia, please explain to me why you would convince me that she was flirting with my husband if she’s dating someone else!”
“I didn’t know she was dating someone at the time. And frankly, it looked like she was flirting!”
I was so confused. “So, was she flirting or wasn’t she?”
Letting out a sigh, she scrubbed a hand over her forehead. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
“Well, that’s very helpful, Georgia. I ran my car through a window in a fit of rage, and now you’re not sure?”
“Shh! Keep it down. Do you want everyone in town to know that our accident was not really an accident?” she hissed.
“Ben thinks I tried to kill him,” I sighed, glancing around the bathroom, grimacing at the small stains on the sink.
“Why would he think—”
“Because we’re fighting, and he doesn’t think it was an accident, so I must have been trying to murder him.”
“Well, that’s just ridiculous.”
As she chattered away, I grabbed the wipes and started cleaning. It was a habit I picked up long ago. Whenever something bothered me, I cleaned.
“Look, we’ll go out there and pretend everything’s normal. No one has to know that you may or may not have tried to kill someone. And my part in this will be hidden for the rest of time,” she laughed humorlessly.
“Sure, everything will be fine.”
“So, we’ll just walk out there and go along with the book club. It’ll all be fine.”
“You already said that.”
“You said that. I was repeating it.”
Rolling my eyes, I yanked the door open and marched out with my shoulders back. No matter what Georgia said, I still saw the way River looked at my husband, and I didn’t like it.
But I put that aside and took my seat across from the woman who just days ago, I tried to kill.
Kill was a strong word. I couldn’t be certain that I actually wanted her dead. In fact, if I put myself back in that moment, I’m not sure I was even aiming for River. I was angry, and I wanted to…
I wasn’t sure what I wanted. That was the truth of it, and it worried me a little more than if I had actually intended to kill the young woman. Not knowing what I had wanted to do made me question who I was as a person. At least if I had intended to kill her, I would know I was a murderer.
“So, this week’s book…” Cassidy grinned. “Thoughts?”
She looked around, waiting for one of us to speak up.
“I thought it was an interesting turn of events,” I spoke up, feeling like this book hit a little too close to home.
“Because the woman was crazy?” Lila asked with a laugh.
“Was she?” I cocked my head in thought. “If Remi stalked a woman the way our heroine went after the hero, we would all say he was sexy. Why is the heroine being punished because she acted like a man?”
They all looked at each other, but it was Ellie who spoke up. “Because men are possessive and strong. We like to think it’s in their nature to…have those tendencies.”
The door opened and none other than Bianca Davenport walked through the door, looking just as out of place as the day she arrived a year ago. Everyone looked at Ellie, then back to Bianca, who blinked innocently at us.
“Am I late?”
Ellie clenched her teeth, and I slid my hand over, taking hers in mine with a tight squeeze. “And then there are the women who act crazy, chasing a man they can never have.”
Bianca pursed her lips, taking a seat opposite us. “I see we already started the discussion. Frankly, I think the heroine in the story is strong and should be praised for not giving up on what she wants.”
Everyone looked to Ellie. “Well, I guess in this book it makes sense, since the hero actually wanted to be with her in the end. Not that the same can be said for every woman in romance novels.”
“Or life,” I added, feeling like I needed to lend some support to Ellie.
And while I actually agreed with Bianca about the book, I was one hundred percent on Ellie’s side right now.
Bianca needed to make herself scarce. She wasn’t wanted in this town, and no matter how many times she tried to insert herself into Ryder’s life, he’d made it perfectly clear he wasn’t taking her back.
“Sometimes, a man just doesn’t know what he wants until he’s seen what else is out there,” Bianca countered.
“Exactly. And what he finds is so much better than what he had before,” Ellie smiled.
“Is it? I wonder, how long can a man truly be satisfied with what he has when he’s not actually…being satisfied.”
The whole room sucked in a breath at her blatant disregard for the sensitive topic that still rocked the town. Not a single woman left standing would argue that what Ellie had been through was something that would take time to heal.
And it was lucky for her that she had a man as understanding as Ryder.
He loved her with his whole heart, and there wasn’t a woman alive blind enough to see that he would never leave Ellie.
Not because of what she had been through, but because there was no one in the world who he could possibly love like her.
“I suppose if all a woman can offer is sex, then a man wouldn’t be satisfied in just any relationship,” Cassidy said, getting to her feet, facing Bianca.
“Luckily for the women around here, our men are both strong and understanding. They know a good woman when they see one, and they would never let one go because of a traumatic incident that left one of us wounded.”
I shot to my feet, joining Cassidy in her stance against the English bitch. I never had any issue with her until she started going after Ellie. From that point on, she was dead to me.
One by one, all the ladies in the group got to their feet in support of Ellie. But what surprised us all was when Ellie also stood, standing tall in front of the woman who wanted to steal her man.
“Go ahead. Do your worst,” Ellie smirked. “He’ll never take you back, and the sooner you see that, the better. For you, of course. None of us ever give you a second thought.”
Bianca tried to look smug, but failed massively. As she got to her feet, she plastered the most confident look on her face, but we all saw through it. In that moment, she wavered—no longer sure that she could actually win Ryder back.
And now that she knew we all stood behind Ellie, she fled the bookstore with her tail between her legs.
The moment the door closed, Ellie let out a harsh breath and collapsed in her seat.
“Well, I think this calls for wine!” Cassidy cheered. “Good riddance to the wicked witch!”
“I’ll grab the glasses!” Josie said, scrambling to the backroom.
I sat down and squeezed Ellie’s hand, feeling her pulse racing at her wrist. “You did well.”
She huffed out a laugh, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “I felt like I was going to throw up.”
“She didn’t see that, and neither did anyone else.” I slid my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me so only she could hear me. “You’ll get there in time, and no hussie like that could ever tempt Ryder away from you. He knows what he has. Trust me, you’re all he’ll ever see.”
She rested her head on my shoulder for only a second before the wine came out. As I sat there drinking and watching my fellow ladies laughing about the woman we ran off, I wondered why I wasn’t taking my own advice. I was so worried about River that I hadn’t stopped to consider that I was enough.
I had just assumed that she was the problem.
The truth was, even with my confidence growing every day, I was still worried that I was too old, that my body was no longer attractive. But Ben was mine, and I couldn’t give him up without a fight. Instead of sitting back and watching my life slip away, I needed to fight for it.
Grabbing my things, I slipped out of the shop, followed quickly by Georgia.
“Where are you going?”
“Home! I have things to get ready for.”
“Things? What things?” she asked, chasing me down the street.
“I have to win my husband back.”
“I think we both realized tonight that you don’t actually have to win him back.”
I spun around and gripped Georgia’s forearms and smiled at her. “What are you waiting for?”
“Pardon?”
“Pardon?” I mocked. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Georgia Bennet. There is a man waiting for you—”
She scoffed, shaking free of my grip. “There is no man—”
“He’s never going to make the move. He thinks he has no chance with you. Think of all that’s happened!”
“How do you even know?” she asked in horror, her face draining of all color.
“Best kept secret, right? Georgia, I’ve known since it happened. But that was years ago. You’re in the prime of your life! Go get him!”
Her jaw dropped open, but the words didn’t come out. I couldn’t make her see what was right in front of her face. She had to want to go for it.
“You won’t get another chance. We have one life, Georgia. Just one, and time is slipping away. Go get your man before you’re too old to find love again.”
She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes, and then she leapt at me, hugging me tightly. “You’re such a pain in the ass, Clara Parker.”
“Language,” I chastised, though my words held little heat.