Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Furrowing my brows, I let his words sink in as it finally hits me. My cheeks heat as I replay the way I’ve acted every time she was around, and the stupid things I’ve said to him regarding their relationship.
“Now, I feel really stupid. Why didn’t you tell me when I called her your girlfriend!” I scold Tyler, but he just shrugs with a smirk.
“Well, at least it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. She’s gorgeous and into working out like you are.”
“The Blackwoods don’t date, Gemma,” Tyler says. “I mean, take Everleigh, for example, who spends her nights alone drinking. And well, my history is bleak.”
“Hey!” Everleigh grimaces. “That’s not fair. There aren’t any decent single guys in this damn town.”
She pops a shrimp in her mouth.
“But there are single women.” She waggles her brows, taunting Tyler as he groans.
“Great, so you’re in on Ruby’s joke too.” He rolls his eyes, sipping his wine. “Can we not have your sexless life be the topic of conversation tonight?”
Everleigh snorts. “As long as yours isn’t either.”
They glance my way, and just like that, the attention is back on me. “Or mine.” I chuckle.
“So what’s your plan?” Everleigh asks. “Has Robert contacted you since yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” Tyler snaps his eyes to mine. I hadn’t gotten that far in the story.
“He sent me flowers. I threw them away, and he texted me afterward and asked me why.”
“What the fuck? He’s watching you again?” Tyler asks, setting his fork down. “You need to get a restraining order against him, Gemma. He’s gone too far, and who knows what else he’ll do. I don’t like the idea of him watching you, especially at work,” Tyler admits, sounding more tense than before.
I shake my head. “That’s not the solution to this problem. It’s a lot of paperwork and court orders, and even if I tried to get a temporary one, he’s padded everyone’s pockets already. The judge, the sheriff… hell, he’s probably paid off the whole town. The corruption runs really deep.”
“After seeing how crazed he was the other night, I’m afraid it would only cause more issues,” Everleigh adds.
We eat in silence for a few minutes, all of us deep in thought. “You have to do something,” Tyler finally speaks up. “Robert doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s gonna give up on getting what he wants, and you can’t be the type of woman to give in to his demands.”
“He’s not. Trust me when I say I won’t be crawling back to him.
I’ve been thinking about it, and I dunno if this will work, but if I tell everyone the wedding is off, no one would expect us to be together.
People will start talking, which is exactly what he doesn’t want, and the gossip will spread.
Once it gets back to him, maybe then he’ll finally stop and move on.
He’s too concerned about his reputation to retaliate once it’s public knowledge.
If anything happened to me, every single person would point the finger at him.
It’s kind of like an insurance policy if he came after me. ”
“You should text the wedding planner yourself and tell her it’s no longer happening,” she suggests. “I bet he’s still moving forward with everything, based on the note attached to those flowers.”
Tyler sits and listens to us go back and forth with different scenarios. “That’s not a bad idea. Telling people would make it official.”
I take a few more bites until my plate is clean. Sitting back, I suck in a deep breath, feeling full.
“You want more? I made extra,” Tyler offers with a smile.
I smile at the sweet thought. “No, thanks. I’m stuffed to the brim and not sure where I’d put it.” Meeting his gaze, I blush at the way he’s studying me. “Thank you so much for dinner. It was amazing. The wine tasted good too. The company is even better.”
Everleigh’s done eating too and helps clean Tyler’s mess in the kitchen.
“Gemma, maybe you should come over every night for the rest of eternity so Tyler will make dinner like this on the regular.”
He chuckles. “Nice try.”
Tyler and I exchange a look, and for a brief second, that familiar electricity streams through me. I think he feels it too because his Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. Too many unspoken words flow between us, and I force myself to focus my attention on Everleigh.
“Where’s Sassy?” she finally asks.
“I took her for a walk when I got home from work, and after she devoured her food, she went to bed. She’s in your room,” he says.
“Ahh, okay. Gonna go check on my baby now.” Everleigh shoots me a wink when Tyler looks away, then walks down the hallway, leaving us to ourselves.
“You’re pretty rude for not telling me the truth about you and Ruby,” I reiterate.
“You should’ve asked if you weren’t sure.” We walk to the living room and sit on the couch.
“It wasn’t my business to ask or get involved,” I admit with a shrug. “But it wasn’t that hard to assume when I saw her in here wearing only a towel.”
“We took separate showers after working out together,” he explains with a shit-eating grin. “I obviously didn’t know you were gonna show up, but it was adorable to watch you get jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Yep, I think that’s what we call it these days. You thought we were sleeping together, and it bothered you.” He smirks.
I groan, mortified that he could see that.
“Guess I’m more transparent than I thought.”
There’s no denying how it made me feel when I saw Tyler with her.
Even if I was engaged at the time, it didn’t make seeing the first man I ever loved with someone else any easier.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to put all of this behind us and laugh about it in the future.
Or he and Everleigh will rag me for eternity over it.
“Gemma.” Tyler’s voice lowers and sounds huskier as soon as the shower comes on. “That night at your cottage—”
I wasn’t prepared to talk about this right now and wasn’t sure I wanted to, either. “I don’t think Robert knows what happened between us.”
He flashes me a pearly side smile. “I don’t give a fuck if he does. However, I need to clear the air about some things I said afterward that weren’t true, like how it meant nothing to me.”
I swallow hard as my heart races, and the blood drains from my face. Admittedly, that hurt when he said those words to me. “Why’d you lie?”
“I needed to keep you away. Though I didn’t want to, I told myself I had to come to terms with you getting married to someone else, so my only option was to ignore you and keep my distance.
It’s why I got a job at the gym and filled my nights with other things to do besides dwell on what it felt like to kiss you again.
It’s another reason I was okay with you believing Ruby and I were dating.
It was to protect my heart, Gemma. And to protect yours too. ”
The words lodge in my throat, and I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. The air between us sizzles, and I’m ready to combust at his admissions. I suck in a deep breath, needing to say something as he stares at me.
“I guess that makes sense. The only reason I said it was a mistake is because I’m not the type of woman who cheats.
I’m faithful. Until you came back, I thought I was in love with Robert.
Seeing you again peeled back the layers of the fake relationship I had built up in my head, and it exposed too many ugly truths.
I was literally having an existential crisis.
But the chili was great,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
“I was gonna ask you about that actually.”
“I would’ve brought some leftovers for you the next day, but I thought it’d be awkward, so I happily ate the entire pot by myself.”
While pathetically crying and rereading his letters.
He’s full-on laughing. “At least that night wasn’t an entire waste.”
I squeeze my legs together, trying to push away the thoughts of straddling him again.
It’s almost as if he can read my mind because he adjusts himself.
The water turns off, and our private time is about to be over.
I still haven’t told Everleigh about that night, and I’m sure Tyler hasn’t said a word about it, either.
It’s something I’d like to keep between us for now.
“So when are you gonna drop the bomb on your dad?” he asks.
“I’m not sure. His disappointment might kill me, though. I need to do it soon before he hears about it from someone else. If I’m gonna spread the news that we broke up, then he needs to hear it from me.”
Tyler glances down at my ring finger. “You can start by not wearing that anymore.”
I groan at the sight of it, forgetting I even had it on. “You’re right. I need to give it back to him. And I should text Winnie before it gets too late.” I pull my phone from my pocket and notice my hand is shaking as I type the message.
“I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this,” Tyler says, offering a smile.
“Me too!” Everleigh shouts from the hallway before she comes into view with Sassy on her heels.
“Thank you. Not sure what I’d do without you two.”
“Probably marry that asshole,” Everleigh blurts, which makes me snort. She grabs Sassy’s leash and takes her outside.
I reread the message I typed to Winnie before hitting send.
Gemma