Chapter 49 Lexie
I’m sure I haven’t slept. The sky is a dark amethyst blue, highlighted by a full moon. I should try to go back to sleep, get rid of this pounding headache, but I know that my attempts for rest will fail. I squeeze my eyes shut, but five minutes later, I force myself to get out of bed.
Last night the owner of the bed and breakfast mentioned that a hiking group would be heading out at six a.m., and I was welcome to join. I’d originally declined—six a.m. is a god-awful hour—but since I’m up anyway, I may as well go.
On the hike, I try to make small talk with the group, but mostly I just walk and watch as a sliver of magenta sun peeks through the trees. Lake Welch holds a cathartic power and I need to absorb it as much as I can while I’m here.
The lake is quiet at this hour. Only a handful of people dot the beach, while a couple wade into the water and push off in a canoe.
I walk with the group through the forest, breathing in the water’s mineral scent.
It’s so peaceful here. Maybe as part of this whole self-discovery thing, I need to come here once a month.
Hour two melts into hour three. We stop to snack and hydrate, then set off again.
I catch myself smiling at the grandma beside me, who somehow has more stamina than the rest of the group combined.
By noon, we make our way back to the bed and breakfast, and I consider extending my stay for another night.
The owner of the place is wiping her flour-dusted hands on her apron as I walk up to the front porch area. “Excuse me, Miss Welch, there’s someone waiting for you in the back. By the creek.”
I’m not expecting anyone, and my stomach tightens at the thought that I worried Justin enough to come looking for me.
“He’s been here for hours. I asked him if he needed anything, but he said no.”
After I thank the owner, I follow the walking path from the back of the residence that leads to the creek and my mouth drops.
Theo.
Tuxedo pants, untucked tuxedo shirt. Sitting on top of the picnic table, staring at the water, his back to me.
I’m delusional. Any moment now, I’ll wake up. There’s no way Theo is here. He got married yesterday. He should be in his honeymoon suite planning the rest of his life with his wife. Not sitting here in another city—where I am.
As if he senses my presence, he turns to me, meeting my gaze with tired eyes and an anguished smile. “Hey.”
Even if I wanted to, I can’t move. My body is frozen in shock.
“Care to join me?” he casually pats the space next to him, as if he didn’t just leave his wife to come find me on a rough, splintered, wooden picnic table.
I feel torn. I bite back the urge to tell him to fuck off from how he treated me yesterday, but the fact that he’s driven the three hours to get here probably means I should at least hear him out. “I drove by the lake,” he says, resting his elbows on his knees. “You’re right. It’s beautiful.”
Theo. Is here. With me. “How… how did you know where I was?”
A hint of a dimple appears on his beautifully chiseled face, his expression sheepish. “I forced Justin to tell me.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Aren’t you supposed to be waking up in the honeymoon suite right now?”
His gaze sweeps mine and his plush lips lift into the slightest grin. “I had somewhere more important I needed to be.”
“You did?”
He nods. “I did.”
A moment passes as I study is eyes. “What does this mean?”
“It means the wedding is off.”
His declaration leaves me numb. A part of me would love nothing more than to say this is the best news ever and jump into his lap, but I can’t. My heart is too fragile, like a bird with a broken wing, perched at the edge of a branch, knowing it can’t fly.
We sit in silence. The faint murmurs of visitors chatting in the background and the breeze rustling leaves are the only sounds around us.
I can’t believe he’s here.
He’s barely looking at me. I want to ask him so many questions. How did the parents deal with the news? Has the wedding been postponed or canceled for good? But self-preservation kicks in and stops me from asking anything more.
“I’m so sorry, Lexie. For everything.” He runs his hands down his face. “The way I spoke to you yesterday is unforgivable. I… I needed to push you away, to make you hate me. I wanted to save you from me.” He takes another long pause and stares back at the creek. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
I respond with a nod. I don’t doubt that he’s sorry. For what happened in Boston, for lying, for breaking my heart. But still, I don’t know what him being here, now, means.
“If you don’t mind,” he says, “Annabelle would really like to talk to you.”
I nod. He taps his phone, hands it to me, then stands up and steps away to give us some privacy.
“Hey, Lexie,” Annabelle says after only a few rings. Her voice is a little hoarse, still groggy, but warmer—lighter—than the last time we spoke. “I’m so glad Theo found you, and that you at least let him let me talk to you. I’m sure your head is spinning right now.”
Understatement of the year.
“When we spoke yesterday and I encouraged you to go find Theo, I truly thought he’d come to his senses and tell me the wedding was off. I’m so sorry I put you through that. You must’ve been heartbroken.”
Another understatement.
I glance at Theo who’s staring at the ground, no doubt trying to eavesdrop.
“You don’t owe Theo anything,” she says gently.
“I completely understand if you’re hesitant.
I’m sure you’re angry, hurt, and probably terrified of giving him another chance.
After some… let’s call them challenging conversations last night, he got stuck in his own head and decided he wasn’t going after you.
Not because he doesn’t want to be with you.
The man has wanted you since the moment he met you.
” She takes a breath and continues. “I think he felt like he didn’t deserve you, that you’d be better off without him.
But I see the good in him, flaws and all.
And I know you do, too. So, I told him to come find you.
That he deserves happiness, just like you and I do.
All I’m asking is that you listen to what he has to say.
Okay?” She pauses before cheekily adding, “Besides, you can’t say no to the bride. ”
I finally exhale the breath I’ve been holding, a small, strained laugh catching in my chest. A moment passes, then another, when I say, “Okay.”
I hand the phone back to Theo, and his fingers graze mine before I pull away. I’m not ready to touch him yet. Not until I know where we stand.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” I ask Theo.
A hopeful expression appears on his face. “Do you really want to hear this?”
Honestly, I don’t know.
But I give him a small nod.
“After we decided to call things off, Anna went to find Sydney while I tracked down Justin first and gave him the news, though I asked him not to call you. I needed time to think about what to do next, to do this on my terms, as much as I could.”
A slow, heavy thud starts in my chest. I’m sure Sydney immediately agreed without hesitation, but the reality of me leaving my boss to deal with this mess makes my stomach knot.
“How did Sydney take it?” I ask, even though I know the answer. Sydney is the epitome of professional. If a client—especially someone like a Barlowe—asked her to handle something, she’d do it without question.
“Like a champ.” A short chuckle leaves his mouth.
“Maybe it wasn’t the best plan in the world…
but… it worked. Sydney said she’d handle the announcement and manage the fallout.
But Anna and I were very clear that you were to be kept completely out of this and to make up for the trouble, we offered her a bonus. ”
“A bonus? What does that mean?”
“Ten percent of our original fee.”
My eyebrows shoot to the cloudless sky. “You gave my boss two hundred thousand dollars so she wouldn’t call me?”
He shrugs. “I protect what’s mine.”
My eyes narrow at his words, but my mind swirls.
Two hundred thousand dollars? I’ve barely registered that I’m sitting on a picnic table with an unmarried, half-tux wearing Theo, much less that he gave my boss enough money to keep the business afloat for a few more months.
“But… but… Annabelle won’t have any money after this.
She told me she’s giving up everything, her trust fund, her inheritance and—”
“Okay, not to sound like a dick, but you do remember that I’m the son of one of the largest shipping heirs in the world, right?
” I roll my eyes at his remark, though I hate to admit it that I did, kind of, forget.
I’m always so focused on the Barlowe name and influence that I forgot the Astor name comes with its own wealth.
“We will be fine. I wouldn’t do something if I didn’t think it would be worth it. ”
A slow ripple of warmth stirs in my chest and flutters through me. How is this even real?
“Can I tell you about the first time I ever saw you?” he asks.
My lips curve into a soft smile. “Sure.”
“It was September seventh, the third day of classes, almost eight years ago. I even remember how brutally hot it was. High nineties, suffocating humidity. That’s how deeply the day has been burned into my brain.
” He kicks at a rock, staring down at his folded hands.
“And I was pissed, too. Shocking, I know.” I grin at this and wait for him to continue.
“I’d just found out a professor was giving me preferential treatment because I was George Astor’s son.
Not because I was a good student who he wanted to help.
” He exhales. “That same day, my dad called me into his office. We got into an argument, and I couldn’t stay there another second.
I was still completely in my head when you stopped me on the quad. ”
My head snaps up. “I did?”