“Miss me, how?” Rory’s brows scrunched together in confusion. She wasn’t sure why she was pushing the issue, but something inside her was telling her she needed to get answers.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” James’ question broke into her inner thought.
Rory sighed tiredly. “Do you still have the prenup?”
There was another long pause before James replied, “I do.”
Rory shook her head, and her lips turned downward. “You know how I feel about it and the fact that it was your mother who came up with it, and yet…you miss me,” she said, her voice hollow.
“Rory,” James breathed out frustratedly. “I didn’t call to fight with you tonight—”
“Is that what we’re doing?” she interrupted. “Fighting?”
“Rory, I love you. Why can’t that be enough?” he quipped.
Her face fell even more. “I’ve come to realize that this time apart was important, and I’m happy I did it.”
“Rory…I miss you, I do. Please just come home,” James pleaded. “We can’t work this out so far apart.”
The break in his voice tore at her heart. She almost caved.
“Tell me something, James…why do you still have the prenup?”
Her fiancé breathed out heavily before responding, “I don’t know.”
“And that James is precisely why I can’t come home,” she spoke solemnly. With a defeated sigh of her own, she continued, “You need to use the time to choose the future you want…one with me in it or one without me.”
“How did we get here?” James asked.
“I don’t know what to tell you, James…All I know is you need to figure it out. Until then, I’ll be here. I have to go. Bye.”
Rory immediately terminated the call and allowed the phone to slip through her hand to land on the bed. She stared unseeing at the ceiling. Her chest felt hollow, and her heart had slowed so much so that it could possibly be described as a kneeling church bell, and her body felt heavy with sadness.How had they gotten here?
“Rory, honey, dinner’s ready.”
“I’ll be there in a little while Aunt Jo. Thanks,” she called out to her aunt, who was standing on the other side of the closed door.
Rory swiped at the single tear that slithered down her cheek and dragged herself out of bed. After getting dressed, she went downstairs to have dinner with her family.
“I was thinking…since Thanksgiving is only a week away, why don’t we start decorating for the holiday? What do you think about putting a faux pumpkin garland around the door frame and maybe some along the staircase banisters? We could even hang a pampas grass wreath on the front door too and have some colorful fall plants and pumpkins lining the edges of the porch steps.”
Marg inclined her head in consideration of Rory’s suggestions. A smile broke out on her face as she fixed her gaze on her. “That’s a great idea, Rory. I can see it already. I know our guests will appreciate the effort to make them feel at home.”
“That’s what I was going for,” Rory revealed lowly.
Marg smiled appreciatively. “You really have a knack for this,” she complimented.
“That she does,” Andrea chipped in, smiling proudly at her daughter.
Rory’s cheeks felt stiff from how much she had been smiling since arriving at the inn to help her mother and Marg because the receptionist they’d hired recently had come down with a stomach bug.
“Maybe we could add some garden gnomes and some bales of hay around the lawn too.”
“That could definitely work,” Marg agreed with her suggestions. “The Target downtown would definitely have these.”
“Now would be a good time to go purchase them,” Andrea thought out loud. “You should definitely buy them today.”
“Yeah, but with Abigail out, there’s nobody to man the reception desk,” Marg countered.
