“I wasn’t kidding when I said I never saw Silvia as anything but a family friend,” he says. “I never saw past what I wanted to see, or what she wanted me to see. When you and I started dating, she found out about Donald’s plan, and she started reporting back to him, and her father. Nothing I told her was safe, and I kept her close, wanting to control the narrative she was selling them.”
“That makes sense, but she’s a problem for me,” I state firmly. “Even before that phone call, I had problems with her and the things she’d say about me, or eventome. And now the messages?—”
“Has she sent more?” he interrupts quickly. “I told her to stop.”
I can see his temper rising, so I shake my head, “There’s been nothing for a couple weeks, but I need to know that won’t happen again. That you’ll have my back before it ever becomes a problem.”
“It won’t ever happen again,” he tells me fiercely. “She called me…” he sighs. “I was never supposed to marry you. Donald was furious with me about it, and Silvia…She was convinced that I was going to marry her.” His face creases in disgust at the idea and I hide a smile.
“Why did you cut our honeymoon short?”
His eyes flare with surprise. “What?”
“You were talking to Silvia on the phone, reassuring her that you were about to end us as soon as we got back. And then the next day, we flew home.
His throat bobs on a swallow. “You thought I lied?” he asks roughly. “That I flew us home earlier for her?”
I give a helpless shrug. “You were…you called her sweetheart, and you sounded so…” I shake my head, my chest tight. “It sounded like you were talking to someone that was more than a friend.”
He looks pale. “I don’t even remember calling her that. And the next morning… It was Carter. He called, telling me that Donald was making moves on Hi-Tech, and you weren’t feeling well…” He runs a hand through his hair, clearly agitated. “I didn’t want to cut the trip short. I fucking hated it.”
I lean back in my seat, feeling emotionally wrung out. “I’m not sure where this leaves us, Declan,” I say honestly. “It’s all so?—”
“It’s a fucking mess,” he fills in for me, “but something good came out of it, Lily, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.”
I stare at him, feeling a little hopeless. “It doesn’t feel good right now,” I whisper, needing to be honest but hating each word spilling out of my mouth. “It doesn’t feel like we can come back from this.”
He smiles, it feels a little like I’m about to be hunted, his brown eyes full of promises and determination. “It’s not going to be an overnight fix, but we do come back from this, Lily. You wanted to start fresh? So, that’s what we do.”
“I didn’t mean together,” I remind him, but he doesn’t falter.
“That’s what we do,” he says insistently. “We go back to the start.” I shake my head, feeling untethered and lost. He stands up and roundsthe table, crouching down beside me until I’m looking down into his wide-open expression. He’s not hiding anything from me, his smile genuine, hopeful and everything Declan.
“It means, Lily,” he starts softly, “that I want you to go on a first date with me.”
CHAPTER 27
Lily
“So, a first date with your husband, hm?”
I sip at my white wine, watching as Sasha smothers her chip in guacamole. We’re sitting in a prime spot out on the front patio of Lolita’s, enjoying the last of the waning sun before the evening gets too cold to be outside.
“He’s not my husband anymore,” I point out reasonably.
“But he’s also not your ex, right? So, what is he?” She grabs another chip and goes digging in the guacamole again. “Guess he’s just an asshole.”
“Maybe we should order something more substantial,” I wonder dryly.
“Nah, I’m good,” she returns, cheeks puffed out. There’s a spot of green on her chin and I offer her a napkin.
“Do you think I’m making a mistake giving him another shot?” My question is quiet, tentative. I hate feeling like I’m constantly second-guessing myself, but terrified of making the wrong choice again.
Sasha frowns. “I can’t tell you what to do here, Lil. I know he’s hurt you, but if your heart is telling you to give him this chance, do it. You owe it to yourself to see it all the way through. You don’t want to be sitting back here with me when you’re sixty and alone, with a herd of cats, wondering what if?”
“Bold of you to assume we’d still be friends.”
“Bitch, we’re ride and die.”
