Isabella?My stomach seemed to churn. "I thought you asked her not to contact us?" I already knew she wasn't listening to his request because she had been contacting me via terrible pictures. But I didn't know she had been contacting him too. I set my coffee down. My hands had started shaking and I didn't want to spill the coffee all over myself.
James hung up the phone. "Actually, she called me Friday night before I was kidnapped." He laughed. "And she apologized again...about how the engagement party went. She said that my parents had invited her and that it wasn't her idea to ambush me. She really seemed sorry. She wants me to be happy."
Bullshit.I had noticed his pause after claiming she had apologized. Was she apologizing for the kiss they shared last week instead? I took a deep breath. "Okay, but why are you talking to her now?"
"She just told me that she's going to try to talk to my parents. She wants them to come around."
"And you believe her?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I want to. My mom loves her. If anyone can convince my parents to come to the wedding, it's Isabella."
"Is that it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is that the only reason you're talking to her? Because she's claiming she's going to help you?"
"Of course."
"Do you still have feelings for her?"
He laughed. "No. Penny," he grabbed my hand and sat down next to me again. "If you're worried about me getting cold feet...it's not going to happen. I love you and only you. You have nothing to worry about."
Stop lying."I don't want you to talk to her anymore."
"Isabella?"
"Yes, your ex wife. She's...toxic."
"She's actually been really nice recently."
To you maybe.Was that her plan? To torture me and weasel her way back into James' heart? She was an evil genius, becauseI was falling apart and he was calling her nice. "Did you always plan on moving back here?"
"What?"
"Ian said that you paid him a year's salary so he wouldn't have to work for Isabella when you moved to Delaware. He said you were coming back in a year. You never told me that."
"I thought I'd come back, yeah. I just needed a break from this lifestyle. When I left New York, I never imagined I'd meet someone like you."
"But you did meet me. And you never told me about your master plan."
"It wasn't a master plan. The date wasn't set in stone. It was tentative. My life was a mess. I couldn't plan that far ahead. I was still figuring out what I wanted."
"Because of Isabella. And now what? You want to be friends with her?"
"It wasn't because of Isabella. Our marriage had never been good. I knew she had been cheating on me for months before I caught her in the act. I was a mess because I had my own issues to work out. I needed to find a purpose, something to live for."
"But you loved her. It must have torn you apart when you found out she was cheating. Right? Because it hurts to find out that someone you trust is fooling around behind your back. Especially when you have to find out instead of them telling you."
"I never trusted her. And our relationship wasn't built on love. You know that."
Liar.All those notes he had written to her flashed through my mind. Just thinking about them made my chest hurt.Can't you see that you're killing me?
His eyes softened slightly as he watched me slowly fall apart in front of him. "Penny, what's going on? Are you having second thoughts?"
"I don't know." I immediately saw the flash of doubt on his face. It was the same way he had looked at me back when he was a professor. Like he didn't believe I could possibly love him. He wasn't supposed to be the one feeling hurt right now. He was the one that cheated on me. If he was scared of losing me, all he needed to do was apologize.
"Hey." He put his hands on either side of my face. "Whatever doubts you're having, please just tell me. Whatever you're worried about, I know we can work it out. I love you with everything that I am."
