For some reason, this made him frown. "It's no hardship."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right."
"No joke," he said. "And there's something you should know."
"What?"
"I'm not on the rebound."
I hated to argue, especially when things were still so iffy. And yet, I couldn’t stop myself from saying, "Maybe you don'tfeellike you're on the rebound, but come on. You've been broken up forhowlong now? Just a few months?"
This made him laugh. "Try a year."
A whole year?"Really?"
"Yeah," he said. "We broke up in January."
"But you only just moved here. And you sold the burger business when? Only a few months ago, right?"
"Sure, that's when the sale was finalized, but the transition started last November."
As I listened, Bryce went on to explain that as part of the acquisition, he'd agreed to stay on for twelve months to facilitate the transition to new ownership, which he'd been happy to do in order to keep future franchise money flowing.
When he finished, I was still trying to process it. "So you're not on the rebound?"
"That's what I just said."
I smiled. "But what about the whole fiancée thing?"
His gaze met mine. "I don't have one. I never did."
I believed him. And yet, I still felt like I was missing something. "But why was she here at all?"
"My guess? Because ofyou."
"Me? But she doesn't even know who I am." I tried to laugh. "For allIknow, she reallydidthink I was the cleaning lady."
Bryce shook his head. "No, she thought you were the person I was bringing home to meet my parents."
"Wait…you were?"
"I was gonna ask after the reception," he said. "But I never got the chance."
My heart warmed at the thought. Still, I had to ask, "But how didshefind out?"
"She's friendly with one of my sisters. I'm guessing Sarah told her without thinking."
"So she came here just to cause trouble?"
He cocked a single eyebrow. "Shesaidshe came here to ski for whateverthat'sworth."
I let out a low scoff. "Whatever the reason, I fell right into her trap."
"It wasn't you." He gave me a serious look. "Ishould've kept a better eye out –andtold her to take a hike."
"You mean at the reception? So, why didn't you?"
"Because I didn't want to ruin your plans."
