I looked down and realized I was still wearing my wedding ring. With shaking hands, I slid it off and tucked it into my pocket. The final nail in the coffin. Which was ironic, because West and I had never even been married.
“Where’s your car?” Dad asked suddenly, his gaze still on the window. “Is it still at Fiddlers?”
“It broke down on the side of the road on my way to Atlanta last night.”
His head whipped toward me, eyes wide with alarm that I’d been stranded.
“No worries,” I said quickly. “I called Aiden. He picked me up and drove me the rest of the way.”
“So the car’s still on the side of the road?”
“Marshal had it towed to the shop in town. I’ll head over later and see what it’s going to cost.”
Dad nodded and turned back to the glass, quiet again. My eyes drifted to the shelf where he insisted on keeping that family picture of the four of us. The one that made everything fall apart.
I stood, grabbed it, and placed it in his hands. He looked up at me in confusion, but I just shrugged.
“Can you call her for me? Tell her to lose my number. Tell her to lose West’s number. And if she doesn’t stop calling, tell her I’ll give her number to Buddy Murphy myself. He can be her problem.”
Dad smirked faintly and nodded. “Will do.”
I turned and headed for my room, curling back into bed and praying that after finally spilling it all, I could close my eyes and sleep.
Chapter Sixty-One
WEST
After I punchedHarrison and threatened him with worse if I ever saw him again, I called security to have him escorted out. Then I called Hugo and told him to get me to my grandparents’ house as fast as possible.
I didn’t want to be in Harmony Haven, but I didn’t want to be in Atlanta either. So I dumped my workload on my team, told Hattie I was taking the rest of the week off, and called Mr. McConnell to spare him the trip back. He didn’t ask questions, probably because he heard the edge in my voice. But he just told me he’d be around if I ever changed my mind.
I tried messaging Blue, telling her we needed to talk. When she didn’t respond, I decided to give her space.
Fiddlers was still closed and was staying that way until the new door could be installed at the end of the week, so I forced myself not to worry about that either. And luckily, Harrison wasn’t my only lawyer. I shifted everything over to the other side of my legal team seamlessly.
Blue said she didn’t want anything from me, not even Fiddlers, but I wasn’t going back on my promises. If she decided she didn’t want it, she could sell it. Because I didn’t want any ofit either. Not without her. Even the thought of walking into the lake house without her there was unthinkable.
So I stayed where I was. On my grandparents’ couch in sweatpants, barefoot, unshaven, flipping channels or trying to read, usually just sleeping. Loxley stopped by and tried teaching me to crochet. Jesse brought Max, and the kid and I split some frozen waffles before napping on the couch together. She also laid a pair of Easton’s jeans over the arm of the couch “just in case” I decided to get dressed. Gramps kept passing through, huffing at me. I knew he didn’t understand why I wasn’t chasing Blue down and begging her to hear the truth.
But he’d never understand that I was the one who’d lit the fuse when I walked away from her Sunday night. I knew that night that I was in love with her. I knew I wanted mornings with tea on the porch and nights slow dancing in the kitchen. I knew I wanted to kill our deal before it ran its course, because I didn’t want her living one more day thinking I was using her. But then she told me the girl in that picture was her sister, and everything detonated. And I hadn’t forgiven myself for it yet. So how could I ask her for mercy?
“Hey, West.” Grams appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on a towel. “I just got a call from Tammy at the fabric shop. She said your order’s ready. She’s been trying to reach you and Blue since yesterday.”
Pillows. Blue’s pillows for the lake house.
I made a mental note to send Marcus, which I knew would irritate him since he was in Atlanta. But I couldn’t face Tammy myself, and I wasn’t about to stiff her for the work either.
Grams sighed, reading my mind and knowing I wasn’t moving. “I’ll go. I need to run into town anyway.”
I smiled and nodded, grateful. She’d probably drop them at the lake house too.
The memory of Blue ordering those pillows flooded me. How proud she’d been, how she’d clung to my arm like she was showing me off. It felt good being her trophy.
She’d made going to my parent’s house easier that day, bearable too. Just by being there, she picked up the pieces of my heart.
An idea hit me before I could stop it and I stood up. “Hey, Gramps!” I called, hearing him grunt from the kitchen. I walked in and found him digging in the fridge. “Can I borrow your car?”
He pointed toward the empty coat rack by the back door. “Your grandma just left in it. But my old truck’s still out back. Keys are in the ignition if you want to try your luck.”
