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A sigh that would make our mom proud leaves her body. “I’m just saying that you made a lot of bad decisions there, Knox. You are not the brother that makes rash decisions. Obviously, you still have very strong feelings for Scarlett, and you’ll have to figure those out. You need to talk to her —somewhere public— to find out what happened and if it’s something you both can move past.”
Pride feels my chest as I walk toward my baby sister. Wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug, I whisper, “Clara Bear, I know we all give you a hard time, but you are the smartest St. James.”
I hear a muffled, “I know.”
Laughing and pulling back so she can breathe, I ask, “Can you keep all of this to yourself for at least a couple of days?”
“I can try. I won’t tell anyone, but I also won’t lie.” Clara has always had that rule with us, so that’s really all I can ask of her.
“Okay, thank you. I love you, little sister.” I give her another tight hug.
“Love you too, big brother.”
We chat for a few more minutes, mostly about work, and then Clara leaves to visit Wilder and Ivy. She promises to send me new pictures of the baby and to try to keep the family out of my business.
Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to do about Scarlett.
Clara is right. I need to find out what happened before and what that means for now. My heart is telling me that it doesn’t matter, but I need to be rational and think this through. What I really want is to pull her back into my arms, tell her everything will be okay and live happily ever after with the woman I always thought I would marry.
Chapter
Six
SCARLETT
It’s been two days since the incident in my office. I haven’t seen Knox again in that time, although he has left a couple of voice messages and texts to my phone. I’ve responded to the text messages but haven’t made any overt moves of my own.
That changes today. I’m going to ask him for coffee. I finally feel strong enough to talk to him and to get all of this out on the table. I want to face him and admit how foolish I was as a teenager and the colossal mistake I made.
I woke up early this morning, unable to sleep and my hair and makeup are already done. My nerves are shot and my hand is shaking like I’ve had too much coffee. Meeting Knox is enough to send adrenaline running through my body. If I could bottle this up and sell it as an energy supplement. I would be a millionaire.
Now, all I need to do is send the text. From what I’ve heard, Knox hasn’t been going to work and his family is worried about him. Gillian told me that something like this happened when I left and that spurred me into action. He’s the CEO of his family’s company. How does someone just not go to work? Whatever is happening between us must be resolved. I won’t be the reason he falls apart again.
At nine on the dot, I send him the text asking him to meet me for coffee at Sugar Star at ten. It’s only an hour to get ready, but I can’t bear to wait any longer than that to see him. The three dots pop up immediately and my stomach drops. Is he going to agree or turn me down? My answer comes through quickly, he agrees to meet and says that he can’t wait to see me.
Gillian’s bakery isn’t busy as I sit at the table waiting for Knox. He should be here in the next five minutes, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I have to do this, but knowing it’s the right thing to do doesn’t make it any easier.
I close my eyes in an attempt to center myself. I’m taking deep breaths, that turn into quick shallow breaths. My nerves and those shallow breaths are starting to cause me to hyperventilate a little when I hear him.
“Scarlett, open your eyes and breathe. It’s going to be okay. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it all.”
I open my eyes and there he is, the man I thought I would marry, the man whose heart I broke. He’s wearing jeans that mold to his thighs and a light blue Henley. His hair is unkempt like he’s been running his fingers through it. A sure sign of stress.
“You don’t know that, Knox. You can’t promise me it’s going to be okay.” Sadness tinges my voice and I’m not going to try and hide it anymore.
I am sad.
“Let’s talk about what happened the other day first and then we can go further back, okay,” he says, not agreeing or disagreeing with me. “I was so happy to see you and the moment felt so perfect when I had you back in my arms. I know we got carried away, but I don’t regret it for a second. Except, when I was an ass to you before I left.”
“What happened?”
“You pulled away.” He holds his hand out for me, and I place mine in his. “I got scared and wanted to leave before you could tell me to go. I’m not proud of it, but that’s the truth. That’s not the man I am, Scarlett, but in that moment, I was that kid again who had been told that the love of his life was gone.”
I try to pull away, but he doesn’t let me. “Don’t. It’s okay. I just want to know what happened. Did I do something? Did something happen?”
This is it. I’ll tell him and he’ll either laugh at me, hate me, or some third reaction I can’t foresee.
“I thought I was pregnant.”
