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I had no words, only tears. Lots and lots of tears.
Aspen leaned over and peeked at my phone. “Wow.” She tilted her head several times, getting in every angle. “That beach picture. I hope it was a private beach.”
I groaned. It was mostly private, but like I’d said before, we had a hard time keeping our hands off each other.
“Those pictures are pretty hot,” Jenna added. “That PI must have enjoyed his job.”
I curled into myself, sick thinking that my flesh and blood—my so-called parents—had paid someone to not only spy on me, but to doctor pictures to make me think the love of my life had cheated on me. The worst thing was that I had believed them. I hurt the man I loved—love. The man who now hated me and had every right to.
Aspen picked up the phone and swiped through the pictures. “You two were obviously in love.”
“I know,” I blubbered. It was the most I had articulated since I arrived at Emma’s, fell into her arms, and regurgitated what had happened in the stable. She’d called Jenna and Aspen for backup while Sawyer did the smart thing and left.
Emma began blotting my cheeks with tissues. She put one up to my nose. “Blow.” That was a good friend, there.
I obediently blew.
Emma tossed the tissue to the side and went back to stroking my hair. “What are you going to do?”
“What can I do? He made it clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me, and I can’t blame him. I should have known my parents might do something like this.”
“They must really hate him,” Aspen commented.
“You have no idea. They offered him money to walk away from me. I didn’t think they could get lower than that.”
“Dang!” Jenna exclaimed. “Your life is like a soap opera.”
It really was.
“This could be good, though,” Jenna continued. “In soap operas all the hot couples get back together. It’s good for ratings. The guy here is probably not even Ryder. It could be his evil twin who’s locked up the real Ryder and the real Ryder is screaming from his prison right now, ‘Just hold on Shelby, I love you! I’ll find a way out of this hell hole if it’s the last thing I do!’”
We all busted out laughing while Jenna dramatically acted out the scene.
When the laughter died down, I went back to sniffling. “If only that were true.”
Aspen unwrapped another piece of dark chocolate. “You’re better off without him. Eventually he would have screwed you over. They all do.”
“Aspen.” Emma threw a wadded-up tissue at her. “Not all men are like your ex.”
Aspen rolled her eyes. “You’re in the honeymoon phase. I had one of those too. Then the d-bag left me and our baby for a woman he met at a bar.”
“I stand by my comment; not all men are like your ex.” Emma was fiercely loyal and in love with Sawyer. As she should be. He really was a good guy. He reminded me a lot of . . . well . . . thinking about him only made me tear up more.
Aspen shrugged her shoulders. “Be that as it may, I don’t ever plan on finding out.”
“Whatever.” Jenna ruffled Aspen’s hair. “All it would take is one sexy Brit to walk through the door and you’d be eating those words.”
Aspen had a bit of an obsession with the BBC. She said she loved their humor, but we all really knew she fancied the men and their accents.
Aspen pressed her lips together trying not to smile. “Since there are no sexy Brits around here, I think I’m safe.”
“You never know,” Emma sing-songed. “We get a lot of tourists who come through our town.”
Aspen popped another piece of chocolate in her mouth. “Fine. If a tall, dark Brit with aqua eyes comes around, call me. After you’ve made sure he’s single and done a background check,” she teased. “But enough about me.” Aspen swiped my brow as she would Chloe’s, her twelve-year-old daughter. “Is he really worth all these tears?”
I closed my eyes and a thousand reasons flooded my memory. Everything from the way he loved his momma to the many times he showed up after work, even in the middle of the night when those babies seemed to love to come, just so he could kiss me good night and make sure I made it home safely. One time I caught an awful stomach virus and he stayed with me, holding back my hair each time I vomited. It was so bad I fell asleep on the bathroom floor. When I came to, he was right there beside me, holding my hand. That summed up our relationship until the end; he was always right there beside me, holding my hand through the good and the bad.
