“I just need fifteen minutes,” she says and laughs. “And I feel great about the decision. Rhett’s everything I didn’t know I needed in my life.”
Even as she says it, the doubt creeps in. I’m everything she needs in her life until she settles from whatever she ran away from. She’ll slowly realize I’m not everything she can get elsewhere, and I’ll be left in the cold again.
I felt special just minutes earlier, but I’m feeling the cold dread wash through me already. It’s better to anticipate the change than let myself be blindsided by it. If I can prepare, it’ll make it easier.
“Stop it,” Carter whispers, and I just shake my head at him. “Excuse us.”
He yanks me out of the booth and outside before I can say anything. “What the hell?’
“I see what’s goin’ on your brain. Stop it right now!”
“Carter—”
“If you ruin this, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
Placing my hands on the top of my head, I hate this. I hate myself for ruining my high. “I love her, okay?”
“That’s good!”
“That’s dangerous,” I hiss. “Don’t you get it? They always leave! When she inevitably leaves, it’s goin’ to kill me, Carter.”
He rubs his temples as he lets out a long, slow breath. “It’s inevitable only if you keep doin’ this stupid song and dance you’ve done since high school. I get it, okay? You’ve been told all this bullshit about how you’re not enough, but it’s not true. It’s not true at all, and believin’ it only makes it worse for you.”
“You—”
“Stop it!” he shouts. “Okay, so maybe she leaves one day. Hell, Darla might leave me one day, but that doesn’t mean you want to expedite the process. Give her reasons to stay if you think she’s goin’ to leave. Make her never want to think about it, and maybe, just maybe, you can have the happily ever after you keep sayin’ you want.”
I stare at him, willing him to understand where I’m coming from. “I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”
“Then you don’t love her.”
“Screw you!”
“No, screw you,” he says. “Any man who loves a woman wouldn’t be plannin’ on her leavin’. A man—a real man—does whatever he can to make her never even think that it’s a possibility to leave. Make her so happy she doesn’t want to everlive without you. If you’re already in this state of mind, you don’t want her. Not for the long-term.”
“Yes, I do.”
Laughing, he turns his back to me and walks back to the front door of the bar. “Then prove it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Brynlee
“What do you think?” Darla asks as I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
It’s two shades lighter than the color I’ve had for almost ten years, but she’s right. It brightens me up. “I love it.”
“Really?”
“Really. Oh my gosh, you have a special skill for this!”
She smiles as she cleans up everything before bringing it out to her car. I can’t take my eyes away from the masterpiece she made and wonder how I managed to go this long without anyone making the suggestion. The trim she did is also different, and it lays better than it ever has. It’s gorgeous.
I walk out to meet her as she comes back inside, and I nod towards the living room. We sit, and I see turmoil in her eyes. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.”
My stomach bobbles with worry. “Are you angry with me for telling Carter what you told me?”
