“But… you got married.”
His jaw flexed, eyes flicking away. “I did.”
The admission hung in the space between them, sharp as glass. Daisy’s throat tightened. She forced herself to ask, though her stomach coiled. “What happened there?”
He let out a humorless laugh. “I was young, lost, high most of the time, and she was there. That’s what happened.”
She kept her spine straight and pressed.
“Do you really want to know?”
She didn’t, but she did. “Sure.”
“Maybe I should take you up on that wine after all,” he joked but made no movements to get up.
“I met Brooke before our first headlining tour. We were… friends. Same parties, same people. It was casual. The label loved the press: the Hollywood starlet meets the rock star. We all went to Vegas for Lenny’s birthday. We were high, drunk, and got hitched at one of those little chapels.” His mouth flattened. “I didn’t even remember it the next morning. But the press did.”
“You could’ve annulled it.”
“Everyone told me to, especially Mum, but I didn’t.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Because for a second, I felt something. Not real love, I realize now. More like wanting to feel anything at all. We were two damaged people pretending we hadn’t already lived our big love stories. She had given up hers for fame and I have given up mine for… Well, because I was a selfish prick.”
While she didn’t like the description he gave himself, she couldn’t disagree. Back then, he had been a selfish prick.
“How did you find out? Please don’t say some grocery store rag.”
Daisy softly chuckled. “Actually, Anna told me. She thought it was better that I have a breakdown in the comfort of my own home than in a checkout line.”
He winced. “Were you upset?”
“Surprisingly, no.” She took a breath. “My life was finally working. School. Working at my aunt’s gallery. Amelia was thriving. Maybe I was jealous you married someone else. But I was mostly disappointed in myself.”
“With yourself?”
“You were building a family with someone. I was sick at the thought that Amelia might have a sibling she’d never know. That she wouldn’t know she was part of something more.” Her voice thinned. “And that would be on me.”
“I never loved her,” he said quietly. “I tried. I couldn’t.”
She believed him. She also hated that he’d tried to solve emptiness with rings.
“Honestly, I wanted you to be happy,” she said. “Despite everything.”
“You’ve always been the bigger person.” His mouth quirked. “If you’d been married when I came back, I wouldn’t have been sohappy. I barely handled Matt.”
“Why?” She knew, but she wanted him to say it.
“Daisy…”
His knee inched toward hers. The hairs on her arms rose.
“I want to hear it.”
He went still, as if weighing something. Then he stood and left the room.
Daisy stayed still, confused, until Jameson reappeared with his phone in hand.
“Can I connect this?”
Daisy scrunched her face in confusion.
