“I’m surprised you haven’t offered to help him out.” Joel’s father died recently, after a long bout with cancer and his mother died his senior year of high school. He was an only child, so that meant he’d been willed the farm. Apparently, he had no real desire to return to that life, but he couldn’t stand the thought of parting with his roots so he was trying to make it work.
“I’ve offered,” Gia said, shrugging. “But you know how stubborn that man can be. He won’t accept my help until he’s ready to pull his hair out.” She grinned. “I can wait.”
I slipped my left hand under the table when she glanced at my ring finger.
“You gave the ring back, huh?” she asked, gently.
I reached for my wine, downing a deep swallow before forcing myself to respond. “Not like I had a choice. The ring wasn’t really mine. It was just on loan—”
“Until Rhett finds therealfuture Mrs. Lennox?”
We shared a look while my stomach took a tumble. I knew Gia was trying to spur me into action before it was too late, but it was pointless. If I had it in me to take a risk, Rhett would be the guy, but I felt physically sick every time I thought about taking those vows and I knew Rhett wouldn’t settle for less. He was a man, not a boy, and he wasn’t afraid of forever, once he found the right woman. Too bad he’d been so wrong about the right woman.
“Right.”
Gia sighed. “Bri, this is obviously your life and I can’t tell you how to live it. I just want you to be sure you know what you’re doing before you cut ties with Rhett. Guys like him don’t come around twice in a lifetime, hon.”
Don’t I know it.“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”Damning myself to a life of misery because I can’t trust anyone, not even myself.
ChapterFifteen
Rhett
By the time Monday morning rolled around I was climbing out of my skin. I was dying to see Briar, talk to her, text her… something. I felt like an addict, just trying to get through one day at a time without a hit. And I hated it. I was used to being in control, calling all the shots, making things happen. But Briar held all the cards in this situation. She was the only one who could choose to either unearth or bury her crap and get over it so we could have a shot at a real future together. And the fact that I hadn’t heard a single word from her since I stormed out meant that probably wasn’t going to happen. And I didn’t know how the hell to cope with quitting.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Jake said, stalking into my office and scowling at me. “Deanna is pregnant!”
Deanna was our hair stylist. She and Jake had gone to high school together and remained close friends.
“Huh, I didn’t even know she was seeing anyone.” I loved that girl like a sister, but man, she liked to talk. Sometimes I had to tune her out to spare myself the headache and her the hard eye rolls.
“She’s not!” Jake threw his hands up in the air. “A one-night stand, if you can believe that!”
“Dude, chill.” I pointed at the half-open door, prompting him to slam it shut. “I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about. It’s not like she’s a kid. She’s thirty-something, right? Old enough to understand the ramifications of unprotected sex and be a responsible mom—”
“She didn’t have unprotected sex, asshole. You think she’s stupid?”
I raised my hand, shaking my head at his outburst. “Whatever, I’m not here to judge. My point is, Deanna’s a smart, responsible woman. She’ll be fine.”
“He was some travelling salesman she met in a bar.” His disgust was obvious when he said, “He gave her a fake number. Now she knows why. The bastard’s married. Already got two kids, and wants nothing to do with hers.”
“How’d she find him if he gave her a fake number?”
He rolled his eyes. “Social media. Apparently, he gave her a fake number, but his real name, which reinforces the fact he ain’t too smart.”
I didn’t know why my buddy was getting so worked up about this. Sure, it sucked that Deanna had been duped, but that girl had been around the block a time or two. She wasn’t naïve. And I was pretty sure she’d encountered her fair share of dirtbags in the past, if her dating horror stories were any indication.
Jake narrowed his eyes. “What the hell’s wrong with you? You look like shit.”
I scraped my hands over my face. “Just didn’t get a lot of sleep this weekend.”
He grinned. “Briar had you pullin’ all-nighters, huh?”
“Uh…” It still hurt like hell to say it out loud, but I knew I had to get used to it. “We kind of ended it Friday night.” I snagged my phone off the desk and started scrolling, needing the distraction. “It was time.”
“Man, I’m sorry.” Jake finally sat down across from me, leaning forward. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” I snapped, cursing myself for being short with him. He was just trying to be a good friend. “You know the way that girl is. No chance she was in it for the long haul. I figured it was better to cut ties now, you know, before we got in too deep.”
