Page 17 of More Than My Hometown

“Cutting ourselves and sharing blood was gross to teenage Maisey. She was a nurse even then.”

He nods, accepting the answer.

“So, she does want to marry you.” Milo smirks, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands behind his head.

“No, she doesn’t,” I snap. The words taste sour in my mouth, bile rising in my throat. “I’m her backup plan.”

“You don’t—” Jace starts.

“Know that?” I cut him off, standing up abruptly, my chair rolling behind me so quickly it slams into the wall. “I do.”

“Ewan,” Gus warns.

“What? I do.”

I start to pace, the anger rising in me again. At least this time I can let it out.

“Her contract was canceled. That’s why she came back. Only after her dream didn’t work out did she come back!”

“But she did come back,” Anton points out. “If she didn’t want you, she wouldn’t have done that. She wouldn’t be trying to collect.”

I stop and stare at him. When he puts it like that, he makes it sound so simple. Like there’s a chance. But there isn’t. Not after what I said. There’s no way.

Shaking my head, I swallow hard, fighting off the next round of tears. I have never felt this out of control in my life.

“Why do I feel like there is still something you aren’t telling us?” Gus asks.

Because there is…

I turn and glare at him. When did he get so good at this? This has to be Margeaux’s influence, because Gus has never been able to read people like this. That was always Milo’s superpower.

“He’s leaving out the fight they had before she left,” Milo says, his voice calm and even, like he’s narrating a story.

And there it is.

“It wasn’t a fight,” I correct him.

It wasn’t. There was no arguing on either of our parts. Zero yelling. Lots of tears. Plenty of pleading. Begging—so much begging. But no raised voices.

“Then what was it?” Jace asks.

I shrug, not knowing how to answer.

Milo pushes to his feet and crosses his arms, his face going blank. He waits, eyes trained on me, but I don’t budge. I can’t say it.

“That was when he broke both their hearts, because when given the choice of seeing the world with the girl he loved, he chose Hayes and Hickory Hills over her.”

Milo’s words sting, almost as much as the collective gasps from the other three. Still not as much as the memory of Maisey’s tears.

“This town is my life—with or without you in it…” I murmur, stumbling backward. “That’s what I told her.”

My back hits the wall, the thud making the wall shake. Pain radiates down my spine, and I know I’m going to regret it later, but right now, I don’t care. I’m too emotional to move.

“You’re a dumbass, baby brother,” Anton declares across the table.

Thanks?

“But, some good news,” he adds. “You’re getting a second chance. She came back.”