Page 49 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

Frankly, I should’ve been thrilled, but instead, I felt tears pressing at the backs of my eyes and a giant weight settling against my chest. I’d told Ryan things I’d never told anyone else.

Literally not one single other person in the world knew about my ridiculous dreams for my wedding, and not only had he listened, but he’d gone looking and he’d found it. He’d found the venue of my dreams, a place where, if everything went to plan, I would be marrying another man.

CHAPTER 21

RYAN

After settling Maggie into my Chicago apartment, I headed to Thayer Steelworks HQ for my bi-monthly meetings with the finance department. Every two weeks, I sat down with Colin first. Then one by one, I met with each of the team leaders to touch base.

With me running point on everything that came anywhere near the east coast, I made sure I was thoroughly up to date on every development while I was here, and so far, it had helped us avoid any proverbial financial fires.

Today, however, I could not get my head in the game. I went straight to my office as always to review the paperwork Colin had prepared for me to look over before our meeting, but none of the words on the papers made any sense. I swore I was even having trouble with the and report.

Finally, when Jane appeared in my doorway, I was grateful for the excuse to give my poor hormone-addled brain a break from trying to masquerade as a smart, responsible grownup. She smiled when I looked up.

“Knock knock,” she said quietly, walking in and letting the door swing shut behind her. “I heard you got delayed by the weather.”

“Yeah, I had to take the train.”

She laughed. “That must’ve been a nostalgic experience. It’s been a while.”

“You’re telling me. It wasn’t bad, though.”

Mostly because Maggie had been there to keep me company. Then it had been fucking torture because she’d been there to keep me company. Oh, God. Teenage angst, welcome back. I have not missed you.

When I sighed, Jane’s head tilted and she arched her eyebrows at me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just been a weird couple of weeks, is all.”

She shot me a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I can imagine. I heard most of what’s been happening from Mom. She’s thrilled by the way.”

“About what?” I frowned. “Raising a runaway-bride-retrieval non-expert who’s not getting around to anything else in his life right now?”

“That’s not the way she’s been telling it.” Jane walked around the chair opposite my desk and lowered herself into it, amusement mixing with the sympathy in her eyes. “According to her, you’re the hero who’s going to bring the Hawthornes and Pembrokes back together against all odds.”

“What are the odds?”

“Maggie.” She smiled knowingly. “I don’t know about being a runaway-bride-retrieval non-expert, but you are being hailed as the Maggie-whisperer.”

I snorted. “Hardly. That girl doesn’t listen to anyone. She’s just not as stupid as people seem to think. Also, not for nothing, but she’s not an actual Barbie Doll. She does, in fact, have feelings and opinions.”

Jane’s eyebrows swept up. “That was a rather passionate speech.”

Passion. There it is again, that fucking word. I hate it. I’m appealing to the writers of dictionaries to have it removed. Stat.

“It wasn’t passionate,” I protested, but even I could hear how lame that sounded. “It’s just the truth, is all. Everyone else is pretending that I’m the only person who can get through to her or whatever, but in reality, I think I’m just the only one who sometimes listens to her.”

“So what happened?” Jane asked after a brief pause, the look in her eyes softening in a way I didn’t like. “She didn’t show up for the wedding. I know that, obviously, since I was there, but how did you even get involved?”

I dragged my fingers through my hair and shook my head. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I stayed with Mom when everyone else left. She was with the families, so when Mrs. Pembroke kept going on about how Maggie must’ve been kidnapped, I finally just told them that I saw her leave, which I did.”

“So you had to go find her again?” she guessed, obviously also remembering the birthday party incident.

I scoffed. “Yeah, but she was long gone. Then Marcus found me and begged for my help getting her back.”

“So where is she now?”

“My apartment.” I winced when Jane’s eyes widened. “It’s not like that. She’s not, like, sleeping in my bed or anything. I’m just trying to help the families through this, I guess.”