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With the dress still on as I hadn’t made a move to take it off, I cringed and replied, “Yes, give me a minute.”
The zipper was down the side so I quickly unzipped and climbed out of the dress before grabbing my jeans. I pulled them up my legs followed by my t-shirt over my head. Two seconds later Mia opened the curtain, took the dress from me without a word and walked back towards the main part of the boutique. If I wasn’t mistaken she looked upset.
As I picked my purse up from the floor, I took a steady breath and walked out of the changing room to catch Liam with his hand on Mia’s back. She was turned into him and her eyes were gazing up into his face. I moved to step back out of view, but my movement must have caught Liam’s eye because he glanced up at me and stepped away from her. A look of longing spread across his face and he looked almost like it was painful to move away. So he wanted Mia. I wondered if Jack was aware of that.
“Do you guys mind if I take off?” I wanted some time on my own away from everyone.
“How will you get back?” Liam asked.
I tried to smile, but didn’t think I’d succeeded by the look on Liam’s face. “I have legs…or you could come and get me later.”
He held my gaze. “Okay, but make sure you ring me for a lift. I don’t want you walking back.”
“See you both later then.” I quickly pulled the door open and nearly tripped over my feet in the rush to get away.
With the door firmly shut behind me, I dashed up the sidewalk, crossed the road and through the opening into the forest, which probably wasn’t the brightest thing to do on my own, but I needed space.
I’d been walking for about twenty minutes when I spotted the lake through the trees up ahead so heading in that direction, I shoved my way through and…wow. The view was amazing. Sitting down in front of one of the trees I just looked out to the water and gradually my vision became hazy.
The tears I’d kept in all morning had finally let loose and so did the sobs I’d been holding in as well. I brought my knees up, wrapped my arms around them before resting my face on top of my knees and cried my heart out.
How long I’d been crying I couldn’t tell you, but by the time they’d started to dry up the sun had changed position slightly.
“Thought you’d never stop.”
I jumped and turned quickly in the direction of the voice – Donovan.
“How long have you been sitting there?” I rooted around in my purse for a napkin or something to mop my face up with, but before I could find anything, Donovan passed me a tissue.
“Long enough.”
He slid down and took a seat beside me in front of the trees.
“Let me guess, Jack.”
I wouldn’t look at him.
“Thalia, I know you don’t know what’s going on and Jack’s probably confused the shit out of you. The fact is this isn’t what he wants, I mean Mia. He can’t stand her much, but there are things you don’t know that he can’t tell anyone. Fuck, I shouldn’t be telling you that.”
“Please Donovan. I need to know, because one minute he’s cancelling the wedding and the next, nothing’s been done and the wedding is still going ahead.”
“I’ve never seen him so screwed up before over a girl. Never. Since you arrived home with Liam, you’re all he can think about… This is hurting him as much as it is you.”
He hardly knew me, but yet he’d given me hope. I couldn’t help but pass slight glances in his direction.
He started to laugh. “Don’t look at me like that. I only told you what I did so you wouldn’t hate Jack. Him and Reece are the only friends I have. More like brothers and I’d do anything for them. You need to talk to Jack and try to get out of him what’s going on.”
I looked back at the lake. “He said he wanted to talk to me.”
“So there you go… Come on let me give you a lift back to the house. This place isn’t safe on your own.”
He held out his hand to me so I placed mine in his and let him pull me up from the ground.
Donovan was a hot guy. Tall, broad shoulders, dark brown hair and his eyes…swoon worthy. Callie would melt on the spot if she got a look of him. I smiled thinking about my best friend. Perhaps if I sent her a picture of him it would give her even more incentive to come to Alabama, although she had already told me she would be here in an instant if I needed her.
“Donovan, can I take your picture?”
He stopped dead and looked at me. Then grinned. “You think I’m hot?”
