AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Accept the fact that as hard as he clung on as he’d felt her drifting away, he’d still somehow lost her.
Trent rolled to his side and stared through the open office door toward the bar. He’d had everything he’d ever wanted. His successful business, a wonderful family, and the love of his life who’d made everything else matter that much more.
What would he do now, without her?
Chapter Nineteen
Now…
Trent pulled on the handle of the door to Delicious Delicacies early the next morning. The door wouldn’t budge. He pulled harder. Nothing. He placed his hands on the glass and peered in. He could see Jess behind the counter. He knocked and held up his hands as if to say,What gives?
She sent him an odd look and yelled, “Push!”
Ah, right.
He pushed and stumbled slightly as he entered, tripping over the small step that he couldn’t remember ever being there before. “What’s up with your door?”
“It’s always been that way,” Jess said, eyeing him.
“You should get that fixed,” he mumbled, his words slightly slurred.
“Are you drunk?” His cousin sounded shocked. Obviously, his beautiful ex-fiancée had yet to inform her best friends that she’d crushed his heart into a million little pieces.
“You betcha.”
Jess glanced pointedly at the clock. He knew what time it was. It didn’t matter. “What’s going on?” she asked, concern in her voice.
The bakery floor felt wobbly beneath his feet, so Trent pulled out a stool at the counter and sat. “Did you know?” he asked.
“Know what?” Jess asked, but he heard the faintest hint of guilt in her tone.
“About Whitney not wanting babies anymore. Not wanting us anymore.”
“No. That, I did not know, and I’m sure it’s not true,” she said, looking concerned. She held up a finger and went to pour a mug of her darkest, strongest roast. She placed the mug in front of him. “Drink this—it’ll help sober you up.”
“I’d rather be drunk, thanks. It hurts less,” he said, pushing the mug away. “Did you know she was starting to feel this way, Jess?”
She sighed. “I knew something was going on with her, but she hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with a lot of things lately.” Jess paused as though weighing something. “I know she’s not feeling well. She blames it on stress and pressure from work, but I really think it’s more than that. The weight loss and dark circles under her eyes…”
He shot his cousin a look, but the gesture hurt his throbbing head. “You said you’d tell me if you knew something was going on with her.”
“I know, and I would have told you if I had actual proof, but it’s just a gut instinct.”
“We’re family. Cousins. We’re like this,” he said, intertwining his two fingers. “We stick together.”
She nodded slowly. “Yes. But I’m also like this with Whitney,” she said, wrapping her hand around his intertwined fingers.
He stood up and wavered slightly off-balance as he paced the bakery. “The hardest part is I feel like I didn’t know her. If it’s true that she doesn’t want children or to get married or be with me, then I was totally blindsided.” He reached out to pick up a muffin from a basket on the delivery shelf and knocked several items onto the floor.
“Of course you were,” Jess said, taking the coffee cup and forcing it into his hand. “You need to sober up before I’m here all day redoing the deliveries for tomorrow morning.”
He barely heard her. “She said she doesn’t want kids.” No matter how many times he repeated it to himself, out loud, he didn’t fully believe it. She’d been all in before…before her major car accident the year before. That’s when so much had changed. He thought she’d still been recovering. He was giving her time and space. Then work took over her life… He shook his head. “You think she’d have mentioned it before, right?” He gave a humorless laugh, finally sipping the coffee.
“This is going to ruin the pleasant numbness I’m feeling,” he said, handing it back to her.
Jess took it, but she looked even more worried now. “You aren’t driving, are you?” She looked outside for the Jeep.
“Nah. ’Course not. I walked from the tavern.” Stumbled his way over in a haze of heartache, more accurately.
