AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve never forgotten about you, Isabelle,” he said my name so perfectly.
My heart skipped more beats than it had in a long time. I wanted so badly to ask about Nina again but didn’t dare. Instead, I admitted, “I’ve thought a lot about you. Especially the last couple of years after my divorce.”
“Divorced,” he snarled, like he knew something about the demise of my marriage. Perhaps George had filled him in. “We have a lot to catch up on,” he added.
“I would like that.”
He squeezed my hands. “First, I suppose we should address the engagement.” His playful smile said he didn’t mind the sound of it. Odd.
“I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. I got so flustered. I just want Charlotte to have the wedding she imagined, without the entire world trying to make it about them.”
“Very noble of you to sacrifice yourself like that.”
“Or idiotic.” I half laughed. “I’ll fix it,” I sighed.
He pressed his lips together, thinking for a moment. “Isabelle, I would hate to see your sister’s wedding get ruined. Perhaps we should let the rumor of our engagement stand.”
I bit my lip, on one hand ecstatic he didn’t mind the thought of us being together, but ... “Patrick, you have children, and it’s a lie. I don’t want to live a lie.” Especially not with him.
His face reddened. “I know all too well about living lies.”
“Oh,” I said, shocked.
“The last twenty years have been interesting, to say the least,” he gritted out.
“Which would make the lie even more complicated. We don’t even know each other anymore.”
“I want to change that. To get back what wasstolenfrom us.” He used that word once more. “I want to feel like me again, for myself and my children.” He let go of my hands and reached up to lightly brush his fingers across my cheek.
His familiar touch sent shock waves through me. “I want you to be you again too,” I responded barely audible, hardly believing this was happening. “Are you sure you don’t hate me?” I had to know before we proceeded any further.
He looked up to the roof of his car, letting out a heavy breath. “I hate that you broke your promise. Why did you?” He lowered his head and grabbed me with his intense gaze, as though I held the answer to life’s biggest question.
I swallowed hard and rubbed my neck, the words getting caught in my throat. “I guess it comes down to the fact that I was scared what had happened between us wasn’t real, and when I got to Florida, reality hit me, in a big way.” I didn’t mention Jared. There would be time for that. I hoped.
“Why didn’t you at least call, to see if you were wrong?” he begged to know.
“Because,” my voice cracked. “What happened between us was a beautiful dream, and I suppose I didn’t want anything to ruin it.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know whether to be angry or understanding. Especially knowing—” He didn’t finish.
“What do you know?”
He waved his hand around. “It’s neither here nor there.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but ... “I don’t understand why you would be angry. You married Nina, and you have two beautiful children.”
His brows pinched together deeply. “Yes, I married Nina,” he grumbled her name. “The only good to come out of our marriage was Bridgette and Rory.”
I sat, stunned. Was everything I read online a lie? “I guess neither of our lives turned out how we wished they would have.”
“No.” He let out a heavy sigh. “But maybe that can all change.” The corners of his mouth lifted. “Maybe fate brought us here.”
“Or maybe George busted your pipes.”
He chuckled. “Why would he do that?”
“It’s hard to explain, but he knows things. It’s almost like he knew that you and I had known each other once upon a time.”
