AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERONE
HOLLY
“Do you,Holly, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Our eyes meet, my future in his. At this moment, I can see our future. The house, the kids, the dog, the winters in Blizzard Bluff, and summers on the lake. It’s all there.
My next fifty years.
And I can’t wait.
“I do,” I answer, smiling up at him.
From the moment I met Camden Newcomb, I knew he was my beginning and my end. His green eyes welcomed me in with the warmest greeting the first day we met. It was a whirlwind, the way he swept me off my feet, making promises of forever.
“Camden, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
I wait, my heart thumping in my chest, my stomach whirling around in excitement. My smile is so wide my cheeks hurt. But then the pause goes on for much longer than necessary. Those eyes that have always been so warm as they stared back at me?
They suddenly aren’t.
At this moment, they're cold and unsure. His hands, which were holding mine before with such purpose, have gone clammy.
“Holly,” he whispers, his voice hoarse and anxious. “I don’t think I’m ready,” he shakes his head.
“What do you mean?” I whisper back, emotion clogging my throat. “You’re not ready?”
“This all moved a little fast for me.”
“A little fast?” I parrot back at him. “You asked me to marry you. Not the other way around. I thought we were working together for a future.”
“I thought it was what we were supposed to do.”
The preacher steps between us. “This is a conversation the two of you should have in private,” he raises his eyebrows.
It’s then that I realize we’re standing in front of an audience. Our nearest and dearest are watching as the rest of my life implodes right in front of me.
Grabbing him by the hand, I drag him to the side, ducking into a door. It takes everything I have to keep my voice down. “Camden, what the actual fuck is happening here?”
“You shouldn’t use that word in church.”
A piece of me knows I shouldn’t, but the other part of me - the devastated one - doesn’t care anymore. “Really? You shouldn’t have pulled this on me in church. Better yet, you shouldn’t have waited until we were in front of all our guests at our wedding. How long have you been thinking about this? How long have you been unsure about us? We’ve been planning this wedding for a year, Camden. At any point, you could’ve been man enough to let me know what was going on.”
“I wish I would have.” He runs his fingers through his hair.
It’s at this moment I realize what’s happening. The man I thought I’d be spending the rest of my life with is breaking my heart.
The worst part?
I never saw it coming.
“Why didn’t you?” I ask, my voice breaking. “I wouldn’t have done this to you.” Finally, tears work their way into my eyes. My throat closes. My breath is coming quickly, and so is the panic attack.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he shakes his head, turning away from me. “I thought I’d be able to settle.”
The tears start now. “To settle? Jesus, this is worse than I thought. Did you ever really love me?”
He swallows so hard I hear it in the room's quietness we’re in. “I love you, but I’m not in love with you, Holly.”
