AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Why the fuck did we need to talk?
I wanted to shout the question as she backed farther away, inching her way closer toward the door.
“What happened from the time we left the spa until now?” Marissa hissed. “She was all smiles—”
“Aunt Marissa, I love you,” Piper bit out. “But if you thought she was all smiles, you seriously need a pair of glasses. She’s been upset all day, and it’s only gotten worse the closer it came to time for the party.”
I jerked to my feet, shoving the ring box into my suit jacket pocket. “Little lamb?” I spoke her nickname softly, as if I were speaking to a spooked animal. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming semi, her skin a sickly color while tears filled her blue eyes. Flinching at the sound of my voice, she took another step backward.
“I-I can’t do this,” she whispered, the tears glittering like diamonds in her eyes. “I-I-I’m sorry. I just… I can’t.”
Turning, she made a run for it and was out the door before I could form words.
“The fuck just happened?” Jackson demanded from right behind me. “I thought this would be a wham-bam, yes-ma’am proposal, and then we’d have cake.”
“Obviously, Doe is upset,” Aspen muttered. “I’ll go talk to her.”
I didn’t give him the chance to follow her because I was already running. Thankfully, she was in heels and couldn’t move as quickly as she would have if she were in boots or flats. I saw her get into the back of the second SUV parked in front of the restaurant, and I jogged over to follow her inside. The driver gave me lifted brows from the front seat, but I gave a nod for him to exit. The back door closed behind me before Doe even realized it.
“Go away!” she sobbed, scooting across the back seat. “Leave me alone. I’m sorry, but please. I can’t do this.”
“Baby,” I groaned. “What happened? Why are you crying?”
She scrubbed both hands over her face. “Just get out. I want to go…” Her voice trailed off, and she started crying harder. “I don’t even know where I want to go. Not home. Where the hell is home now, huh? I don’t want to live in the middle of town!”
Frustrated, I tried to reach for her again, but she flinched away. “Okay,” I choked out. “You don’t want to live in the house I bought for us, that’s fine. We’ll buy something else.”
“Bought?” she squeaked. “I thought you rented that house.”
“I closed on it last week,” I admitted. “Your parents thought it would be a nice starter house for us.”
Her tears still poured down her face, but the sobs suddenly stopped. “You bought a house without talking to me first? A house you actually expected me to live in with you? Surrounded by people I can’t stand?”
I didn’t understand. Not even a little bit. What was wrong with the people in the town of West Bridge? Why the fuck couldn’t she stand them? Hadn’t her brothers and I worked with Mieke to destroy her bullies? Courtney Wilcox was still in hiding because we’d ruined her life so thoroughly in retaliation for the hell she and her minions had put Doe through during high school.
Locking those questions away for later, I tried to explain. “Your parents—”
“You aren’t planning on spending your life with my parents!” she shouted, cutting me off. “You were down on one knee with a fucking ring in your hand, Jenner. I’m going to assume you were planning to ask me to marry you. But instead of talking to me about the house you bought, you asked my parents. Just like your damn job.”
She practically spat the last word at me, and it was only then that I realized she wasn’t happy about my career change. As if my brain hit rewind, I replayed every moment since making the announcement to her that I’d accepted the chief of police position in West Bridge. Recalling her reactions now, I realized her smiles hadn’t reached her eyes, her congratulations had been monotone, her arms not quite fully wrapping around me when I’d swung her up into my arms.
Fuck, how had I missed it?
How the hell had I gotten it all wrong?
I’d had help every step of the way to get settled in and then plan the proposal. Marissa and Wroth. Pixie. Violet and Shaw. Everything should have been perfect, but I realized in that moment that I’d gone about everything the wrong way. Swallowing the knot in my throat that threatened to choke me, I tried to explain again.
“The mayor and Chief Stafford know your parents, and both men asked them to speak to me about the job. I only took it because it meant I didn’t have to travel, and I didn’t have to guess when I would be home or who the fuck knew where with Violet from one week to the next.” Anxiety and fear of not knowing how to fix what I didn’t even know I’d broken made my voice rise. “I wanted to surprise you, show you how committed I was to settling down in West Bridge to make you happy before I asked you to marry me.”
Anger flashed through her eyes as she glared at me across the seat. “You made two life-changing decisions that I should have been consulted on, especially if you were contemplating asking me to marry you. You want to get married, but from where I’m sitting, you don’t even know what that means.”
My brows pulled together as my heart began to pound harder against my rib cage.
“Marriage is a partnership, damn it!” she cried. “But nothing about what you’ve done in the past few months suggests you’re ready to be anyone’s partner in life, especially not mine.”
“No,” I whispered. “No, I’m ready. I swear to you, I’m more than ready. I…I was just trying to show you—”
“What? That you’re going to spend our married life making all the big choices without once asking me about them? That I’m supposed to sit back and allow you to control my life while I have zero say in it?” She turned so she was facing the back of the driver’s seat, her arms wrapping around herself as if she was cold. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
