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She’d fallen so hard for him. He was the catch. Every girl wanted to date him. That had to mean he was great, right? She’d been the one to kiss him first. He hadn’t exactly wrapped himself around her, but he’d wanted her just enough that it worked.
Here she was, ten years later, and that well had suckered her. Craig hadn’t been the one.
She stopped pacing, walked to the well, and kicked it just hard enough to feel it in her toes. “First Craig, then Jack. You had one job, man, one job!”
A snicker caught her attention, and she spun on her heels. “It’s rude to eavesdrop, Lucy.”
“It’s also rude to stand people up.” She gave her a pointed look.
Jo snatched her phone from her pocket. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I totally forgot I was supposed to meet you for dinner.”
She closed the distance between them. “I saw you talking to Jack, and it didn’t look like the conversation went so well. I thought I’d ask you about it when we met for dinner, but you didn’t show, so I went looking for you. Your grandma told me about the offer. Based on that and what I saw at the rehearsal lunch, I thought maybe you’d be here. Want to tell me what happened?”
Jo shook her head, crossed her arms over her chest, and stomped to the nearest grassy area to take a seat. “I don’t want to talk right now.”
“Okay.” Lucy marched to the spot next to Jo and parked herself, mirroring Jo with her arms over her chest. “No talking.”
“I meant I wanted to be alone.”
“Yeah, I think we both know I’m not going anywhere.” She smiled.
Throwing up her hands, Jo growled in frustration. “Why can’t people just leave me alone?”
“You are just too loveable.”
Jo glared at her, trying to keep her lips from curving into a smile. With a sigh, she dropped her hands to her lap. “I feel like my life is in chaos. I came here with the goal of interviewing a bride, visiting my grandma, and returning to New York. It was supposed to be easy and quick and painless, and it’s been none of those things.”
“Is it in chaos? Or maybe you’ve slowed down long enough to realize it’s been in chaos, and what you’ve really wanted isn’t what you’ve been telling yourself you wanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your sudden and unexpected hatred of Wishing Well and anything small town. You were going to New York, getting a degree, and making something of yourself.”
“It wasn’t. I’d been?—”
“Save it. Craig moved here from New York. He was miserable but knew that he needed to play it cool; otherwise, he could forget about teacher recommendation letters or anything of the sort. He needed those if he wanted to get into a good school. The girls went gaga over him because he was new candy, and he loved the attention. He was no Jack Turner, though. Remember?”
Jo chewed her lip. Yeah, she remembered. The first time Lucy and Jo saw him, that was their first thought. Then he’d taken interest in Jo, and that changed everything.
Lucy bumped Jo with her shoulder. “It’s okay. He was cute, and you fell for him.”
“I sort of lost myself in him.” Not sort of. She’d wandered down a maze and had never found a way out.
“Yeah.” She waited for a beat. “I think you wanted to be wanted. I was your best friend, and your grandma was your grandma. Here was a big city guy who was popular. Every girl wanted him, and he only wanted you. For a girl still hurting from being left by her mom, he was a serious draw.”
“That wasn’t—” Jo stopped short. She couldn’t finish the sentence and keep her integrity.
She may not have been angry at that point, but she was still dealing with all the other emotions. It was during a college psychology class that she started the process of letting it go and moving on. That was about the time that she and Craig began growing apart. It was slow, too slow to really pinpoint when it happened.
He was, for lack of a better word, stable and secure. Her heart was safe with him because she’d never really given it to him. She had loved him or thought she loved him. She’d been a kid when she started dating him.
What he felt for Craig seemed deep at the time, but now, it was infatuation at best, especially when she compared it to her feelings for Jack.
Craig was safe.
Eternal Vows was safe.
