Page 24 of Tell Me Again

God, she really, really doesn’t deserve any of this.

Carefully, I reach over and take her hand from the steering wheel, and then I lift it to my lips and press a gentle kiss to her knuckles.

“Do you want me to go grab us some lunch, and we can just... hang out and watch stupid movies all afternoon? Like we used to?”

That gets me a little laugh, and she smiles as she glances over at me. Her eyes are glistening, probably with tears, but her smile seems genuine. I smile back and squeeze her hand.

“I’d love that. It sounds perfect.” She sniffles a little and then reaches up and wipes her cheek, where a single tear fell.

I frown, but she shakes her head and then leans over toward me in invitation. I meet her partway. The kiss is short and sweet, and when she pulls away, she smiles again. It’s a small smile, and there’s something in it I can’t quite interpret. But she doesn’t give me long to figure it out either.

“I really wanted to try the BLT at Mel’s Diner. My mom said it’s the best. Oh, and the peach cobbler. And that gas station we stopped at Saturday night—they also had microwavable popcorn. That’s a couple of stops, but...?”

There’s my Brenna.

“Anything you want, babe.”

She tosses me her key fob. “Iced tea, too. Un—”

“Unsweetened,” I finish for her. “Yup. Got it.” And when she smiles at me this time, it’s closer to her normal smile.

“See you in a bit then?”

I nod. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be too long.”

We both climb out of the car, and I shut the door and jog around to the driver’s side. She’s waiting there for me, and when I reach her and pull her into a hug—our first since we woke up that morning—she doesn’t resist at all. But I feel her trembling, and it makes my stomach clench again. I press a light kiss to her cheek and rub my hand up and down her back.

“Love you, babe. I’ll be right back.”

She straightens up and gives me a small smile, but doesn’t say anything. Then, she steps away, waves, and heads toward the door to our motel room.

I can’t move for a moment. My brain is screaming something at me, reminding me of all the stupid mistakes I’ve made. Again. And telling me how I can’t keep things from her much longer. How it’s not right. How I absolutely cannot marry her—because it wouldn’t be fair to her and because she definitely deserves someone who can give her everything, give her all of them. And that’s... not me.

And my brain’s also having the best time reminding me of how all the apologies in the world are not going to change things. Brenna’s never going to trust me again. And Coop... I’ll be lucky if I can patch things up enough so that I at least know he doesn’t hate me.

My feet finally move, and I climb back into the car, start it up, and pull out of the parking lot. It’s not a long drive—I stop at the gas station first and buy a couple of bags of microwavable popcorn, then I head the rest of the way to the diner.

There’s only one other vehicle parked out front, and I’m secretly much too happy about that because maybe that means it’s not busy and hopefully that means I can—

God, I’m such an ass. Why am I thinking about how much I really want to see Coop again when I should be thinking about my fiancée?

A strong breeze picks up as I push open the car door and get out, and I pull my coat tighter around me and try to clear my thoughts. Or at least make myself remember why I’m here—for Brenna. And I’ll just happen to hopefully get to see Coop. I mean, maybe. Maybe he’s not even working right now.

My stomach sinks at the thought.

God, I really, really am such an ass.

I jog to the entrance and let myself in, and as soon as I open the door, I hear his voice, deep and full of laughter.

“Ha, no, Ang, really!”

He laughs again, and the sound sends this tingling through me—and it’s part warmth and part something else.

God.

Brenna. I’m here for Brenna.

“She wouldn’t come in, just kept running circles around the tree until she was too tired, and—”

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