Page 87 of Full Circle

She snorted and leaned down on the counter with both arms. “Is that what you call all those pictures in magazines and stuff?”

“I was earning money for us?—”

“No, don’t you dare say that to me!” Her voice cracked, from the tears gathering in her eyes or the swell of sorrow leaking into her voice. “There is no ‘us’ and there hasn’t been in a long time, Wesley.”

Under normal circumstances, seeing tears run down her face would have me equally choked up or madder than a hornet’s nest cut down from the pinewood. Now, however, it did the exact opposite. Her reaction gave me hope, because people who don’t care don’t have the emotion to spare when a person from their past barges in. Celeste might not want to feel anything for me anymore, but she did, and that gave me something to work with.

“I came back in town because Aunt Shirley passed,” I said quietly.

Celeste nodded, sparing me a quick glance before darting her eyes away again. “Yeah, I heard. I’m sorry to hear it. She was a real good lady.”

“Yeah, she was somethin’ special,” I agreed. “Her funeral will be on Thursday if you’d like to come.”

I didn’t want to push my luck any further. “I’m staying at her place, if you’d like to talk. But lovebug, I’m not leaving this town until you do. And I’ll come back here every day just to prove myself to you.” Holding up a hand in farewell to Jesse, who stood watching us with unveiled interest from the kitchen line, I resisted the urge to plant a kiss on Celeste’s forehead and exited out the front door.

CHAPTER 40

AND THE TABLES TURN

CELESTE

The Oxford English dictionary didn’t have a word to convey the emotional gamut running through me. All of the warning signs from the past two days led me to his arrival and I ignored every single one of them. Look how that turned out. I’m sure Mama and Daddy were having a good laugh at my expense while whatever guardian angel they sent after me was shaking her head in dismay.

Wes looked good. He always had an incredible body, but it was obvious with the bulging biceps and round shoulders under his t-shirt that the past decade was spent concentrating in the gym. Reading between the lines of Maggie’s vague reports over the years, I knew he had done some shirtless photo shoots in exotic looking places, and from just one encounter with him, I could see why. His hair was shorter now, no longer the shaggy mess hanging around his face, though I supposed now he no longer needed the shield from the world. He had gone ahead and made it his own.

And those blue eyes. The clearest cut sapphires to ever exist. Just looking at them again made me want to go back in time to when his presence was the safest place in the world to be. To do everything with him all over again, just to experience the joy, love, and craziness packaged as the Wesley Madden experience. He had been the greatest love I’d ever known, then let me freefall into darkness when he disappeared.

However, seeing him in The Comfy Cushion—no matter how sexy—meant a world of trouble. Iris was bound to notice a man who looked identical to her sitting in our restaurant and calling me “lovebug.” Or worse, Desiree would see him and I’d lose Iris forever. That was a chance I couldn’t take. No one was going to take my little girl from me.

The only way I could see to prevent that from happening was to go over to Ms. Shirley’s house after closing up tonight and let him get everything off his chest. I remembered all too well how immovable a stubborn Wesley could be, so if he needed to say his piece and then get on with his life, I would let him. But he needed to immediately leave River’s Run afterwards and never come back.

Just the thought of hearing him out made me breathless and twitchy. There was no way I could tell him about Iris. Unless Wesley had an entirely new personality, learning he had a daughter going on eleven years old was going to send him through the roof and he would be a battering ram to fight with Desiree over her. No, it was far better to end the war before it began and leave Iris out of it.

“Jesse, I’m gonna head back to the office for a spell,” I called out. “Let me know if anyone comes in.”

“Sure thing, boss,” he replied as he scrubbed his prep space.

Back in Daddy’s office with the door firmly shut, I allowed some of the emotions to rise to the surface. I missed Wesley so much. He hadn’t just been my first love, he had been my first friend. Someone who knew me inside and out, and accepted me anyway. Wes was the one who saved me from my own darkness, who brought laughter back into my life. He was the reason my daddy had a full year after his cancer diagnosis, a year where he received the best possible care in the world.

But we also hurt each other so deeply that day. I was grown enough now to recognize how poorly I treated him. Obviously, I had a reason to panic after having unprotected sex, though truth be told, if Iris was the outcome at the end of that choice, I would have made the same choice in every lifetime. Yet I could forgive myself for being a dumb kid. I didn’t think I could ever forgive him for promising to be there and then abandoning me. Nothing had ever kept us apart before. Not a single one of Mr. Madden’s threats ever swayed Wesley in the slightest. So what could have possibly done it then?

Wracking my brain for the answer to that question only served to circle my thoughts. There wasn’t a good reason, it was as simple as that. The Wesley I thought I knew and loved wasn’t real, and whatever promises this current Wesley spewed out would be just as empty and meaningless as those had been.

I needed to guard my heart as carefully as I guarded my daughter. Walls were going up and staying there.

A knock resounded through the room as Jesse said, “Boss, there’s somebody here for you.”

I hastily swiped the tears from my face and vowed to never again cry over Wesley Madden. “Be right there,” I said. It was time to grow up. My fairytale ending had disappeared when Prince Charming left.

Out in the dining room, I received the second shock of my day. Thankfully, I wasn’t holding anything hot this time.

Benedict Madden III, Wesley’s father, was standing in The Comfy Cushion. His tailored black suit and black shirt made him look like the Harbinger of Death, complete with the menacing scowl and dark eyes. Just seeing him made a shudder run down my spine.

“What do you want?” It was hard to be polite to him. The insults of never being good enough for Wesley were as fresh now as the day he uttered them.

The smile he gave me was malevolent. “It’s a pleasure to see you, too.”

“Wesley isn’t here,” I replied quickly. It was habit to protect Wes from his father, even after everything that happened.

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