Page 46 of Should Have Been Me

“Why?” I genuinely wanted to know. Needed to know.

“Because every single one of those apologies was sincere. Because I still do my very best to this day to learn from my mistakes. Because she knows from my actions that I don’t take her for granted, even though I tend to piss her off.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose to fight back the headache that was starting to stab behind my eyeballs, I let out a heavy exhale and asked, “What would you do if you were me? How would you fix it?”

“You go to your girl with your tail tucked between your legs, and you really and truly mean it; if she’s the one for you, son, she’ll forgive you.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

He let out a bark of laughter. “Hell no. You kidding? Relationships are hard as hell. You got two people with two different personalities that have to find a way to blend their lives together while doing such things as sharing the same bathroom. It’s a wonder fifty percent of marriages end in divorce instead of homicide. But it’s worth it. You care about this girl, you’ll find a way to fix it. I have faith in you.”

That bloom came back to life. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Any time, son. I’m glad you called me with this, and... I hope you know there isn’t anything you can’t come to me with.”

I was starting to see that, and it made that wall of ice in my chest melt even more.

24

JOLIE

Icould actually feel my heartbeat behind my left eyeball. That had to have been the start of a migraine, right? Or maybe it was a stroke.

“Barrett, what are you doing here?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone level and professional despite the very last person I ever wanted to lay eyes on standing in the doorway of my office. He’s a client, I reminded myself, not your ex. A client.

He looked around at the other people in my office, quickly losing some of the confidence he’d had only a moment ago, seeing the face of my two best friends. He knew these ladies were my ride-or-die and they’d go feral to defend me. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at the sudden fear and trepidation rolling off him.

“Can we talk?” His gaze darted between Ryan and Tarryn who were both actively trying to melt the skin off his face with their glares. “Um, alone maybe?”

The energy in the room had turned static. It felt like the air could zap me at any moment. Ryan crossed her arms over her chest, the Mama Bear coming out in force. “Anything you have to say to her, you can say in front of us.”

I was pretty sure my eyelid had started twitching. “It’s fine,” I said, resigned to get this over with. The sooner I heard him out, the sooner he’d leave. “You guys can head out. I’ll be fine.”

Tarryn’s head turned in my direction, her eyes filled with concern. “You sure?”

I nodded. “I’m good. Promise.”

She studied me closely for a few more beats before seeing something on my face that must have put her at ease. Standing from the chair, she gave Ryan’s arm a tug, forcing her to her feet as well. Ryan grabbed hold of the handle on her way out and pulled the door behind her, but left it open a crack, her silent meaning behind that action clear as day. It was the same move my mother pulled any time I had a boyfriend over when I was younger. He was allowed to hang out in my room, but only if the door stayed open. Ryan was giving us some space while warning Barrett she’d be keeping a close eye.

“What can I do for you, Barrett?” I started the moment the two of us were alone.

“How have you been?” he asked as he moved to take one of the chairs across from my desk.

I lifted an eyebrow, and clasped my hands together, resting them on the top of my desk. “I’m fine,” I answered flatly. “Are you here to discuss your wedding, or...” I trailed off, hoping he’d take the opening to get to it already.

“I just, um...” He tugged anxiously at the collar of his shirt, and I couldn’t help but notice the white of it wasn’t quite as vibrate as Vaughn’s. The fabric didn’t look as soft, and it wasn’t nearly as crisp. His sentences came out stunted and awkward. “I wanted to say thank you. You know, for agreeing to help. With the wedding.”

“It’s my job.”

Barrett cleared his throat. “I know that. But you could have said no. It means a lot to me that you didn’t. Leighton appreciates it too.”

I was sure Leighton didn’t have the first clue that her fiancé was currently sitting in his ex’s office, because if she did, her head would likely explode. I also knew the woman didn’t have an appreciative bone in her body. But none of that mattered to me. Honestly, as I looked across my desk at Barrett, I was having trouble remembering what it was about him I’d been so drawn to in the first place.

“I didn’t do it for you.”

“Right.” That one word came out clipped. Something moving across his features as he looked at me made my spine go stiff, an anger I’d never seen from his expression before. The guy might have been an asshole and a coward, but he wasn’t prone to anger. That shyness he’d carried with him all through school was still prevalent, even all these years later. The man might as well have had a backbone made of gelatin. “Vaughn, right?” He said his future brother-in-law’s name on a sneer.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” There was no point in denying the truth, but I had a feeling Barrett didn’t know the real reason behind my decision. He probably thought I did it simply because Vaughn was my boyfriend, when the real reason was so much more profound than that. I’d seen the struggle he was dealing with, the weight he’d been carrying in an effort to take the burden off of his father’s shoulders. I had agreed to take the job because of that. Because I respected the hell out of him.

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