Page 38 of Second Chance Husband

No, they didn’t. Because they didn’t know what had happened all those years ago. Because I was such a selfish pig, I had hidden everything in the past and did my best to never talk about it. And they were still walking on eggshells around me.

As always.

I didn’t deserve their concern.

“It happened once, we had too much to drink, it won’t happen again. We already talked about it.” Well, saying that we weren’t going to talk about it maybe counted as talking about it, and I wasn’t going to get too into that. “In the end, it happened, it won’t happen again, and we’re going to move on. Got it? We’re moved on.”

“Really? That’s what you’re going with.” Luca shook his head. “What the hell happened, August, before and now?”

I opened my mouth to say something, then realized I didn’t have anything to say. Instead I just let out a breath. “I don’t know. Either time. But it doesn’t matter. It’s all in the past.”

“Is it?” Heath asked, but before I could say anything, the sound of the children filled the room, and then everybody was there, including Greer and her husbands. Suddenly I had one of my nieces in my lap, and she was telling me about her day as she stole a piece of bacon. I laughed, and ate around her, as everybody moved in, eating snacks and talking about the upcoming plans for the day. Paisley was on the other side of the room, her coffee in hand, as she spoke to Greer, looking as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

But I saw the rigid lines of her shoulders, as well as the slight bruise right underneath the edge of her shirt. The bruises that had come from my mouth.

I had done that to her. But we were both good at pretending that nothing had happened. It’s what we’d been doing ever since I had moved back to town. I wasn’t quite sure what else I was supposed to do about that. How we were supposed to fix it.

“Okay, so moving on again for tonight?” Devney asked as she looked at her planner. “It’s a little cloudy, so I don’t know if we can do a full star search.”

I smiled at that, as the girls leaned into me and Luca, both wanting to see the stars, but wanting to see the latest Disney Princess movie as well.

All I knew was that I would be hanging with my family, not alone, not drinking, and sure as hell without Paisley. Nothing good could come from that.

We were just getting ready to head out, as other resort guests flowed in and out of the room, when the doors opened, and a familiar voice screeched down my ears, and I had to wonder if I had truly gone to hell and hadn’t found my way back.

“Babies, Grammy is here!” my mother said as she moved forward, my father right behind her.

The girls scrambled off our laps, and ran to their grandparents, not knowing that Grammy and Grandpa had not been invited and hadn’t been told about this trip.

I looked at my brothers, as well as Greer, and realized they were just as shocked as I was.

When I met Paisley’s gaze, I saw the pity there, maybe the confusion.

As my parents couldn’t help but go into wedding details, and how they were so happy to surprise us on our family trip so the family could all be there—emphasis on family—I just knew that it would be best if I remembered this exact moment.

My parents were so manically in love in this moment, they didn’t care about anyone else except for being the center of attention. Maybe they had shifted slightly over the past couple of years with the arrival of their granddaughters, but not enough in my eyes. They continued to jerk our emotions around as they filled their own wells.

They were the shining examples of what happened when you couldn’t make up your mind and continued to fall in and out of love. Because second chances might work for some, but they didn’t work for our family. It just fucked everything up for everyone else involved.

I pulled my gaze away from Paisley and told myself that last night would never happen again. It couldn’t.

I had watched my parents become exes and then husband and wife before.

I was not going to repeat their mistakes.

So I would never fall in love with my ex-wife again. I would never be with her. And I would never toy with the lives and emotions of those that I loved.

I refused to become my parents.

Even if I hurt the woman that I craved more than anything in the process. It would be good for her in the end.

It had to be.

Chapter Ten

Paisley

It had been over a week since I had decided to throw caution to the wind and sleep with my ex-husband. That meant it had also been a week since I had spoken to anyone about it.

---