Page 64 of Second Chance Husband

“Right on it, Paisley. Is there anything else?”

I let out a breath, telling myself to calm down, and answered. “No, that’s it. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Was that pity in her voice? Or just worry?

I wasn’t sure anymore. After all, I was not even sure what everyone knew.

News of Jacob’s engagement had hit the cycles again. So now I was not just the woman left behind, I was now the scorned woman. Because with that engagement, came the lovely stories of why things had come so quickly.

I was the one he cheated on, and of course, it had to be something that I had done. It couldn’t be that Jacob couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. No, he had to be the one that had fallen because I couldn’t be good enough for him. I wasn’t quite sure what PR teams that Jacob’s family were using right then, but it was a little ridiculous how quick they were on top of things. It wasn’t affecting my business as of yet, and I knew that people who would think that I couldn’t handle my business because he’d cheated on me weren’t people I wanted to work with anyway.

Of course it was all easier said than done because people knew.

They knew that once again I wasn’t good enough.

I was so done.

Addison and Paisley were both offsite today, both of them working from home since the girls had the sniffles. I had told them to just take the day off, but they had said they wanted to work on a few projects.

And unlike the rest of the company, they knew that it wasn’t Jacob on my mind.

No, it was the man who had left me again.

Should I have fought for him? For what. He had clearly made up his mind. Me baring my soul and telling him that I loved him wouldn’t save anything. It made me feel like a coward.

I hadn’t fought for Jacob because there was nothing to fight for.

I hadn’t fought for August the first time because I thought I hadn’t been enough. Only I hadn’t fought again. I should have. But I hadn’t. Because it was easier to walk away and pretend. This time I could even tell myself I had done the right thing because he had done it first.

He had done what he had always done. Made me feel left behind, less than. I mean, it wasn’t as if I should be shocked about this new revelation. I had even expected it. I had nearly written it down in stone that I was not good enough for him.

“Get it together, Paisley,” I whispered to myself.

Wallowing in the same feelings and repeating the same phrases in my mind repeatedly wasn’t going to help.

So instead, I went to work. It was what I was good at.

I was better off doing things alone. Yes, I had friends, friends that would remind me of the time that I had fallen in love, not once, but twice with the wrong man. But I could still have them in my life. When they reached out to me. I would help when they needed their Auntie Paisley, but I wouldn’t encroach.

Because it was better to do things on my own where people wouldn’t have to disappoint me. I could travel on my own, join a club for singles where they wouldn’t date each other. One where the bylaws meant that it was just so you would have company if you needed it.

I had already researched travel sites on traveling alone, and how to walk through cities and national parks by yourself and be safe. I had already searched different platforms where you wouldn’t have the couples’ tax—where some things were booked as occupancy of two like cruises, and a single person got screwed over.

So no, I would be fine. No one needed to know that I was dying inside and waiting to be left once again.

I had a career that I excelled at. I had a platform I could use for good. And I had work that could fulfill me. I had money that could take me places and let me visit places. And I would have Paisley and Addison and their families when they needed me.

I didn’t need anyone else.

Needing and loving other people just broke your heart in the end when they left you. Relying on others just reminded you that you could only rely on yourself. Because when you failed, you only disappointed yourself and that was something that I was used to.

I let out a breath and went back to work. The sale of the matchmaking company to the original owner’s wishes was now complete. There were a few little snickers from some organizations about the fact that I couldn’t keep a man and would need that matchmaking service, but that didn’t matter in the end.

I would do what I did best, be the ice queen of businesswomen, walk on my stiletto heels, and be alone.

It was safer.

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