Page 27 of Wedding Season
“I left the inn. I figured you wouldn’t want me hovering.”
“So you decided to camp out in front of my house instead? That’s showing a lot of restraint. Great boundaries. Give yourself a gold star.”
He waited for her snarky comeback. She had a retort for every single thing. But if one was banging around in that beautiful head of hers, she didn’t speak the words out loud.
She continued to study him with only half her face illuminated by the streetlight. Clouds rolled across the night sky causing the moon’s glow to emerge at regular intervals like a toddler playing peekaboo.
It wasn’t as if Alex needed light to know Mariella. He would have recognized her anywhere, in a pitch-black room or a driving snowstorm with zero visibility. Her scent was one aspect but even more, he knew her energy. When she was this close, he felt as though his whole body vibrated with awareness.
He didn’t choose the connection between them. He wasn’t that big of a fool. But he couldn’t deny it. It was always there.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “No, let me start with thank you. Thank you for your help tonight although I know you didn’t do it for me. It meant the world to Emma, and we all appreciate it. I appreciate it.”
He shrugged away the satisfaction her words gave him. Reminded himself that her opinion didn’t mean anything.
“Sure,” he agreed. “No big deal.” Although it had been a big deal to relive the grief he’d felt after the breakup with Amber. The process he’d gone through to deal with the fallout of her betrayal and how he’d managed to overcome it.
In some respects, he didn’t feel like he had much wisdom to offer. But the knowledge that he wasn’t alone seemed to help Arthur. Alex wished the guy nothing but the best.
“And I’m sorry,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper.
“For what? You said yourself that you didn’t have anything to do with today. You didn’t even show up until—”
“For what I did to you.”
Alex blinked. “You’re giving me a sincere apology now? For what exactly?” He didn’t like sounding so flabbergasted by her apology but couldn’t hide it.
“For the scene I caused at your wedding and the way that hurt you. I should have handled it better. If I hadn’t been drunk and high, maybe I would have been able to choose something different. There’s no guarantee. I was angry. I didn’t know how to deal with my emotions so I wanted to hurt everybody. I didn’t care that you had nothing to do with it. I didn’t care that you were innocent—even more of a victim than me.”
“Even more?” Something about that bothered him. “We were both betrayed by the people we love.”
“You didn’t deserve it, though.”
“You did?” He took a step closer to her and gazed down into her crystal-blue eyes. He sounded like an imbecile questioning every statement she made, but that was the only way he could think of to figure out where that gorgeous mind was going. He was used to animosity from her, but her vulnerability had the power to break down his walls in a way that terrified him.
“I was kind of a train wreck back then. I’m a little better now, at least. I don’t blame Jacques for not wanting to saddle himself with me for the rest of his life. I would have run in the other direction.”
“Again, the situation with our exes wasn’t your fault, although you’re responsible for the scene at my wedding. Nothing more than that, aside from your horrible choice in dating a man named Jacques.”
She sniffed. “He was French.”
“Also a total cliché. I saw pictures of him and Amber on vacation after the wedding. The guy wore a literal raspberry beret.”
“He liked hats,” Mariella said with the hint of a smile. “And scarves.”
“Not to mention those little wire-rimmed glasses worn by men who fancy themselves as intellectuals.”
“He didn’t even have a prescription. Jacques had 20-20 vision.”
“I think that says it all.”
Although in truth she had said it all.
“Why now? It’s been three years. You’ve made it very clear that you don’t think much of me. You certainly were adamant about that at the wedding. Lots of details about my deficiencies, all caught on camera.”
“That was the alcohol talking.” She glanced away then back at him. “Or maybe the drugs. Sometimes it was hard to tell. You didn’t deserve the things I said about you or that public humiliation. Just like your new friend Arthur didn’t deserve what his fiancée did to him today. I should have apologized a long time ago, but humility isn’t exactly one of my strong suits. I’m working on being a better person.”
He felt his lips twitch. “Since when?”
