Page 17 of You Found Me
“Of course I’m into her. But I wouldnevergo after a taken woman.” I sigh. “Enough about my tragic love life. Tell me what’s going on with the both of you.”
Beckett pinches the bridge of his nose. and blows out a breath. “I have a girlfriend, Aria. Been going on six months now. And no, Mom and Dad don’t know.”
Bastian and I look at each other in confusion. B’s always been private with his love life. “Is that the phone call you needed to make earlier?” I ask.
“Yeah. She wasn’t happy that I decided to leave for the weekend, even though I explained what this trip would entail. She seemed worried I’d cheat, and I don’t know where she got that idea from. But I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”
Bastian is the first to answer, “No worries. We’re here if you change your mind.”
He mutters out a thanks, before asking, “Is it time to go to the next place, or are we calling it a night?”
We both look to Bastian since it’s his birthday weekend. He smiles, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go walk around and see what Nashville has to offer us tonight.”
Chapter 6
Emmaline
Come Sunday, I’m no longer feverish or achy and realize it’s time to be a big girl.
I sent a text to Chance to let him know I’m almost home and that we need to talk. I kept the room at the Inn for one more night in case I need more time alone with my thoughts. When I pull into the gates of the apartment complex, my stomach is in knots knowing that I’m literally about to end the longest relationship I’ve ever had.
Chance was my first for almost everything and to think he won’t be my last is more than a little devastating. I take a long cleansing breath before going up. When I get inside, I see him sitting on the sofa watching TV. Once he hears the door close, he turns it off.
“Hey. What’d you wanna talk about? I’ve got plans and need to leave soon.”
At this point, I really shouldn’t be surprised that the first thing he says to me isn’t to ask how I’m feeling. I mean, he never bothered to respond to my text. It’s right then that I know he’s not in love with me anymore.
With all the snark I can muster, I tell Chance, “Oh, I’m feeling better by the way. Not that you seem to care.”
“Jesus, Emma. Cut the dramatics. You’re here which means you’re fine. Tell me why you insisted we talk and do it fast. I don’t have time to deal with whatever bullshit you got going on.”
If my jaw dropped any lower, it’d be on the floor. “Well since you asked so freaking nicely, I wanted to talk about how you had someone inourbed in the middle of the day last week . . . ”
Immediately, he buts in, cutting me off, “What are you even talking about? You were at work and then went to thatlittle townof yours.”
“Do you not see the correlation? You really think I’d want to drive more than the six minutes it takes to get here, to go stay in Meadow Springs, when I had a fever?”
Chance scoffs, “I don’t know what you prefer when you’re sick. I’m not your fucking dad.”
“You wouldn’t know! That’s the problem! And after almost seven years together, that hurts.”
“Whatever,” he responds. “I wasn’t even home Wednesday.”
“Then why did I hear another woman’s voice moaning your name and you responding with:I’ll never get tired of this?”
The twitch in his left eye and the clenching of his fists are a tell that he knows he’s been caught. It’s like a flip switches. He walks closer to me, cupping my cheek, speaking to me in a gentle tone, “Emmaline, baby, it was nothing. A little mistake that you’re making into something more than it needs to be. You know I love you . . . I wouldn’t have proposed if I didn’t. This doesn’t have to be a big thing.”
The crack in my heart splinters open like a piece of firewood and I move his hand off my face. “That’s really all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say? I was lonely.”
Tears well, falling just as fast as they form. “Watching my parents last weekend, after all these years, still being so completely in love with one another, made it click for me that you’ve never once looked at me the way they look at each other.”
“Why do you always compare us to them?” Chance invades my space. “We. Are. Not. Your. Parents.”
“I know it’s not fair to you that I do that, and I’m sorry. But you were lonely becauseyouchose to ignore me for the pastyear. I’ve been right here with you, trying to get us back to how we were before the engagement. We’ve been in Charleston for three months, and the only thing we’ve done together as a couple was the lunch date you were late to.
“I knew you’d be busy because of the trade, which is why I haven’t pushed you. But I’m done, Chance. Done trying to make you love me the way I deserve to be loved.”
