Page 10 of All Autumn
“I’m good.” She was under my protection now, and I took that job seriously. As for these new thoughts I was having about her, they’d go away soon enough and we’d get back to being just friends.
“I’m guessing he’s going to cause trouble if she doesn’t take him back,” Dylan said.
“He can bring it on. I’ll be ready for him.” Unless she changed her mind and decided to forgive Brian, I planned to be her loyal sidekick for a while. If the man tried to mess with her, he was going to have me to deal with.
5
~ Autumn ~
The minute Jennwalked into the guest room, I started crying. I don’t know why. I guess because along with Natalie and Savannah, she’d been my best friend for most of my life, and I trusted her without reservation. There was no one else I’d rather have with me now, unless Savannah was here to join in. As for Jenn’s twin, Natalie had died shortly after we’d graduated high school, and I’m not sure any of us had gotten over that.
“Oh, hon,” Jenn said, crawling onto the bed and pulling me into her arms.
That only made me cry harder. “Why didn’t I listen to you?”
“Because you loved him and didn’t want to hear it.” She squeezed my hand. “You’ve always wanted a home filled with children who were happy and a man who loved you and only you. More than any of us, you wanted to get married. You wanted everything you didn’t have growing up. You thought you’d found that with Brian.”
“But you saw him for what he was.”
“No, I only saw a man who appreciated women’s butts. That probably applies to every straight, red-blooded male in the world. Because he was more blatant about looking, it did concern me, but it didn’t alarm me to the point that I thought I needed to push the issue. Autumn, he was good to you.”
“Yeah, he did love giving me presents.” But I would have taken his fidelity over things any day.
“And it wasn’t just that. Y’all had fun together.”
“Are you saying I should give him a second chance? Because I just can’t do that. I told him from the very beginning that if he ever cheated on me, I was gone.”
“No, hon, not at all. If I’d grown up in your house, I would probably say the same thing. Honestly, I doubt I could stay with Dylan if I ever found out he cheated on me.”
“Dylan would never do that.”
“And in my heart I believe that, but there are no guarantees in life. Things can change.” She brushed my hair away from my face. “If you have second thoughts in the coming days, don’t let your stubbornness stop you from seeing if you can work things out with him.”
Stupid tears were burning my eyes again. “I could never trust him after this.”
“And that’s a biggie. Listen, why don’t you try to get some sleep? I’ll be right here.”
“I heard Dylan’s voice out there. Go get your boyfriend and go home.” I loved Jenn to death, but I just needed to be alone right now.
“We could send the guys home, then drink wine and eat cake in bed. I know you have at least one piece of Mary’s cake hidden somewhere in this house.”
I scoffed. “Like either one of them would leave us alone knowing Brian could come back.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that. Dylan and I could stay. Let Connor go home.”
That probably would be the best thing to do, yet I wanted Conner here. Maybe it was because he’d rescued me, even after I’d almost killed him, but I felt safe with him.
“Go home, Jenn. I’m okay. Actually I just want to go to sleep.” I yawned for emphasis. Not that I was going to sleep a wink, but if she knew that, she’d camp out on my bed all night.
After promising I’d call her even if I decided at three in the morning I wanted to talk, she finally gave me a kiss on my forehead, then scooted off the bed. “Love you,” I called to her when she reached the door.
“Love you back, hon.”
I might have a jerk face for a husband, but I had won the lottery with my friends. For the next twenty minutes I lay there, listening to the sound of their voices drift down the hall. Although I couldn’t hear every word, I was picking up enough to know that Connor was telling them what had happened when I’d tried to surprise Brian. Good. I wouldn’t have to tell the story again tomorrow when Jenn came over. Because she would.
“That bastard,” Jenn exclaimed loud enough for me to hear that good and clear.
“Very true,” I murmured. Not long after, I heard a new voice, one I didn’t recognize. I got out of bed and eased over to the door, peeking around the corner. Jenn and Dylan were saying their good-byes to Connor while a guy wearing a tool belt stood off to the side. After Connor closed the door, the tool-belt guy went to work on the locks.
