Page 7 of The "I Do" Do-Over

I'd be over the moon if Taryn ran back into my arms, saying she’d be mine forever. But at this point, I'd be almost as happy if she just give me the closure I need to move on. I don't think I'm wrong asking for that . . . right?

Shaking my head, I run a tired hand over my grizzled chin. Sometimes I'm not so sure. Sometimes I worry that I’m the one who ruined everything.

Taryn

My lawyer forwards Boone's email to me, but there's no need. I've already read it, seething with rage and my fingers curling into fists as I read his words over my morning coffee in my apartment kitchen..

Why can't he just let me go?

I'm trying to live my life here, open my own tattoo parlor and have a career. The only problem is that if I buy a shop and open my own business, legally my husband will be entitled to a share of its profits.

I gave up fifteen years of friendship to Boone and seven more years of being stuck married to him. Hell, I even let him have Heartwood — I moved from Montana to the Pacific Northwest. I’m not putting the brand new business I want to open at risk too.

I’ve given up enough.

This is the last straw.

He wants to hear this from me in person? Fine. I'll do just that. I'll go see him for the first time in seven years.

I've been back to Heartwood to visit my parents, but I painstakingly dodged him — and my folks’ questions about why he and I aren’t friends anymore.

This time, though, it’s going to be a goddamn showdown. I'm going to get free of Boone. Even better, I'm going to be able to put the mistake of our twenty-first birthdays in the past.

Getting up, I carry my mug from the table to the counter and narrowly avoid slamming it down on the surface in my frustration. Pouring myself a fresh mug of coffee from the pot and splashing some creamer in it, I sit back down at the computer.

While I'd really like to write a scathing response to Boone, I'm going to do him one better.

I'm going to give him exactly what he’s asking for.

I start shopping for plane tickets.

Boone

I’m in my office trailer at the construction site with Everest, poring over the details of the company rebrand the graphic designer is doing for me.

Well, that’s what we’resupposedto be doing.

Instead, the mountain man is showing me pictures of his intimate family-only wedding.

Everest points to a shot glowing from his tablet of him and his bride, Aspen, kissing on top of a mountain, her veil swirling around them as the Rockies unfurl in the background. “In this one, you can’t tell, but Aspen was standing on my feet because she kept slipping on the snow.

“Don’t tell me she wore fancy shoes up there instead of good boots,” I groan.

Boone shrugs with a grin. “You know as well as I that you can’t tell that woman what to do.”

I snort, nodding. I do remember, from when we were all in Heartwood School together. Aspen always did her own thing. I’m not sure she even fit in with her own family.

Obviously, though, she and Everest fit just right.

Jealousy floods my belly, hot and sour. I try to shove the feeling aside, hitching up a smile instead. Everest and Aspen had a rough go of it, and they deserve every minute of their happily ever after.

I just wish I could have one of my own.

Maybe I should give up with Taryn, just sign the damn divorce papers and be done with it — with her. It doesn’t look like she’ll ever give me the face-to-face closure I asked for. And while I can’t change her mind, I can change my own.

Maybe I can find that closure without her help.

After all these years, though, I’m not sure it’ll be easy. In fact, I’m confident it will be pretty damn hard.

---