Page 14 of Take Me Home

By the endof the week, I needed some alone time to decompress. I headed into Charleston to eat some of my favorite eats, get some good coffee, and do a little self-indulgent shopping at the bookstore and the record store. I also took the opportunity to FaceTime my parents outside my preferred book/coffee shop, catching them just before cocktail hour in San Gimignano.

It was moderately depressing seeing them flourishing in Tuscany. I was supposed to visit them in October following my wedding with Rob. Whoops. I could go alone and have my Eat, Pray, Love moment, minus being a 40-something divorcee. A twinge of guilt panged. Was I right in letting him go? On paper, we were fantastic. Our wedding would have been a gorgeous affair. I’d picked a crisp white dress that accentuated my shoulders, with a mermaid bottom that ruffled up in the front in a simple, but elegant way. We’d chosen a winery with a stately old stone house as the venue, overlooking the hills west of Raleigh. We were set for late September.

But since I’d called it off, I wouldn’t have to worry about how frizzy my hair might get in the questionable weather that time of year, or whether it would be frowned upon to serve fried green tomatoes as an appetizer and North Carolina barbecue as a main. Rob probably would have gone over my selections and paid the extra to have steak and for me to get a Brazilian blowout so my hair could be as smooth as possible for the wedding.

What happened to me? I’d been engaged to a man who had any kind of say over what I did with my hair. He wasn’t a bad person. He’d only wanted to make everyone happy. That was part of the problem, though. At the beginning of our relationship, that included me. But the longer things went on, it was clear that whoever was lining his pockets was the one who got his deepest allegiance.

Rob wasn’t particularly money-hungry or greedy. He just lost himself somewhere in all the bonuses and incentives. It happened so slowly that it was almost unnoticeable. He went from fun and easygoing to constantly stressed and never good enough. At first, I blamed the work stress for his moods. But then it became his personality. He’d been truly surprised when I said I was done and gave him back that enormous ring.

Catching up with my parents, I told them more about the farm and our ragtag work crew. I quickly glossed over my discussion of Jake so I wouldn’t blush or give anything away. The last thing I needed was my mom sniffing around my feelings toward him. Because I shouldn’t havefeelingswhere he was concerned. Just friend feelings.

By the time I signed off with them, my iced coffee was mostly melty coffee water, so I headed to get myself some lunch. I sat at the bar of my favorite seafood restaurant. Of course, no visit to Charleston was complete without running into someone I knew. I was just sinking my teeth into a hot, buttered salty poppy seed roll when the past struck me like a brick to the back of the head.

“Darcy, is that you?”

I fixed a smile on my face and ran my napkin over my mouth, praying no poppy seeds lingered. I turned to find Haley Douglas from high school. I’d always had a quiet, distant admiration for her. Haley was in the cool crowd, thus mildly terrifying. But she was smart as a whip and always whomped the boys who were celebrated for their brains without even trying.

“Haley! Oh my goodness! Who is this?” I gestured to the adorably chubby toddler in Haley’s arms. This baby could have been in a catalog of cute babies. The baby’s clothes alone probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.

“This is Greta. She’s turning one this weekend!” Haley squealed.

“Aw, happy birthday, Greta,” I cooed. Why be a cold asshole when there was a cute baby right in front of me? I’m not a monster.

“But hey, aren’t you getting married soon? Where’s the groom today?” Haley asked, nudging me with her spare elbow.

There it was. The question I’d been dreading since breaking off the engagement.

“Oh, yeah. Not anymore. It wasn’t as great as it looked in the photos,” I said with a wry smile.

“Oh, sorry to hear that.” Awkwardness rolled into the conversation like a thick fog. “Well hey, it’s good to see you. You sticking around for a while?”

“Still working that out. For now, I’m helping out my uncle while he has surgery,” I replied.

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot you were a nurse.”

Nope. Wrong, Haley. “You must be thinking of Brianna. I’m actually a writer. But hey, I won’t keep you from your table.”

And in the famous words uttered by every acquaintance across the world, Haley parted with, “Let’s catch up soon!”

7

JAKE

It was Sunday night.

Darcy invited all of us up to have a big team dinner for a little non-working bonding time. I thought it was cute how she wanted us all to be close. Caleb and I assigned ourselves to the grill, while Becca and Darcy shucked corn and prepped the sides. Caleb was far more talented than I was at putting perfect grill marks on the burgers and dogs. I commented on it.

“I did a summer at Texas Road House,” he informed me.

Needing to make myself more useful than talking about the food I wasn’t cooking, I busied myself with taking care of the dogs. When I came back, I overheard Becca and Darcy.

“There’s lots of hot guys at the Legion, ya know. A lot of them are vets, too. Probably looking to get laid just as much as you are,” Becca said, her voice full of mischief.

Jealousy burned hot in my gut. I didn’t want Darcy dating, or much less screwing, anybody but me. Was she telling Becca she was looking for that?

“Jesus, Becca,” Darcy sighed, her eyes catching mine as I walked by and cutting away. “I’m not that desperate.”

“You don’t need to be desperate to have a good time,” Becca suggested.

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