I followed him into the living room and sat on the comfortable couch.
“Do you want anything to drink? I’ve got tea, hot chocolate, and wine.”
The wine would probably help settle my nerves, but tea was better for me. “Tea, please.”
“Got it.” He took the remote and pressed a button. The horizontal electric fireplace lit up, casting a warm glow on the wall and in the room.
He brought back a glass of wine for himself and a cup of tea for me.
“I should’ve handled the situation better.” He sat beside me and sighed, looking nervous. “I never wanted to be engaged to Sierra. I’ve never dated her.”
I remembered seeing all her social media posts declaring she was engaged to Austin Tanner of Tanner Properties. The news had hit me like a slab of ice, knocking me down forweeks.
My eyebrows furrowed. “So the engagement just appeared out of the blue?”
“Sort of.” He sipped and placed the wine glass on the table. “Tanner Properties was suffering a major financial loss. My father’s health was going downhill. He thought marrying a Montage would keep the company alive. Marcus Montage told my dad his daughter liked me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I finished my tea as I listened to the arranged engagement, how he’d ended it, and how Sierra continued to pursue him. Austin also shared about his father’s heart surgery, a stroke that nearly left him paralyzed, and Parkinson’s disease. My body tensed as though I felt the pressure he’d been under. Austin explained how his condo investment had helped Tanner Properties bounce back without the help of the Montage family. Austin led the company out of the dark all by himself.
“I was an ass for sending you the text.” He grabbed my hand with both of his. “I have so much I want to say. I’m so sorry for the pain I caused.” He looked at me and pain and regret stirred in them. “I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing you . . . Saying those things to you would’ve been like knifing myself with each word. I couldn’t do it. Hearing your voice on the phone would’ve been the same as seeing you. I love you. That has never changed and will never change, Ava.”
My heart trembled. “Why didn’t you tell me all this afterwards?”
“You didn’t want to talk to me, remember?”
I recalled the anger that had cut into me. The betrayal was like salt dumped onto a raw wound. At that time, nothing he said would’ve made me feel better. My heart had been ripped wide open, and I was too angryand hurt. I needed to protect myself. Seeing him and talking to him would have only reminded me of the pain he’d caused.
“Yeah,” I said, wishing the situation had been different. I wished I could have forgiven him enough to listen to his explanation.
“There’s a reason for everything,” he said. “That time away from each other allowed me to grow. My love for you grew even though you weren’t with me. It sounds weird, doesn’t it?”
A clump formed in my throat as tears slid down my face. “No, it makes sense. I couldn’t let you go either. I thought of you all the time and cursed myself for it.”
He grabbed a tissue from the box on the side table and dabbed my eyes. “I guess the statement is true: distance makes the heart grow fonder.”
Because tears wouldn’t stop, he offered the entire box of tissues. “Thanks. I wanted to give up on my dream so many times.”
“To have your own bakery?”
I nodded. “You were the only person I shared it with. I associated that dream withyou—the man I love.”
“Ava.” He pulled me into his arms, kissing the top of my head. I felt his heart thumping wildly. “Never let go of your dreams foranyone. Not even for me.” He dropped another kiss on my forehead. “You have no idea how much I love you.”
His words soothed the pressure in my chest.
“My savings dwindled. I thought it was a sign that my dream was dwindling too, that it was just an illusion tricking me into believing in it. The more the savings disappeared, the more I felt hopeless about my dream.”
I told him about the car repairs, the burst pipe, my mom’s bracelet, and her recovery from breast cancer.
“I should’ve been there for you.” His arms tightened around me.
“You had a lot going on.” I touched his face, rubbing out the crease between his eyebrows.
“Is your mom doing better now?”
“She is. Thank you.” I smiled. “Her friends are keeping her busy.”
“That’s excellent news.” Regret strained his face. “We’ve let so much time pass, Ava.”
