“How much longer are they passing hors d’oeuvres fit for a squirrel? I’m starvingggg,” Lacey groans.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go ask how much longer until dinner is served. Ian, can you track down Corinne? I don’t want them to start without her.”
“Yeah, sure. Be right back.”
After a quick conversation with our head waiter, he advises the salads will be served momentarily, so I go in search of Ian and my bride to be. Turning toward the restrooms, I meander down a dimly lit hallway but stop in my tracks as familiar voices emanate from what looks like a supply closet.
“Corinne, you’re being ridiculous,” Ian’s hushed scolding of my fiancée causes me to scowl.Shit. Is she having cold feet?She’s been gung-ho about planning this wedding from the moment I slid the engagement ring on her finger. Hell, before that if you consider all of the hints she dropped that she was ready to take our relationship to the next level.
“Come on, it’s perfect. It’s bad luck to see him the night before the wedding.” She sounds almost jovial, but my hair is suddenly standing on end.
What the hell is happening?
“This has to stop. If you don’t love him anymore, you need to tell him tonight. We can’t keep doing this.”
What. The. Fuck?
“I have way too much invested to call this off now, Ian. There’s no way I want to deal with the public scrutiny of a wedding I canceled in the eleventh hour.”
“You’d rather put him through the agony of a phony ceremony and marriage just to leave him? When? In a few weeks, months? You’ll never last a year.” My stomach churns. How had I not seen this coming?
“I can last a year if I’ve got a distraction,” she practically purrs.
My body is instantly alight with enough rage to burn this entire restaurant to the ground.Take a deep breath and decide how you want to handle this, Jase.Don’t fly in there and make this situation even worse.
Is this what her cronies were whispering about when we arrived? I run my palm down my face in agony. Hell, am I already the laughingstock of the town?
“I’m done unless you tell him it’s over tonight. I can barely live with myself now. It’s bad enough I was fucking his girlfriend. I’m certainly not going to sleep with his wife.”
Okay, I was wrong. There’s enough rage inside me to incinerate the entire town. How I haven’t busted in on them is mystifying. But I can’t think clearly, the conversation anchoring me to this very spot.
“So, we were just fucking, huh? You told me you loved me,” she snaps. The gall of this woman. To sound as ifshe’sthe one affronted.
Moving closer to the door I lean in to hear more clearly as Ian drops his volume. I pray my shaky exhales and the pounding heartbeat against my sternum won’t give me away before I’m ready to confront them.
“I do love you. I’d never have crossed the line the first time if I didn’t. But we should’ve handled things differently. Now you have to make a choice. You tell him you’re not ready for marriage or give him your all. Nothing in between.”
My resolve shatters.Hell with that noise!
“Let me make the decision easier for both of you,” I interrupt. Their startled faces do nothing to help the utter outrage boiling within my veins. Leaning in I speak each word slowly and succinctly.
“I’m. Done. With. Both. Of. You.”
Chapter 5
Quinn
“Hey, Quinn. Over here!” A small hand waves between the many patrons of The Diddled Fiddle, the sweet voice floating in my direction matching that of my best friend, Callie.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m sorry I’m late. I was meeting with Dad to review some of my plans to increase tourism in Magnolia Point. I didn’t realize how severe the decline has been since COVID.” I flop into the small booth with her. “I went to his office thinking he was throwing his dear old daughter a bone with this job. Instead, we poured over spreadsheets for hours. It’s truly sad what’s happened to this town, Callie.”
Placing her margarita glass down, she tilts her head in confusion. “Is it really that bad? I mean, except for the occasional trip back home, you’ve been away at your fancy college. Maybe you’re more objective. It seems like usual around here to me.” She nods in the direction of the overcrowded bar.
I peel off my windbreaker and settle in, looking around for a server. “Well, you arrived right before COVID hit, so you might not have a clear picture of what this town was like. I mean, this place is a local’s hot spot known for heavy pours. It would take more than COVID to close this pub down.”
She lifts her glass. “Cheers to that.”
I giggle. “Magnolia Point used to be a thriving tourist destination. There were constant write ups in Southern Charm magazine about how it was one of the must-see beach locations in the US. Coastal Lifestyle rated Magnolia Point a top ten east coast community to visit year-round.” Finally locating a server in the crowd, I wave and point to Callie’s glass, silently requesting the same. “Now we’re lucky to get enough tourists to fill the resorts during the summer months, much less the rest of the year.”
