I put the truck in drive and head into town. I’m ready to find Addison. Ready to pull her into me and show her off to my best friends. They’re going to love her. How could anybody not?
I point things out to them as we drive through town. The grocery store where I helped Paul’s dad. The bakery I’m certain will soon be Addison’s.
“And that place,” I say with a note of pride at Finn, pointing at the bar. “Is where I finally put your punching lesson into practice. I knocked a guy out who wouldn’t leave Addison alone.”
Finn laughs and lightly shoves my shoulder. Lennon, who I thought wouldn’t like that story, grins. “Classic Brady. Defending the honor of a lady.”
“Always,” I declare, pretending to bow as much as I can with the steering wheel in my way.
“Ohhh, what’s that?” Lennon asks excitedly. Her hand reaches into the front seat, pointing ahead.
“An outdoor market, I think.” I haven’t seen it before, but I’m guessing based on the white tents lined up in rows.
Lennon taps my shoulder. “Can we stop? An outdoor market in the summertime sounds so picturesque.”
I get what she means. In Agua Mesa, markets are held in the late fall and spring. Nobody wants to shop or sell outdoors in the intense heat of an Arizona summer.
Without answering her, I pull into the next parking space I find.
Finn offers Lennon his hand, helping her out of the truck, and she rewards him with a big kiss. We walk around the market, and Lennon picks out a few things. Finn reminds her they’ll have to take it back in their carry-on, and she pats her belly and cheerfully tells him the homemade jam and freshly baked bread will probably be eaten long before their return flight.
He kisses her in this sweet way that is completely appropriate, but I get the sense they’re sharing something deeply personal. I look away.
What the fuck?
A fist sails into my gut. Not a fist made of flesh and bone, but one of anguish and sorrow, burrowing deep into my core. The fist climbs north, grabbing ahold of my heart.
“Brady, what’s wrong?” Lennon’s concerned voice sounds far away, at the end of a tunnel.
I am in the tunnel too, unable to see anything but what’s happening ten yards away.
Addison, in the arms of another man.
His lips pressed firmly to hers.
Her hands, hanging limply at her sides, rise, palming the man’s chest.
And I know, I don’t know how, but I do, I know this is Warren. Somehow, some way, he came back from the near-dead. He has come for his fiancée.
Beside them, a woman with hair so blonde it’s nearly white, eyes me. She takes in my expression, whatever it is I don’t know because I can’t get a firm grasp on the hundreds of emotions flying around inside me right now, and then she smiles.
She fucking smiles.
Like a victor.
I know what I’ve lost, but what has she won?
* * *
“Brady.”Lennon’s voice pokes through my jumbled thoughts. “Was that… Addison?” I hear in her voice how much she doesn’t want to be right.
I say nothing, which probably confirms her suspicion. She and Finn follow along behind me as I make my way back through the tents. How happy, how carefree, how blind I was when we walked through here only minutes ago.
We’re silent on the drive back to Sweet Escape. I leave Finn and Lennon in the truck, slipping around the side of the main house to avoid Louisa.
Twenty minutes later, I emerge from cabin seven. My duffle bag is heavy on my shoulder, and my suitcase catches on the thick grass.
When I reach my truck, I toss both in the bed, beside Finn and Lennon’s luggage.
