“Are you Addison?” she asks, her eyebrows raised.
I nod, trying to figure out what’s going on.
“Then I’m in the right car.” She sticks her hand into the space between us. “I’m Lennon.”
“Oh shit,” is all I can think to say.
She laughs. “Oh shitis a pretty good response considering what’s happening in your life right now.”
A waving arm outside the car catches my eye. It’s the valet and he’s pointing at a car behind me. I put the Jeep in drive and pull away from the curb. A block away, I find an open space and park.
Turning to Lennon, I say, “You have to know that I love Brady. I didn’t know my ex was going to show up here. He was in a coma. For ten months! I’d moved on. And then he shows up, telling me that he’s going to fight for us, even if I am seeing somebody else.” Lennon waits patiently for me to continue. “He just needs to understand that I’m in love with Brady, that I’ve moved on and I can’t go back.”
Lennon runs a hand over her tiny baby bump as she listens to me. I’m not sure she’s even aware she’s doing it.
“Does Brady know all this?”
“I just saw him.” I look down at my soaked clothes. “It’s why I look like I swam in a pool fully clothed. I chased him down in the rain. He asked me if I still love Warren and—”
Lennon holds up a hand. “Please tell me you said no.”
“I couldn’t lie to him. Idostill love Warren. I love that he’s a good person, and that he came here to find me, and I’m so fucking sorry for the situation we’re in right now. But I’m notinlove with Warren, not anymore. And Brady wouldn’t let me say that. He ran into the rain and disappeared the moment I tried to explain.”
Lennon moves her head slowly from side to side. “Brady is a little, uh” —her lips twist as she searches for the word— “sensitiveto having competition for another person’s love. At least he is right now.” A blush warms her cheeks. “That would be my fault. I’m sorry you have to deal with the baggage I created.”
I nod. “He said as much.”
Lennon eyes me. “You love Brady?”
My chest rises and falls with my deep breath. Thoughts of Brady roll through me. “I love him like crazy, with this weird feeling in my chest where it feels like the contents are greater than the outside. Somehow, I love him more than I loved Warren, even though we haven’t known each other very long. I guess when you know, you know.”
Lennon’s eyebrows raise. “Weren’t you engaged to Warren?”
“Yes. And I was in love with him. But the person who was in love with Warren wasn’t a person who watched her fiancé fall into a coma, who walked through grief and learned to rely on herself. I’m different now, and it’s a different person who loves Brady. He thinks there’s a competition and he’s refusing to be a part of it, because he’s scared he won’t be chosen.” The heel of my palm smacks the steering wheel in my frustration. “But there is no competition. And he won’t listen long enough to let me tell him that.”
“Brady needs to feel chosen. Warren’s arrival really threw him.”
I groan, running a hand over my eyes. “Speaking of competitions, I’m in one tomorrow. A legitimate competition. And the prize is a bakery.”
Lennon raises her eyebrows. “Let me know if they want help judging.”
Despite the somber air in the car, I chuckle. “Will do.”
I back out of the space and turn around in the middle of the street. The rain has let up, but she’s pregnant and I’m not going to make her walk. When I pull up to the front of the hotel, Lennon grins.
“I like you, Addison.”
She reaches over, hugging me in this small space.
“I was a little jealous of you when Brady told me about everything,” I admit. “He loved you first.”
Lennon snorts. “Believe me, he loves you way more than he loved me. It’s so flipping obvious.”
Her words bring me peace in an otherwise war-torn day.
She gets out of the car, waving at me before disappearing into the hotel. The same one where Warren and his snake of a sister are staying. And Brady, too?
I feel just a tiny bit better on my drive back to Sweet Escape. Nothing has changed, not really, and yet everything has. Lennon being on my side means Brady could perhaps listen to me. I just might have a shot.
