“What did you do?” I yelled—the helplessness of my situation threatening to drown me.
“Son,” Dad warned. It did nothing but make me angrier.Whatever meddling Ford had done had cost me the love of my life and her kids who already felt like they were mine.
Silas stepped forward, angling his phone toward me. His other hand was on my shoulder, keeping me in place. “He meant well. He didn’t know. None of us did.” The screen had an uploaded video of Ford sitting in the “hot seat” at the Nate Midnight Show. Silas pressed play.
Thursday’s Ford grinned like an idiot, oblivious that whatever he was about to do would bomb my marriage with the force of a nuclear blast.
“I want to give a quick shout-out to my brother, Ashton, and his beautiful new wife, Tally,” Ford said, beaming. “They’re tying the knot tomorrow.” His head tipped from side to side, thinking. “Today, since we filmed this yesterday.”
The audience erupted in applause as the engagement photo of Tally and me flashed on the screen. My stomach dropped and I jammed my hands into my hair.
“And they've got this amazing romance spy series on Incognito,” Ford continued, winking at the camera. “Spy vs. Sigh. The current book they’re working on—book two—is calledLicensed to Swoon. I don’t even like reading and it’s got me hooked. Their handles are Leggolas1012 and Austentacious119. Check it out, folks. Give them a follow. It’s gonna be the next big thing!”
Silas pressed pause on the video.
This explained why my phone had buzzed incessantly for the last half hour. And why my wife of less than twenty-four hours had vanished without a trace.
I took one step toward Ford but Silas grabbed my shoulders.
“What is wrong with you? I told you I didn’t want your help!” I seethed. “Why do you always have to meddle? To use your family as a publicity stunt to make yourself look good?” My nose was running. I didn’t care. “I’m never g-going to see her again. And it’syourfault.” I sobbed. “I hate you.”
“No, son,” Mom said. “Don’t say things you’ll regret. It won’t bring her back.”
“I hate you!” I hissed again but I had no fight left. My legs gave out and I went down, falling against the mattress. Ford pushed through everyone and flung the door open, fleeing the scene.
Mom, Lemon, Anna, and Christy were there, hugging me, patting me, soothing me. Crying with me.
But all I wanted was Tally.
All I wanted was my wife.
twenty-three
ASHTON
If only I had spoken to him more kindly, perhaps then he would not have felt so estranged from me.
— EMILY BRONTË
Eleven torturous days later, with no word from Tally and no trail of whereabouts to follow, I widened my arms as I scooped my entire drawer full of clothes into a box.
“Don’t go,” Ford said. “C’mom, man. You can’t actually want to live in the little house alone.” His eyes were red again. They had been ever since the beach. Honestly, it pissed me off. How dare he get to dull his pain when I had nothing to dull mine.
“Please…stop.” I clenched my fist and forced myself to stay calm. “I can’t stay here. I was moving after the wedding anyway.” I glanced over at Mom who was helping me move my remaining stuff out of Ford’s house. She’d cried more than me since Tally left. “Can you get him out of here?” It came out terse but it was the best I could do for anyone, much less Ford. Iwas trying but I was in a minute to minute battle with a deep, dark rage, the likes of which I’d never felt before. It took all my willpower not to snap when I was by myself. If Ford kept pushing me, I was going to do something I couldn’t take back.
Mom nodded and wiped yet another tear. She stood and walked over to Ford. “Let’s go. Leave him be.”
“No.” He pushed past her, knelt in front of me, and spread his arms across the rest of the drawers so I couldn’t get to them. “No. You’re not going. I’m sorry, okay? I messed up so incredibly big.” His voice shook. “But you gotta forgive me. We’re brothers.”
“It’s not about you!” I shouted. “I have to be there. At the house,” the words cracked in my throat. “In case she comes back.”
Mom and Ford stared at me. I was pathetic. I knew that. They didn’t think she was coming back. I knew that too. But I couldn’t believe it. If I did—if I let that become my reality—they may as well plan out my funeral. I couldn’t live without Tally. Not after she’d been mine, even for just a moment.
“If you want, Jeff and I will put security cameras at the house. And we’ll monitor them around the clock.” He threw his hands out. “If she comes back, you’ll know immediately.”
My fingertips itched to punch something. “I’m sorry if you can’t handle being alone. That you have to have constant noise and attention. But I can’t take care of you, Ford,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re lucky I’m staying on your land at all.” I grabbed the box at my feet. “You can burn the rest. I don’t care.”
Ford hopped up and got between me and the door. “I’ll do anything to fix this. Just name it.”
