Chapter 1
Addison
Theysaythatbadthings happen in threes. I just didn’t think my life would come crashing down over the course of a month, but here we were.
“I think this is the push you’ve always needed to do what you’ve always wanted to do with your life, plus Noah sucked,” my best friend, Harper, said as she helped tape the final box that contained my entire life here on the East Coast.
“Wow, tell me how you really feel. Breaking up with my fiancé, losing my job, and suffering a riding injury is really what I needed,” I said, the sarcasm obvious as I rolled my eyes.
Harper laughed and stood, looking around my apartment, and then sighed. “I’m going to miss you. We’ve had some good times in this apartment.”
I leaned my head on Harper’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss you more. Thanks for helping me finish packing. The movers will be here in the morning, and then I’m back home to Texas!”
Harper put her arm around me. “I am so happy for your next chapter. It’s time for you to be happy again. I’ll fly down to visit as soon as I can.”
I smiled and nodded. “Good, I can’t wait. Now let’s go grabsome dinner. I’m starving!” As we headed out of my apartment, I took a moment to look at the empty space, the memories of the last ten years flashing through my mind.
I left my home in Primrose Hill, Texas, at eighteen to attend Boston University for my undergraduate degree, as well as ride and train with one of the top hunter/jumper trainers in the country, Eli Thompson. I had a plan. I was going to get my degree in business, become a top-ranked rider in both the hunter and jumper world, and eventually open and run my own horse training facility back home in Primrose Hill.
After ten years in Boston, I checked off two of the three items on my list. I earned my degree in business and was a nationally top-ranked hunter/jumper rider. I worked closely with Eli, not only as my trainer but also to learn everything there was to know to run a successful equine operation. Everything was lining up for me.
I met my now ex-fiancé, Noah Clark, in one of my business classes at BU. He came from money, and he had an arrogance about him that I should have seen as a red flag from the beginning, but instead chose to ignore. He was relentless in pursuing me, and I eventually gave in. Noah Clark was handsome and oozed charm, but I got to know a softer side to him. We had a lot of fun together, and our relationship developed quickly. We didn’t have a ton in common, and part of me knew I was tolerating the differences because I was lonelybeing almost two thousand miles away from my family. I chose to ignore that part because I needed him, so he became my world. I became close to his parents and his sister, spending most weekends at their massive estate in Connecticut.
We were engaged about six months ago with plans to get married in the spring. I had been working in finance for his family’s real estate development company for the past six years at their insistence. It wasn’t where I thought I would be, but I made enough money to continue taking care of my horse, compete, and even establish a solid savings account. The work experience would be beneficial, and I could save money toward my ultimate goal of one day owning and operating my own horse training facility. Plus, I had a loving fiancé. Things were good.
Sometimes our lives don’t always play out how we thought, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t how it’s supposed to be.
At least that was what I told myself…until the last month hit and my life unraveled in a way I didn’t see coming or was prepared for.
Noah had begun to pull away. He wasn’t staying at my apartment as often. We hadn’t had sex in a couple of months, but I had been traveling for horse shows quite a bit. We decided not to move in together until we were married, which I thought was odd, given our eight-year relationship. Still, he insisted that it was tradition in his family, so I respected his wishes. Work was also crazy busy, so I chalked it up to that. We were both overworked and tired.
On a random Thursday, he accidentally left his phone inthe car with me when we were running by the store to grab a couple of things for dinner. As he was inside, a text came through his phone from his friend Trent. I’d never met Trent, but he was a childhood friend of Noah’s who now lived in California. I’d spoken to him once on the phone a couple of months ago when he and Noah were planning a guys’ weekend on the Cape. Over the last several months, I had noticed they seemed to be texting and calling each other more frequently. Another text came through, and then another. Curious if it was something urgent, and just being the nosy person I was, I clicked on the text for Siri to read it, not knowing that my life was about to change from my inquisitive nature.
Trent:I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
Okay, that was odd. Noah never mentioned him coming into town.
Trent:All I can think about is last night when you made me come over and over.
Okay, maybe Trent meant to send that to someone else.
Trent:Do you think Addison has any idea? Sometimes I feel bad when I run into her at work.
What. The. Fuck. My heart was racing. Noah was cheating on me, and evidently with someone from work no less.
I looked up to see him walking back to the car with his usual grin on his face. He got in the car, and his grin quickly vanished when he turned to me and saw my face.
“Babe, what’s wrong? You look like someone kicked your dog.” He chuckled.
I took a deep breath to stop myself from punching him in theface right there.
“Noah, who is Trent again?”
“I already told you, he is one of my buddies from way back when, but he’s out in Cali now.”
I took another deep breath. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Who is Trent?”
He searched my face, confused, until another text came through from “Trent.” I quickly clicked on it for Siri to read before he had any idea what was happening. Siri outed him quickly in front of me.
