"Lainey, please." I reached for her again and this time she let me take her hand. "Don't let them do this. Don't let them ruin what we have."
"What do we have?" She pulled her hand away gently, but there was pain and confusion in her eyes. "We got married drunk in Vegas and we're moving toward an annulment. That's not exactly a solid foundation."
I gritted my teeth and choked back the harsh words I wanted to say. I wanted to scream at her that she meant so much more than that, but screaming wouldn’t prove anything. "It's more than that and you know it." I moved closer and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head.
"I think maybe you should go, Kade." Her voice was sad. It held a tone of discouragement, but not anger. "Your parents won't like you being here."
"I don't care what they think." Inside I was raging. She was pushing me away now, and I didn't like how it felt. All the women I’d dated and not one of them ever broke up with me. I always did the breaking up. And here I was, thirty-six years old, and my parents were still able to step in and dictate what I did or didn’t do with my life, which was why I was learning for the first time in my life what it felt like to be dumped.
"But I do." She looked at me with those eyes that saw too much. "Because at the end of the day, they're your family. And I can't be the reason you lose your family. Besides when I fall in love, I want it to be with someone I can have a full life with, including his entire family and mine."
"You're not making me lose my family." I growled and pulled my hair. "They're doing that all on their own." I wanted to grab her and shake her and make her understand, but I knew that wouldn't help. Nothing I said seemed to be helping.
My whole life had been about doing whatever I wanted and dealing with the consequences later. But now the consequences were standing in front of me and I had no idea how to fix them.
"I should go," she said quietly, hugging her purse to her chest.
"Don't." The word came out desperate and I hated how weak it sounded. "Please don't leave like this." I was losing her, and after such a perfect moment. This wasn't right!
"I have to." She moved toward the door and I followed her, still searching for something to say that would make this better. But my mind was blank and my usual charm had completely deserted me.
We walked out the door together and she locked up the bakery while I clenched and unclenched my fists in anger. When sheturned to face me, I could see she'd already decided something and I wasn't going to like it.
"Thank you for the funds," she mumbled. It was a super professional tone, but she didn't make eye contact. "I really appreciate everything you've done for the bakery."
"Lainey—"
"But I think we both know I don't fit in your life." She gave me a sad smile that broke my heart. "Your parents are right about that much. I'm just a small-town girl with a failing bakery, and you're a Kingston. Those two things don't go together."
"That's not true." I reached for her, but she stepped back.
"I'll be looking forward to your annulment papers." She opened her car door and paused. "So your parents won't be angry with you anymore. So you can go back to your real life without me as a complication."
"You're not a complication." I ran a hand through my hair, but I knew there was nothing else I could do.
"Yes, I am." She climbed into her car and started the engine, then shut the door.
I stood there and watched as she backed out of the parking space and drove away. Her taillights disappeared around the corner and I remained frozen in place, feeling entirely gutted.
Lainey Rowan was the only thing in this life that I wanted, and she drove off with my heart. But I wasn't about to let this be the end. Not by a long shot.
It made me even more determined to force my parents to see who she really was. I needed her like the desert needs the rain.And I would fight with everything in me to show her that we did belong together, even if it meant losing my entire family.
20
LAINEY
I sat on the examination table and stared at the ultrasound machine while my doctor finished typing notes into her computer. Two days had passed since I'd overheard Kade's father call me a gold digger, and I hadn't heard from him since. It was probably for the best. He hadn't even tried to stand up for me after that call. He'd just gone off about how badly his parents treated him, as if that somehow made it better, completely forgetting that I had feelings too.
The whole thing had made me wonder if maybe he only saw me as a convenient distraction or worse, just someone to sleep with when he was bored.
"Alright, let's listen to the heartbeat," my doctor said, wheeling the machine closer. She squeezed gel onto my stomach and I winced at the cold. "This will just take a moment."
She pressed the wand against my skin and moved it around, and then suddenly the room filled with a rapid whooshing sound that made my breath catch. That was my baby's heartbeat. That tiny life inside me had a heartbeat I could actually hear.
"There we go," the doctor said with a smile. "Nice and strong. About one hundred and fifty beats per minute, which is perfect for this stage."
I felt tears prick my eyes and I blinked them back. "That's really the baby?"
