I let out a shaky breath and dragged my hands down my face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said quietly. “I even loved him once.”
“You said the other night…but you were drinking.”
“I remember exactly what I said.” He raised a brow in question, and I nodded. “And I meant it. But it wasn’t always that way.” I continued quickly. “In the beginning, he was so attentive. Always calling and texting and saying nice things to me. He said and did all the right things. He was…well, he was perfect.”
“There’s no such thing as perfect.”
“I know that now.” I nodded. “But at the time, it felt good to be loved, and I just thought that’s what it was supposed to be like.” I laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “Turns out none of it was real.”
“He was love bombing,” Preston said, the words clipped.
“I guess that’s what it’s called,” I agreed. “But by the time I realized it, everything had snowballed. The development, my investment, the wedding. It was just…it’s all…well, I feel like a big idiot.”
“You’re not,” he said quickly as he reached for my hand.
“I am,” I insisted. “I think I just wanted it all so bad that Iignored all the signs. Even the ones that were right in my face and impossible to miss. And now, I’m standing here the night before my wedding, trying to pretend that I’m not about to make the biggest mistake of my life.”
“You can say no.” He squeezed my hand, and the touch of his skin on mine felt like a lifeline. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I do.”
“No, Jess.” He squeezed again, but this time it felt restrictive. “You don’t.”
“It’s gone too far.” I shook my head. “My parents…the money…the development, it’s all?—”
“Are you serious?” He pulled his hand from mine. “Is that what this is about? The development?”
The question was like a punch in the chest. “It’s complicated.” My shoulders sagged. “It’s not just the development.”
He stilled.
“I put a lot into it,” I said quietly. “More than I should have. And when it started to stretch beyond what I could handle on my own…my parents stepped in.” I swallowed hard. “They didn’t do it because of Trevor. Or even because of the project. They did it because they trust me.”
Preston swore under his breath.
“If I walk away now,” I said, my voice tight, “I don’t just lose the project. I risk taking other people down with me.”
“Damn, Jess. That’s?—”
“So you see,” I cut him off with a weak laugh, “I don’t get to be the girl who follows her heart. Not now. Instead, I get to be the one who doesn’t blow up everyone else’s life.”
He reached for me again, but I crossed my arms around my chest, afraid his touch would totally break me. “I guess there are worse reasons to marry someone,” I said, even as the words tasted wrong on my tongue. “At least this way no one gets hurt.”
“You do.”
I ignored him, squeezing my eyes against his words. “Besides, you said once that love wasn’t practical for most people,” I said quietly. “I guess I decided I was one of those people.”
That hit him. I could see it in the way his shoulders shifted and how he clenched his jaw. He looked like he wanted to argue with me.
“It’s not right, Jess,” he said after a moment. “You deserve more than being someone’s business deal. You deserve the fairy tale. Fuck practical. Walk away from this. There’s still time.”
Behind us, the door to the restaurant opened, and my mom stuck her head outside. “Jess?”
I wiped at my eyes and forced my voice to sound as normal as possible. “I’ll be right there, Mom.”
“Jess, are you?—”
“I’m fine, Mom.” I forced a smile into my voice. “I’ll just be a minute.”
