While I knew what had happened wasn’t his fault, I just couldn’t talk to him right now. I was too jealous and, frankly, not in the mood to coach him on having a successful marriage to the woman I loved.
It was driving me nuts, all of it, but I was still too resentful to ask anyone what was going on.Stubborn as a fucking mule and proud of it.
Golden, late afternoon light filtered in through my kitchen window, illuminating the takeout menus spread across the island like a natural spotlight, reminding me that I was back to fast food because she wasn’t here anymore.
I hadn’t needed the reminder, but still. It looked like even nature was intent on making me feel guilty.
God, I wonder how long the pity party phase of a breakup lasts.
Two firm, loud knocks on my door interrupted my miserable musings and I blew out a heavy breath. No one knocked like thatif they were just selling cookies. When two more bangs rang out, it was official.
I wasn’t going to like this conversation, but I also already knew there would be no getting out of it. Whoever was out there was a Westwood, for sure. My family tended to demand entry to one another’s houses like pillagers or tax collectors coming through town in medieval times.
My suspicions were confirmed when the door opened two seconds later and Jesse came inside like he still lived here. Technically though, I supposed he did. We’d never actually talked about him staying someplace else while he was in town.
After shutting the door behind him, he turned to face me, and for a second, we just looked at each other. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Jesse hesitant before, but as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, just staying in the foyer with his head tilting as he watched me, I realized he was waiting for permission to come in.
“What are you doing?” I asked, picking up my whiskey and hoping he wouldn’t be staying long enough to expect one of his own. “You’re being weird.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “I’m not. I’m just meeting with Eliza tonight, which means I don’t actually know if I’m welcome here right now.”
My heart thumped. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” He finally moved a few more steps forward. “We need to talk, Will.”
“No, we don’t.” I took a sip of my drink, then straightened up and turned to face him fully. “You know what? You’re actually right. We do need to talk.”
He nodded slowly and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. Instead of pouring himself a drink from the bottle on the counter like I’d expected, he filled the glass with water from the faucet before coming to sit across from me at the island.
“I’m sorry, Will,” he said, and for once, it sounded like he actually meant it. “Eliza asked to talk to me, so I’m going to meet up with her later, but if you don’t want me to?—”
“Are you going through with the wedding?” I asked, cutting to the chase because I was all out of patience waiting for him to come around.
Thankfully, he didn’t try to beat around the bush. “Yeah, I am.”
“So you finally came to your senses,” I muttered, tightening my grip on my glass and tossing back what had remained in it. “Good. I’m happy for you.”
“No, you’re not.” He let out a sound that could’ve been a laugh, but it was way too humorless. “I don’t know if I’d call it coming to my senses or finally going off the deep end, but here I am.”
“I think what you mean to say is ‘completely derailing both of our lives and then circling back at the last minute.’”
“Will—”
“I’m kidding,” I cut in. “Mostly. I know this wasn’t your fault. Fuck, it wasn’t even Alex’s. I agreed to something I never should’ve agreed to. Then I followed through when I knew it was going to come back to bite me in the ass.”
“It was never fair to you,” he said. “No one should’ve expected you to take this on for me. They shouldn’t have asked, and as soon as I found out about it, I shouldn’t have let it carry on.”
My eyebrows shot up and I finally looked at him properly, head on, carefully searching for any hint of deflection, but I didn’t find anything to suggest he wasn’t being completely genuine. “Have you finally outgrown your allergy to responsibility, or do we have a triplet I never knew about and you’re him?”
He chuckled, the sound still tight, but it had some humor in it this time. “Even Peter Pan grew up eventually, right?”
“Okay, Peter,” I said without even really thinking about it. “So what now? You’re going to meet with Eliza tonight and then you’re marrying her despite how this meeting goes?”
“That’s the plan,” he said, inhaling a deep breath and slowly blowing it out again as he fixed his gaze on mine. “I’m sorry it’s come to this, Will.”
My eyes narrowed slightly. “You actually mean that, don’t you?”
He nodded. “Let’s just say that watching you these last few days and seeing what you put yourself through for me has really opened my eyes.”
