“No, I screwed up,” I told him. “I should have told you. I didn’t want to hurt you. But I did anyway.”
“It’s okay,” he insisted.
“It’s not,” I replied, blinking back tears. “Mark, you’re right. I don’t think this is going to work. You need a therapist, and I need to get my life together.”
53
Mark
What was I going to do?
“You really blew it,” I chastised myself. Brea didn’t want anything to do with me. And could I blame her?
Though I wanted to wallow, it was almost morning; the wedding was going to start. I grabbed my tux from my penthouse and placed Beowulf in his carrier. Dogs were allowed at the wedding, much to my mother’s chagrin.
I needed a way to fix this. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life alone. I also couldn’t imagine spending it with anyone other than Brea. But I had been mean to her. And now she wasn’t even mad at me, which I could have dealt with. Instead, she just seemed resigned, as if she had accepted that our relationship wasn’t going to even be worth fighting for. As if I had let her down.
I had to show her that we were worth another shot. I needed a grand gesture. And to make it, I needed my family.
* * *
Grant and Weswere in the sitting room of the Holbrook estate when I drove up. The workers were already arriving to start setting up for the wedding.
They looked at me in shock as Beowulf bounded over to pounce on Gus, Grant’s corgi, who was napping. That woke up Wes’s dog, Kal, who grabbed Beowulf, pinned him down under his paw, and went back to sleep.
“We weren’t sure if you were going to come,” Grant said in concern.
“I wasn’t going to miss the wedding,” I said. “Not when I’ve invested so much time in planning it.”
Wes smiled. “Did you talk to Brea?”
I nodded. “She doesn’t think we’re a good idea together.”
“You can’t let her go without a fight,” Wes insisted.
“I have an idea,” I said slowly. “But I need your help.”
“We’re family,” Grant assured me. “We’re always in your corner.”
Carter padded in, yawning, wearing a blanket, and carrying his little white dog.
“Allie made me get up,” he complained, crawling onto the couch and pulling the blanket over his head. “I don’t know why, because it’s ass crack o’clock in the morning, and the wedding isn’t until this afternoon.”
“We have to help Mark plan a grand gesture,” Grant informed him.
“Fireworks!” Carter suggested.
“No!” Wes and I said at the same time.
“Buy her a purse,” Grant suggested.
“Buy her a car,” Wes countered.
“No, jewelry.”
“Actually, I already know what I want. I just need you all to help me retrieve it.”
* * *
