I was slamming stuff around on the island so bad, Moxie raced up the spiral steps.
“Well, if he comes here and you get pissed at him and punch him in the face, then fine.Actually,”—I slammed down a package of meat—“good.Just do it if he shows up here at the cabin and not in a public place.I don’t know if Washington has stand-your-ground laws.But I have plenty of evidence he’s been harassing me.I’ll post your bail.But eventually, it’ll be all good.”
My hand stopped right before I smushed a bag of whole grain rolls on the island because Hutch had wrapped his fingers around my wrist.
I looked up at him.
“You still have feelings for him?”he asked softly.
“Are youinsane?”I asked loudly, and Tonks yodeled her support.“First, all this went down over a year and a half ago, so seriously, the dude needs to move on.Second, you can’t have feelings for amirage, Hutch.He never existed.I can’t mourn something that never was.”
“You can, baby,” he said gently.
“Well, I don’t,” I assured.“Trust me.Was I stunned when it happened?Yes.Was I shaken?Yes.Was I hurt and heartbroken?Yes, and yes.Did I question everything about everything that happened between us to try to figure out how I didn’t figure it out?Yes again.”
I drew in a big breath and kept at it.
“Did I eventually realize he wasn’t worth my emotion, my energy?Another yes.I didn’t leave Orlando to escape my feelings for him.I didn’t even leave Orlando to escape him.I left Orlando because I was done with Orlando.And he was just the finger that pulled the trigger for me to make big decisions I’d been avoiding because I was unhappy, and I didn’t know how to make myself happy.And you can read from that, somewhere deep down, I knew Bryce wasn’t going to make me happy, and maybe I was foolishly leaning on him, using my feelings for him hoping he would, because that’s how I read it.”
Another big breath and I kept going.
“The cult next door notwithstanding, in Misted Pines, I’m happy.As crazy as this sounds, since I know everything that’s happened here over the last few years, I feel like, all my life, this was where I was supposed to be.”
I looked around to make my point and finished it.
“Well, finally, I’m here.And Bryce has been enough of a headache in my life.He can spend the time and money to come here and make a fool of himself.That’s no skin off my nose.”
He let my wrist go and pointed out, “The way you looked when I walked in, this big rant, May…”
He said no more.
But I heard him.
“I’m just annoyed because the store is going good.We have fun plans tomorrow.I’m getting it on the regular, and thatitis freaking fantastic.”
His lips hitched up at one side.
“Don’t be smirky,” I ordered.“You know you’re hot in bed.You don’t need me to tell youorto get smirky about it.”
He didn’t stop being smirky.
Whatever.
“What I’m getting at is, I’m pissed because, if you don’t count the cult next door, I’m finally happy.And I’m just so over his shit and I don’t want to deal with him,” I concluded.
“And you don’t think me calling him will affect his decision-making process of whether or not to come?”he asked.
“Honey, the man asked me to marry him when he was already married.How he thought he was going to pull that off, I have no earthly clue.But I think it’s established Bryce Katz is gonna do what Bryce Katz is gonna do, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about it, even if he’ll swear up and down you’re his whole world and all he’s doing is for you.”
“How would you feel if I told you, it’d make me feel better to phone him?”
Instantly, I picked up my phone, engaged it, went to Bryce’s contact and handed the phone to Hutch.
For a very long beat, he didn’t take the phone.He didn’t even look at it.
He stared at me.
Then he took the phone.
