Chapter Twenty-Four
On the walk home after lunch with the Jules family, Brent was full, and happy, and generally a lot better than he had been all week, with the exception of his few days of respite with Riley.
As soon as he walked around the fence, heading for the front of the house, all of that changed. Brent’s stomach bottomed out at what he saw on the porch.
Rose was sitting on the steps. The steps that Riley had so lovingly put back together, sanded and stained to a beautiful finish.
She was crying.
Brent froze, unsure what to do. What the hell was she doing here? Why was she crying?
Why him?
Just as he was starting to feel like he could get over all this, move on… the universe apparently had other ideas. Or at least, Rose did.
Brent felt Riley’s hand touch the middle of his back, Riley’s palm flat against it, the warmth of his skin soothing Brent through his shirt.
“I can handle this,” Riley said softly. “If you don’t want to.”
Rose looked up at Brent, her teary eyes meeting his. Brent swallowed.
No, this was something he had to handle. Whatever it was, this was his problem, and he couldn’t just pass it off to Riley. Riley had done more than enough.
“I’ll handle it,” Brent said, his voice cracking. He wasn’t sure he could, but he was sure hehadto. He couldn’t just pretend nothing had ever happened between them.
He’d been ready to spend his whole life with Rose. She’d been willing to throw it away without telling him anything, and Brent had felt more loved and cared for by Riley over the last few days than he had by Rose over the entire time they were dating—maybe eight months, which he also realized now was too short.
Brent could see the mistake he’d made, but he liked Rose. He didn’t want to send her away, or ask Riley to, while she was upset.
Taking a deep breath, Brent marched to the porch, doing his best to keep his posture open.
He didn’t want Rose to be here, but if shewashere, then it must have been important.
As soon as Brent approached, Rose sprang up from the steps and hugged him tight around the neck. Brent hugged back automatically, holding her as she burst into ragged, heart-wrenching sobs.
He might have been mad at her, but he couldn’t leave her like this.
“I made a huge mistake,” she choked out between tears.
The phraseyou don’t sayflitted through Brent’s mind, but he didn’t voice it. She was upset. There was no point in being petty.
Riley would have been kind. Riley was always kind.
If Brent was going to be more like him, if Brent wanted him to see that he was worth staying for, then now was a good time to show some compassion.
Brent could feel Riley’s presence beside him, keeping him grounded.
He’d been so ready to sit Riley down and stumble over his words as he told him how he felt. Now, that would have to wait.
“Tell me what’s wrong, and we’ll fix it,” Brent murmured.
“I don’t deserve you,” Rose sobbed. “Tom is such an asshole.”
Again, the first thing that came to Brent’s mind wasyou don’t say. He would have thought that anyone who’d intentionally run away with someone else’s fiancée would have thrown up red flags all over the place.
But then, there’d been a lot of red flags with Rose, too. Brent had chosen not to see them, because he was so desperately afraid of being alone.
Maybe Rose had been afraid, too.
