They weren’t listening. They weren’t eventryingto listen.
She walked through her mother’s bungalow and out to her car. But she didn’t drive to her house. She hadn’t been home for days.
She’d started accumulating her things inside Joel’s home. A toothbrush in the bathroom. Clothes in a spare drawer. She was pretty sure her phone charger now lived beside his bed.
Yep, one big fat relationship. And yes, it felt scary, but there was also another emotion that had started to bloom…excitement.
A smile curved her lips as she pulled onto his street. Even though Joel had said he’d still be at work, light poked through the curtains.
But his car wasn’t in the drive. Strange.
Maybe he’d parked in the garage. But he never did that.
She parked on the street and climbed out. Every step toward the front door had her heart beating faster. It had started to do that a lot in his presence. And she was learning to surrender to it.
She knocked, and the sound of feet hitting floorboards sounded from the other side of the door. But as soon as it opened, her smile fell.
It wasn’t Joel who stood on the other side—it was a woman. A beautiful blond, with the most gorgeous blue eyes and silky long hair. She had manicured nails and wore a strappy black tank top with expensive-looking jeans.
The woman smiled. “Hi. Can I help you?”
Polly almost stepped back to see if she was at the right house. Either that or an alternate universe. “Is Joel home?”
“Not yet. But he should be soon. Would you like me to leave him a message?”
A message? Like, what the hell was going on?
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“Bronte.” She held out a hand. “I’m his fiancée.”
Polly almost stumbled back, the word hitting her like a giant blow to her stomach. “What?”
The woman held up her hand to show the biggest rock on her ring finger that Polly had ever seen. “Yeah. We’ve been engaged since we were kids. Grant and Martha Dawson are basically my parents too.”
What?
Her heart began to race.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The woman gushed over her ring, completely oblivious to Polly’s shutdown. “It was his grandmother’s.”
Engaged since they were kids. Wearing his grandmother’s engagement ring.
Suddenly, every deeply instilled belief about men, about relationships, crawled up her chest.
What was wrong with her? She knew better than to trust men. To trust love and relationships. But she’d gone against everything she believed in for Joel.
“I…I have to go.” She turned and moved,ranback to her car.
This was what happened when you let down your guard. You got hurt.
She knew that. She’d known that her entire life.
Yet, still, she’d allowed herself to fall for him. And because of that, she hadn’t just gotten burned, she’d had her entire heart set alight.
Joel was late.He hated being late. It meant less time with Polly. Sure, it was just half an hour, but he sucked up every second with her that he got.
His phone rang from the middle console and his heart did that skip thing when he thought it might be her. One glance at the screen and his fingers tightened around the wheel.
