“I’m, uh…” I trail off as I try to find the words. “I’m in a bit of a situation here.”
“What is it, and how can I help?”
“I kissed her.”
“Kissed who?”
“Tatum,” I murmur.
“Oh. Oh! And?”
“She kissed me back. She told me she has feelings for me, and I fucking blew it.”
“What? How?” she asks.
“She just got back from Vegas, from visiting Archer. She said they’re done, and she also said he gave her permission tobe with me.” I stare down at her, below me in the yard. She’s laughing with Lindsay, and she flips her hair over her shoulder as if we don’t have this huge weight settling between us at the hands of some quirky old woman.
“Wow. That’s big,” she says.
“Yeah. I guess. But it just felt…I don’t know. Wrong. Like we shouldn’t need someone’s permission to be together. So I backed off and told her I wanted to wait until she was really ready.”
“Oh, Ford.” She sighs. “You’re such a good guy.”
“It was selfish, Ev. I didn’t do it to be good. I did it because I didn’t want to be a rebound,” I say.
“Who could blame you for that? It was the right thing to do. When the time is right, it’ll work out.” Her words feel like generalized platitudes that anyone could say about anything at any time.
I blow out a breath. “You know how Tatum and I went in on a wedding venue together?”
“Mm-hmm,” she prompts.
“There was a letter from the owner today. It said the money we paid for the mansion is in a trust that will revert back to us if ours is the first wedding that takes place here,” I blurt.
Everleigh is silent on the other end of the line.
“Well?” I prompt.
“Shit, Ford. I don’t know what to say. How much money are we talking?”
“Enough for Tatum to invest in other properties. Enough to make her dreams come true. Enough to make mine come true, too…just not the way I want it.”
“That’s the problem with dreams,” she murmurs. “Either we get it and it’s not everything we thought it would be, or it comes around in a way we never could have expected.”
“How is that true for you? You’ve got it all.”
“Yeah,now, sure. Everything’s been great for the last month, but it was a hell of a road to get here. Remember a few months ago when I said I’d never work with an athlete?” She laughs after she says it because now sheonlyworks with athletes. “I got what I wanted in the end, but not at all how I expected. And maybe that’s what this is for you, too. Maybe instead of taking it slow and dating, you marry her and then get her to fall for you. Just, like, pick up around the house, okay? Nobody falls for the guy who leaves dirty socks on the floor.”
“Duly noted,” I say dryly. It feels strange having this conversation here in this place, like Ms. Winston is watching and can hear me, like she’ll know that even if we do go through with it, it’ll be a sham. Except…will it be? “Well, thanks, I guess.”
She laughs. “You’ll make the right decision, Ford. Of all the Bradley siblings, I feel like you’re somehow the one who ended up with the strongest gut instincts.”
I hope she’s right because wherever my gut leads me this time has the potential to change my life forever.
CHAPTER 24: Tatum Barker
Twenty-Two Days
I’m not going to turn away business. That would be stupid.
