Her chin quivers as she sits upright and closes her legs. “Don’t you know that’s what I wanted too?”
I shake my head in disbelief, unable to help myself. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
Her expression grows frustrated and angry. “I can’t take it back, Jami. I’m sorry. You have to believe that I never meant to hurt you.”
“That’s a little hard when I don’t understand why you did. And Trevor, of all people? I didn’t even know you liked him.”
She squeezes her eyes shut. “I didn’t. I loved you, Jami. I’d always loved you.”
Hearing her say what she's saying after living with the pain of her betrayal for more than seven years is too much. Too damn much. “You can’t tell me you loved me after what you did.” I search her eyes, desperate for answers, while wanting to flee the pain all at once. “Was it all that time you two spent together up at Western when I was grieving my dead brother?”
She gasps as tears flood her eyes. “No. Trevor and I barely talked at Western.”
“So it was after graduation when you two worked here that brought you closer? I’m just trying to understand how you slipped from my bed into his so fucking easily. I’ll never understand why you chose Trevor. We could have been so good together, Vi. So fucking good.”
“What we had was the most special thing to me. I was yours for so many years, and I loved you more than anything. I still do.”
“No, you don’t.” I shake my head. “You know what’s so sad? I can’t even be sure of what love is anymore. I’m so closed off to giving that piece of me to anyone who comes around. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to again.”
Tears fall from her eyes to her cheeks before she swipes them away. “Don’t say that.”
A deep chuckle lifts from my chest and up my throat. “How about we drop this conversation entirely? You’re free to leave for the night. I’ve got some things to take care of in the back.”
I’m walking away before she can try to stop me, but not before she leaves me with her final words. Words that would continue to ring in my head all night long.
“For what it’s worth… I chose you first.”
Chapter Twenty
VIOLET
“Thanks for doing this, Vi. This is a huge deal for my company. I’m sorry for the short notice.”
I look away from Trevor and then at Brayden, who’s got his head turned down and a frown on his face. It’s Sunday morning, which is normally Trevor’s time with Bray, but he has an important business meeting so he called me. After grabbing a bag full of Brayden’s clothes and favorite toys from the apartment, I drove over to Trevor’s to get him.
Thankfully, I close the studio on Sundays, and Jami’s already agreed to be as flexible as possible with my hours. I don’t have to worry about bailing on my shift at the saloon. But no matter what my situation is or what it allows, few things are worse than seeing your little boy heartbroken by his own father.
“No problem. I have something supercool to show Brayden today anyway. This works out perfectly.” I ruffle my boy’s thick head of red hair and smile into his watery eyes. Trevor will hear from me about this later. Not now. If there’s one thing I never want Brayden to feel like, it’s an inconvenience to his parents.
“I tried calling you last night, but your phone was off.” Trevor looks back at me curiously. “And Skyla said you weren’t working last night.”
I’m so thankful to Skyla for not giving away the fact that I got fired before I have a chance to tell Trevor myself. “Actually, I don’t work there anymore.”
Trevor raises his brows. “Really? You got a new job?”
I shrug. “Just another restaurant job part-time. I’m going to start focusing more on the studio.” That wasn’t totally a lie, considering Jami’s promised to help me with some advertising. Hopefully the studio traffic picks up, and I can spend more time there.
“Which restaurant?”
I curse Trevor’s nosiness. “Nowhere special.” I flash him a smile and rush to get Brayden in his seat. By the hard stare Trevor has on me when we’re backing out of the drive, I know it won’t be long before he questions me more on the subject. Let him. I have nothing to hide. I just don’t want any trouble between him and Jami. Who knows how they would react to each other after all this time.
“Where are we going, Mommy?”
I smile at Brayden in the rearview mirror. “Do you remember that camp I told you I used to work at?”
His eyes light up. “With the horses and cabins and fishes?”
I nod. “Yup. That’s the one. How would you like to spend the night there?”
He gasps and claps his hands together. “Really?”
The squeal in his voice makes me laugh. My heart feels like it’s going to burst in my chest at Brayden’s excitement. “Yes, way. You get to meet some of Mommy’s old friends. And you get to see the new restaurant I work at.”
A high-pitched giggle bursts from his throat. “Yay.” His eyes connect with the ferry boat coming in from the east. “We going on the ferry, Mommy?”
“Oh yes,” I tell him while slowing down to get behind another car in line to board the next vessel. “We’re going to Orcas Island. You’re going to love it there, Bray.”
Love is clearly an understatement. As soon as I park the car, he’s squealing about a family of deer slowly meandering across the parking lot and into the woods. I get him out of the car, pull up the camera app on my phone, and let him snap some photos as they disappear between the trees.
“You’re going to see more of that, Bray. Just you wait. Come.” I take his little hand while securing the bag filled with his things over my shoulder. We cross the lot and take the first trail that leads to the staff cabins. “This is where we’re going to sleep.”
He turns slowly in a circle, taking it all in. There’s not much to the cabin. It’s just a double bed, a desk, a closet, and a bathroom. But the wood-paneled walls, hand-carved bedposts, and rustic decor definitely give off a camping vibe that Brayden is already digging.
“So cool.” He draws out his words in serious awe then turns to me with shining eyes. “I want to see the horses.”
I latch onto his hand and nod. “You got it, dude.”
We take the path that leads to a section of cabins near the saloon then to the trail marked Tyson Way. I love how Anderson named each path after his family members, even when they all abandoned him. I also loved Jami’s story about how Anderson took the Bexley brothers’ dream for this place and made it come true, hoping to draw them all back to camp. Looks like he got what he wanted—all the Bexleys are together again—just not in the way anyone expected.
I’m surprised to find Jamison standing on the outside of the wooden fence that buds up against the pasture. His arms are crossed and chin resting on top of his arms, just staring out at the open land. He seems deep in thought, so I don’t want to disturb him, but the moment Brayden sees a horse grazing near the fence line, he takes off running toward it.