She winces. “Do you have any idea what it took for me to come here right now? How scared I am that what we had has changed? I cannot live without you.” Her chin drops to her chest and her tears drop to the floor.
“You don’t get to make this all about you again. You’re too late.” I fold my arms over my chest, a million things on the tip of my tongue begging to be unleashed.
“So you’re going to go through with a fake marriage?”
“I made a promise.”
She nods. “Okay. Well, I guess that’s it then.”
“I guess so.”
She walks by me, right to the door.
“Juno.”
“What?”
“You’ll be happy tomorrow when you realize nothing has changed with our friendship. These feelings you have for me will vanish as soon as you know you didn’t lose me.” I don’t turn around because if I did, I’d probably cage her to the wall and confess how much I love her. How much I hope she’s really had her eyes opened to how perfect we are together.
But it’s all just too big of a coincidence.
She says, “I know I haven’t made it easy on you all these years, and I wish I didn’t harbor this fear of losing you. And yeah, I’m sure everyone, you included, think I feel this way now because I lost my parents so young and I’m scared of losing you now that you’re getting married. But what’s been keeping me up at night since you announced your engagement are these images in my head of you loving another woman the way you’ve loved me all these years. And I know I’m slow on the uptake and I should have owned my feelings for you a long time ago. I can even understand why you’re angry with me, but you’re wrong. Tomorrow I will still be nursing a broken heart because I do love you, Colton Stone. Every year that love has compounded, but I kept that memory of us in the treehouse on the day of my parents’ funeral front and center in my mind to remind me that whatever horrible thing happens in my life, you’ll be there to see me through. But now, the horrible thing that’s happening to me is you marrying another woman and I haven’t been able to talk to you about how badly it hurts.” She pauses. “You can choose to believe me or not, but I’ve never lied to you.”
I hear the click of the door opening and closing behind her.
My chin falls to my chest and I stuff my hands into my pockets. The jagged corners of the necklace’s charm press against my fingertips. I take it out and twirl it in my hand.
Another knock on the door sounds behind me, followed by the creak of the door opening.
“It’s time, Colton,” Selene says.
I put the charm back into my pocket and turn to face her.
“You look very dashing,” she says.
I smile, although the last thing I feel right now is happy. “Thank you.”
I walk out of the room, out the door, through the garden, until I’m standing in front of the lines of white chairs. I smile at Preacher Reynolds and she smiles back.
Glancing around the small area, I see all the people who have witnessed me being raised in this town. All the Baileys, my second family, are sectioned together. Juno, pretending to be busy on her phone, sits with Jason next to her.
I try to picture myself in her position and I can’t. I’m not sure I could ever see her marry someone else.
The music starts, and as everyone turns to watch Brigette walk down the aisle, Juno looks at me. Our gazes lock and her green eyes reflect everything I’m feeling.
I shouldn’t have lashed out at her. To know Juno is to know how much it took for her to come to me.
Before I can blink, Brigette’s standing at the altar in front of me in her simple white dress with no veil. She looks like a bride, but she doesn’t beam. There’s no love between us. This is a business transaction. One I hoped to use to finally force myself to move on from the dream of Juno being mine someday. How did I think I could go through with this?
Preacher Reynolds smiles at us, and Brigette passes her bouquet to my mom since we opted not to have bridesmaids or groomsmen. Brigette holds out her hands and my gaze strays to Juno once again. She’s yet to actually look at the two of us, her head turned toward the ground as if she’s picking a piece of lint off her dress.
Brigette continues to hold her hands out for me to take so we can say our vows. “Colton?”
Fuck, I made a mess for myself.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t marry you.”
Brigette blinks rapidly a few times then nods. She doesn’t ask any questions. She just turns and walks down the aisle back into the Cozy Cottage B&B.
I hear a gasp from the crowd. All the guests’ eyes follow her before returning to fix on me.
“Colton?” my mom asks softly, concern thick in her voice.
I stand in front of our guests and swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m very sorry, everyone. There will not be a wedding today. I apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you all for coming.” I bow my head and walk down the aisle, past all the whispers. I stop at the end of the aisle. “Please stay and eat. The food is paid for already.”
I’m not sure what I expected to feel when I walked out of my wedding, but I sure as hell didn’t expect to feel relieved.
Nineteen
Colton
I knock on Brigette’s door, and she tells me to come in. She’s already taken down her hair, and she sits at the window that overlooks Selene’s garden.
I walk in, rubbing my hands together, and sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry.”
“You said that,” she says. “This is about Juno?”
“Yes… no… I don’t know.” It’s the truth. I’m not sure what will happen with Juno, but as I stood at that altar, I knew I couldn’t marry someone I don’t love. I do really want to help Brigette, she’s a friend, but if Juno is ready to confess her love to me, I can’t throw it away no matter how angry I am that she chose now to tell me.
“It’s funny. I almost didn’t show up this morning,” Brigette says, sounding resolved.
“Why?”
She turns in her chair to face me. “Because you love her. And I don’t say that out of anger, but I’m not an evil person, Colton. I can’t let you throw your entire life away just so I don’t have to go back to France.”
“But you did show up,” I say.
She nods. “I convinced myself that we’d come to some kind of agreement. Figure it out. Maybe we could tell Juno eventually. But that’s no life for you or her. I was just being selfish.”
“What will you do now?”
She shrugs, taking more bobby pins out of her hair. “Go back to France, I suppose, but first I think I might go on a date.”
“With who?” I figure it’s either Rhys or Jason. I’m not sure which one she likes.
“Rhys has been bringing his dog in a lot. We ran into each other last night and—”
I hold up my hand. “Say no more.”
Whatever she did is her own business. This was never a relationship.
“I’m not this person,” she says. “I’m sorry for ever putting you in this position.”