Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
His eyes hold mine for a beat. “You’re wrong. Let’s be real, Rebecca. You’re wrong.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I was happy. I was content. You’re still thinking about your ex-husband.” His eyes fill with tears. “I went through all the trouble to get a yellow diamond from Cancún. I’ve been working extra hours to help pay for it,” he whispers. “I wanted you to wear your dream ring.” He angrily wipes his eyes. “But it turns out, it was never your dream. It was only mine.”
Oh . . .
“Blake,” I whisper.
“You let his love taint mine,” he murmurs.
I screw up my face in tears.
“And I’ll never forgive you for it.” He turns and walks to the door.
“No, Blake, don’t go,” I stammer as I run after him. I grab his arm to try and stop him from leaving. “Stay. We need to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You’ve said all I need to hear.” He pushes past me out through the door.
“Blake, talk to me. Stop,” I call.
He’s visibly upset as he gets into the car, and I stand in front of it to try and stop him from leaving. “Blake. Calm down. I don’t want you driving like this.”
“Get the fuck out of my way!” he screams as his anger takes him over the edge. He begins to drive, pushing me backward. He’s going to run me over, he’s so angry.
“Blake, don’t.” I bang on his side window as he drives past me, but he doesn’t stop and he doesn’t look back as the car careens back down the driveway. The tears roll down my face as I watch it disappear into the distance.
Fuck.
What have I done?
Chapter 23
I drag my hand down my face and look around the deserted mountain.
I couldn’t have messed that up harder if I tried.
What was he thinking?
We are nowhere near ready to get married . . . are we?
This is a discussion that you have. You don’t just assume that someone wants to get married, for fuck’s sake.
I wait for a while, hoping that he’ll come back, and then eventually I go inside and catch sight of the ring box on the floor. I pick it up and open it. It’s a beautiful yellow cushion-shaped diamond. Exactly like the one that we saw on that woman in Cancún.
He remembered.
The vision of the ring blurs as the caustic tears fill my eyes.
Guilt fills me, and I grab my bag and take out my phone. I dial his number and wait for him to answer. He doesn’t.
“Blake, turn around and come back, please. We need to talk about this. We need to be together right now.”
I wait on the line, as if willing him to pick up the phone.
“Please come back.”
I hang up and begin to pace. This is a literal nightmare. I can’t even go after him. I don’t have a car, and I have no fucking idea where I am.
Oh my god.
He’ll come back; he wouldn’t leave me here.
He’ll come back when he cools down.
The scent of the roses is strong through the cabin. I open the fridge to see chocolate-coated strawberries and a bottle of champagne and two crystal flutes. I look around the cabin to see it covered in Blake’s love, and my heart hurts.
I don’t deserve him.
The lump in my throat is so big it’s nearly cutting off my air, and I wish it would because I deserve to suffocate in this guilt.
He hasn’t been lying. He was trying to surprise me, and all I’ve done is be a selfish cow.
I dial his number again with renewed purpose. “Blake. Please pick up. I need you to come back,” I whisper through panic. “I’m sorry. I need you to come back. Please forgive me. I did not handle that well, and I need you to come back.”
I hang up and begin to pace.
Please come back, baby. Please come back . . .
Thirty-five phone calls and two hours later, I hear a car pull into the gravel driveway.
He’s here.
I run to the front door and open it, and my face drops when I see Juliet and Henley.
“Where’s Blake?”
I look around for his car. Is he coming too?
Juliet gets out of the car, and her face falls when she sees my tearstained cheeks.
“Blake called us to come and get you,” she says softly.
My heart drops. “He’s not coming back?”
“No, Bec,” she says sadly.
I screw up my face in tears, and she pulls me into her arms. I cry into her hug.
“I didn’t know,” I cry. “He didn’t tell me.”
Henley walks past us into the house. He doesn’t say anything to me, and he doesn’t have to. It’s obvious he’s pissed.
I can feel his thermonuclear anger radiating out of him.
Juliet pulls me into the house and gasps as she looks around at the roses and the Marry Me sign. Her face screws up in tears too. “Poor Blake,” she whispers.