Chapter 45

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Rose

I CRUMBLED THE BUSINESS card in the sweaty palm of my hand before sticking it in my coat pocket. I knew I shouldn’t have been here, and I knew if Alex found out who I was meeting, he’d be more than just angry with me. But I needed to know. I remembered my aunt’s face that night, when I’d asked her if she’d ever had her heart broken. Her expression said it all. All this time, I was thinking she had a thing with Mr. Andrews in the past. What if it was this guy instead, and what if this guy was available, and she was able to get a second chance? I’d be giving her the best birthday by reuniting her with her one who got away. Of course, I was less than thrilled with the way I had to go about finding out this information, but as far as his son knew, I was here on business, and not for anything more. At least, that’s how I tried to come across in my phone call to him.

“Hello, Rose,” he greeted with a self-righteous grin as I approached him at the bar.

“Oh, hello.” I forced a smile back.

“I was getting worried. I’m leaving to go back to London soon, and I hadn’t heard from you. I was beginning to think I lost my touch.”

“Lost your touch?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…but…” My mind started going a mile a minute. When I called him, I had told him I wanted to talk about the magazine, but I was so wrapped up in prying some other details out of him, I didn’t even think of what business-related matters we’d discuss to make it look legit.

“Rose, it’s okay, you don’t have to make excuses. This is the perfect setup. I’m leaving in a few days, so I’ll be history, and you don’t have to worry, I won’t tell your boyfriend. Now, what will you have to drink?”

I shook my head as the guilt over being here alone with him washed over me. For some reason, he was a sore subject with Alex, and the only thing I was doing by not telling this guy the real reason I was here was intensifying the blow to Alex if he were to find out. “I don’t want anything. I didn’t come here to have a drink with you. I didn’t come here to talk business, and I didn’t come here to hook up with you. I’m very much in love with my boyfriend who’d probably never forgive me if he knew I was here with you right now.”

“That makes it all the more fun.”

“Look, I’m not interested in you! Not in the least! I came here tonight to find out…” I pulled the photo from my purse and placed it on the bar. “This man in this picture…is he your father?”

He picked it up and examined it closely. “Where’d you get this?”

“It was with my aunt’s old photographs. That woman in the picture is her, and I was just wondering what their connection was back then.”

He let out a sarcastic chuckle and eyed me up as if he was seeing me for the very first time. “And why do you care? Obviously this photograph was taken years ago. What are you trying to do, rekindle a lost love?”

“No, I didn’t say they were in love. I thought maybe if they were old friends then—”

“My father doesn’t need any more friends, old or new, and the same goes with old lovers. He’s in love with my mother and has been for the past thirty years.”

He had answered two of my questions with one answer. He was happily married and had been around the same time that picture was taken. So, chances were, they were just friends or acquaintances at best. He took me by surprise when he abruptly stood up and put on his coat, snatching the picture from the bar and placing it in his pocket, then walking away without saying a word. I sat there for some time, trying to figure out what had just happened. Why did he leave in such a hurry? Was he so full of himself that he had to throw a little hissy fit over my rejection? I pulled out my phone and was feeling guiltier by the second when I found a missed call and text from Alex.

Alex: I got done working earlier than expected. I was hoping to take you out to dinner before I leave tomorrow. Call me.

A wave of nausea overcame me, thinking about what I’d just done and how it could have potentially jeopardized my relationship with Alex. Was I so caught up in playing matchmaker to everyone else that I was willing to risk the best thing in my life?

“What can I get you to drink?” the bartender asked, breaking me from my inner turmoil.

“Oh, nothing. I was just leaving.” I stood up and started to text Alex back but decided to pay him a surprise visit instead. I needed to see him and tell him where I was tonight. I knew he’d probably be pissed at me, but I couldn’t keep this from him.

By the time I reached his place, I was wanting to bust. I needed to get this out and have him get angry with me, so then we could work it out and move on. I knocked on his apartment door, still not able to halt my apprehension when he answered with his hair still wet and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Wow, this is a surprise.” He smiled, opening the door farther as I took a step in. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips. On a normal day his towel would’ve been ripped off him and we’d already be having sex, but my unease over the fight that likely loomed once I spilled my guts was weighing heavily on my mind.

He kissed me again, this time with a little more vigor. I kissed him back just as eagerly before stopping myself. I had to get this out before we went any further. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was using sex to soften the blow.

“Alex, I need to tell you something.”

He backed away and stared down at me, clearly picking up on my anxiety.

“Okay, let me get dressed really quick.”

I nodded and stepped into the kitchen and got a glass of water, hoping to ease my churning stomach as I prepped for our first major battle. I took a sip and inhaled deeply. Trying my hardest to settle my nerves, I picked up the magazine on his counter and dropped all his other mail underneath it in the process. As I bent down to pick everything up, something caught my eye—a wedding invitation. My hands shook as I scooped it from the floor and keenly read it over.

Mr. Brock Donavan & Miss Alicia Frost request the honor of your presence…

This had to be some sick joke. The churning in my stomach intensified as I stood up on wobbly legs, never taking my eyes from the name printed on the invite.

“Okay, so what’s up?” Alex asked, stepping into the kitchen, fully clothed.

“Brock Donavan?” My voice faltered.

He gazed at the invitation in my hand and let out a frustrated breath. “Rose, I’m sorry. I know—”

“You know what, Alex? That you and your friend went out of your way to play this sick joke and make me look like a fool?”

“No.” He feverishly shook his head. “That’s not how it happened, or at least not what I wanted to happen.”

“Oh. Okay. It’s not what you wanted to happen, so I’m supposed to just forget all about it?”

“Please, Rose, just let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain, Alex!” I snapped. “You made a complete and utter fool out of me!” I wiped the tears rolling down my face with the back of my hand. “I’ll never forgive you for this!”

“Rose, please listen to me.” He inched closer, and I looked away.

Finally finding the courage to look at him, I concentrated on his eyes that were a shade of green I’d never seen before.

“No, I warned you about lying to me.” I looked down at the floor and shook my head. “And you know what’s even worse? I came here tonight to tell you something I was beating myself up over. Something I couldn’t bear to keep from you for even five minutes, and here you’ve kept this from me for months, and probably forever if I hadn’t seen that invitation. The same way you would’ve kept the fact you were married from me if your ex-wife didn’t show up and spill the beans.”

He raked his hand through his hair and looked away. “I know it was wrong, but I wanted to tell you.”

“Then why didn’t you?” I snapped.

“Because you—”

“Because I what, Alex? Because I would’ve thought you were a total asshole for doing it? Well guess what? You’re right! Not only do I think you’re an asshole, but you’re a liar, and we’re…over.”

His eyes widened. “Rose, don’t do this,” he whispered.

“I didn’t do anything, Alex. You did!”

I grabbed my coat and purse, needing to get away as quickly as possible. He clutched my wrists, pulling me toward him just as I reached the door.

“Don’t do this, Rose,” he pleaded.

Tears pricked my eyes as he tried to break down my resolve.

“Let me go!” I demanded.

“No! I can’t let you go because…I love you.”

It was like a dagger straight through my heart. Just an hour ago, I would have repeated those words back without hesitation. Now, I was too angry and too hurt to ever think of saying them to any man again, thanks to him.

“Well, you shouldn’t love me, because right now, I don’t like you at all.” My stomach clenched from the look of pain on his face.

He obeyed my wishes, removing the grip he had on my wrists and setting me free. Free to walk away from the one and only person to whom I’d ever had such an intense connection. Free to go on with my life and forget everything we had together. Free to never trust any other man again, because the first and only man I had ever loved broke my heart into a million pieces.