My place in Vegas was still an option. Maybe I’d head back toward the East Coast. I wouldn’t live in Maryland again, but I had a house in North Carolina. I could spend a few months in the Outer Banks figuring out my next move.
Or maybe I’d leave the country all together. I also had an apartment in Edinburgh, and if I wanted rain, Scotland wouldn’t disappoint.
“I’m going to say hi to Lyla and get some water,” Talia told Foster, patting his abs before heading to the counter.
Foster took a seat but his eyes stayed locked on his woman.
Talia smiled as Lyla slid a to-go cup to Kadence, the top nearly overflowing with whipped cream. Then as Kaddie returned to our table, Talia leaned in closer to talk to her twin.
Lyla had been about to ask me something earlier. As she spoke to Talia, her eyes flicked my direction, and with that quick glance, the flush of her cheeks, my stomach plummeted.
She did have a crush, didn’t she? How had I missed it? Did Eloise know?
“You all right?” Foster asked.
“Yeah.” I shifted my attention, watching Kadence as she sipped her hot cocoa. “Great.”
Maybe Lyla had mistaken my frequent visits to the coffee shop as interest. Lyla was a fantastic pastry chef. I liked her croissants. They reminded me of the ones our chef had made when I was a kid. But romantically? No.
Besides, I was already married.
The door’s bell chimed again, and a familiar face came inside. Vivienne, Kadence’s mother, walked to our table. Like me, she was new to Montana.
After her divorce from Foster, she’d been engaged to a guy in Vegas, but they’d recently split, so she’d moved here to be close to Kadence.
For years, Vivienne and Foster had been best friends. Their marriage had been a farce but they’d done their best for Kadence. Except last month, before the championship event, Vivienne and Foster had gotten into a huge fight.
Ever since, he’d been cold and distant, Foster’s grudge taking on a life of its own. I hoped like hell he wouldn’t hold one against me too.
God, I hated this. I hated the secret. I hated lying.
It wasn’t right. The longer this continued, the worse it would get. A month would be hard enough to explain. But two? Three?
One look at Foster and Vivienne, the two of them barely making eye contact, and I knew we couldn’t continue on this road. Not if I wanted to keep Foster’s friendship.
Fuck me. Eloise was going to be livid.
Vivienne and Foster traded details about Kadence’s schedule while Talia grabbed a lid for Kaddie’s hot chocolate. Then, after a tense goodbye, Vivi took her daughter’s hand and left the coffee shop.
“Are you going to be pissed at her forever?” Would he hate me someday too?
“No.” Foster dragged a hand through his hair. “Time to let it go, isn’t it?”
Talia took the empty seat beside him, holding out her hand.
Lyla wasn’t behind the counter. She must have ducked into the kitchen for something. Which meant if I wanted a captive audience with Foster and Talia, this was my chance.
I’d warned Eloise.
Her time was up.
I couldn’t keep this a secret any longer.
“Since you’re both here. I, um, need to talk to you about something.” Damn it to hell. This was going to be painful. I sat straighter, trying to find the right words. “I, uh, well . . . I fucked up.”
Not the right words. Shit.
“What happened?” Foster asked. He tensed. So did Talia.
“I sort of . . . I, um . . . fuck.” I rubbed my jaw, swallowing hard. Then I closed my eyes and blurted, “I married your sister.”
“What?” Talia’s jaw dropped. “You married Lyla?”
Lyla. Of course she’d think this was Lyla. Because she had a crush on me. While Eloise pretended I was a goddamn stranger.
“Uh, not exactly,” I muttered.
Another jingle sounded from the door, and then there she was. The source of my misery.
“Oh, uh, hi.” Eloise came to stand by Talia’s side. The color rose in her cheeks. Her eyes darted everywhere but at me.
How could she ignore me? I couldn’t tear my damn eyes away.
And that, well . . . that fucking pissed me off. If she called me sir, I was going to lose my ever-loving mind.
“Hi,” Talia said. “Jasper just told us that—”
“Oh my God, you told them?” Eloise shrieked. “How could you tell them? We agreed to keep this a secret until it was annulled!”
No, we’d agreed she was going to tell them.
“Wait.” Foster leaned forward, pointing between the two of us. “You two got married?”
I was about to explain, but Eloise kept on talking.
“Now everyone is going to find out. Gah! Damn it. I’m never drinking again.” She spun around, jogging for the door.
I shot out of my chair and chased. “Eloise, wait.”
She didn’t.
She just kept on running.
Again.
So I chased her down the sidewalks of Quincy.
Again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ELOISE
“Eloise.” Jasper’s hand wrapped around my elbow, stopping me before I could round the corner and disappear down the block toward my house. “Let me explain.”
“No.” I whirled, shaking loose his grip. “How could you do that? How could you tell them? We agreed to keep it a secret. Maybe you don’t care what people in Quincy think about you. But I do. This is my town. This is my home. This is my family. You told Talia. My sister. You are a thief, Jasper Vale. You are a thief.”
He’d robbed me of the chance to explain.
Gone was my opportunity to fix this. Gone was my hope to keep this quiet until I’d worked up the courage to tell my family the truth. I glanced across the street, toward The Eloise.
Did this mean my hotel was gone too?
My chin began to quiver, fury and frustration bubbling to the surface as tears. “This changes everything.”
“You said you’d tell them.”
“I didn’t, okay?” My hands flew out at my sides. “Not yet. I was going to but . . .”
But I was a coward.
“You should have checked.” I poked a finger into his chest. “You should have waited.”
“Fuck. I know.” He dragged a hand through his dark hair, and that was it. End of explanation.
“‘I know’？ Just . . . ‘I know’？” My hands balled into fists. Never, not once in my life, had I wanted to hit someone. Even as a child when I’d fought with Lyla or Talia over a toy. Even my freshman year of high school when Mateo had snuck into my room and read my diary. Today? I wanted to punch my husband in that handsome face.
“I’m sorry.” Jasper sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t plan on telling them. It’s been festering. We were sitting in the coffee shop and it just came out.”
“It just came out. Seriously? It just came out?”
We’d kept this a secret for a month. Jasper and I had avoided each other, relying on texts and emails for the few times we’d needed to exchange details. Otherwise, we let our lawyers do the speaking.
But today, it had just come out?
“I can’t believe this is happening.” My phone vibrated in my coat pocket. I pulled it out and turned it so Jasper could read Talia’s name too. “Would you like to answer this?”