Memory of You (A Misty Cove Love Story) (3 page)

I sat in the other chair because my knees had weakened. “Have you ever... have you ever wondered why I did it, why I would walk away from the man I loved?”

“What do you think I have been doing every single day for the past five years?” He rubbed the side of his face, the way he used to when he was confused. “What you did to me was cruel. Instead of talking to me, you walked away. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to face all those people and not have an explanation why there would be no wedding?”

I swallowed hard and felt the tears at the back of my eyes grow hot. “I had my reasons. I walked away for a reason.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “But you're right, it was not right of me to walk away without talking to you.”

“So, why did you? What was so bad about me that you could no longer imagine a future with me?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve known each other since we were kids, we had experienced the best and worst moments together. We were best friends, dammit. I trusted you.”

“I saw you, Bryce. The night before our wedding, you decided to have a little fun, didn't you? That, Bryce, that's the reason why I walked away. I was too hurt to think straight.”

He shot to his feet, his eyes blazing. “Fun? What are you talking about?”

“You… you had sex with another woman a few hours before you were going to vow to be faithful to me.” My lips curled into a sarcastic smile. “That night, I wanted to see you one more time before the wedding. I came to your place and saw you. I saw you fucking someone else. Now, please, go ahead and tell me who actually hurt whom.”

The Adam's apple bobbed in his throat, but he didn’t say anything, his lips parting and then closing without a word coming out.

My heart tightened. “Looks like you have no explanation for that.” I shrugged. “Well, you have your answer. I guess there's nothing else left to say.”

He gazed at me for a long time. Then he stepped to the door, opened it, and walked out.

As I remained sitting, the pain I had experienced the night before our wedding returned and it was hotter than I even remembered, fueled by the fact that he hadn’t even tried to deny it. As memories of pain hit me wave after wave, I allowed myself to cry for a future that had been snatched out of my hands, a future with the one man I had really loved.

Milton had cheated on me, openly and often. Although it hurt, the pain could not be compared to Bryce’s betrayal. Milton had only broken half of my heart. Bryce had broken the whole.

When I finished crying, I looked out the window and saw Bryce’s truck still outside, him gazing in front of him into the darkness. I couldn't see his expression but his posture told me everything. He was still in shock. He clearly never expected me to find out.

I switched off the lights and went to bed.

Chapter Six

With a shopping basket hanging on my arm, I strolled down the aisle of
Jim’s Groceries
, trying to ignore the glares I got at each corner. The whispers followed me like a bad smell.

“She has the nerve to return after ripping that boy's heart right out of his chest.” The woman didn't even bother to whisper. Rose Peterson from Rose Beauty Parlor. At nearly forty, she looked exactly the way she had when I had left town. She still wore her blond hair in a sleek ballerina bun, and was still attached to her smoky eye makeup.

“That boy used to be a good boy,” she continued whispering to Mary Jane, the shopkeeper. “I heard that after she left, he found comfort in every willing woman’s bed, until he left as well.” She sighed and picked up a can of beans.

“And for him to return when she came back to town as well,” another customer added as she walked by, and the other women nodded.

I didn’t hear anything else they were saying. It all faded as my mind focused on what Lori had said about Bryce sleeping with countless women after I’d left. I couldn’t help feeling betrayed for a second time.

After leaving Misty Cove, I’d spent a year and a half trying to get over him, pushing away any man that showed interest in me, grieving him. I couldn’t believe that he’d simply gone on to celebrate his singlehood. I’d broken his heart, they said. If only they knew what their golden boy had done to me, to
my
heart. He was so lucky I wasn’t one to go around laying out my dirty laundry.

I stopped at the produce section, trying to calm down. And to think I'd come back home to heal.

To get away from the women’s bad energy, I took what I needed and went to pay in silence, all the while feeling the stabbing glares on my back. I forced myself to move on, looking forward to going back home and hiding in the pages of a nice novel.

As I hopped onto my bike a few minutes later, I decided I would not let those women and their gossip get to me. I was not going anywhere. Christmas was around the corner. It would be the most difficult day to get through, but I would survive, even on my own.

Eventually I would sort out the mess between me and Bryce, and we would both be able to live in Misty Cove, leading our separate lives. But the thought of watching him date other women made my heart feel like lead, hot lead that burned my chest.

Chapter Seven

Linda Gayle gave me Christmas Eve off. I’d been working myself to the bone for weeks and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. What she didn’t realize was that working helped me cope. It distracted me.

Now, as I sat on the couch with the TV on mute, eating my carrot cake, I had never felt lonelier. For the first time in my life, I was spending Christmas alone. Erin would have spent it with me, but she was celebrating with her on-and-off boyfriend, Trevor—one of the Laclaire brothers. I remembered the seven brothers well, who thought because they owned half the businesses in Misty Cove and nearby towns, they also owned every beautiful woman. They changed women like they would underwear.

I hoped Erin didn’t get hurt for dating Trevor, who was apparently only back in town for Christmas before returning to Nashville to chase the limelight. He was a singer in a band.

But who was I to judge? It wasn’t as though I had made the best choices when it came to dating. I only hoped Erin got whatever she wanted out of her romance with Trevor Laclaire. They had been dating on and off since high school. Whenever he was in town, they were a pair.

I thought back to high school, when Bryce and I had been the only couple that stuck together as others searched for love in different places. We were unshakeable. We had been so in love that all our plans included the other. Not wanting to be apart, after graduating from high school, we both applied to the same colleges. We were lucky that the University of Florida accepted both of us. We packed our bags and shared a dorm room for four years, living like a married couple would.

My lips curled into a bittersweet smile as both warmth and pain filled my chest.

I hadn’t talked to Bryce since the day I had told him the truth about why I had walked away from our future together. He never showed up at my door again, and when we bumped into each other in town, we were like strangers. We went about our business, pretending we didn’t feel the pain of seeing each other. But that was all we felt. At least that’s how it was for me. I saw him three days ago, buying Christmas decorations at the holiday market. I pretended not to see him while I bought candy apples from a stall.

I chewed on my lower lip, watching the Christmas lights of a neighboring cottage blink, muted by the sheer curtains draped over the living room window facing the street—red, green, and yellow twinkles. Christmas had always held a special place in my heart. As a child I made myself believe that it was a magical time and the wishes made on that day would come true. One of them almost did. Every Christmas when I was young, I had wished that one day I would be Mrs. Bryce Colman.

The Christmas we graduated from college and we were back in Misty Cove, Bryce had told me to cancel any plans. The only plans I’d had were the same ones I had every Christmas since childhood. Enjoying a nice Christmas dinner with Gran and some of the homeless people she had always welcomed into her home for the holiday, and then continuing the celebration with Bryce and his family. This time he wanted us to spend it alone. How could I resist?

He’d taken me to a cottage he had rented for the night. A cottage he had spent days decorating with all things we loved to have for Christmas. That night he had proposed to me and we spent the rest of it making love until morning, when the news spread like wildfire. People were not surprised.

That night was one I swore I would never forget. Well, I never did forget it, but when I remembered it now, the memories were broken and wrapped in a blanket of pain.

I placed my plate next to me on the couch. There was no way I could eat anything now. I missed Gran so much. She would have made it all better, the way she did when she visited me in New York and saw the pain on my face, signs of a broken marriage. She had tried to talk me into divorcing Milton even after his diagnosis, but she understood my hesitation.

I tucked my feet under me and closed my eyes, listened to the sounds of laughter and music filtering in from outside. I remembered the aromas of cinnamon and home-cooked meals. I heard Gran’s soft, loving voice whispering, “Merry Christmas, Angel” into my ear on Christmas morning. It was hard to believe that those days were gone forever. Now I was alone and had lost everything but this cottage and the memories.

A tear slipped down my cheek as I stood and pulled back the curtains. The Christmas lights were now blurry through my tears. The street was clear, apart from a wild dog that was trying to tip over a garbage can. I listened to the sounds coming from the other cottages, carried on the night breeze to come and taunt me.

As I was about to pull the curtains closed again, deciding to head off to bed, a pickup truck pulled up on the opposite side of the road. I caught my breath when I saw Bryce step out and cross the street, headed for my cottage. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. His steps were just as I remembered them, graceful and controlled. The twinkling lights made the edges of his hair glow as if a halo hovered above his head.

My throat tightened as I backed away from the window, wiping away my tears. For a few heartbeats, I paced around the room, not knowing what to do. What was he doing here?

The doorbell rang before I could figure out the answer.

I opened the door with shaking hands. If he came here looking for an argument, I was too weak and emotional for one.

“Hi,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm even though inside I was a mess, my heart beating out of control, my head dizzy from the sight of him.

He didn’t even smile, simply gazed at me with his intense eyes. “I’m assuming you’re spending Christmas alone?” His voice was firm and devoid of emotion.

I bit my lip and nodded. Why did I feel guilty for being alone? “No,” I lied. “I’m…”

“Come with me.” His voice had a finality to it that told me he was not going to take no for an answer. Those were the exact words he’d said the night he had proposed to me. Only they had been swathed in love then.

Without thinking, I grabbed a cream cardigan from the back of the door and pulled it over my black tank top. Good thing I hadn’t changed out of my jeans. I slipped on a pair of sandals before heading out the door. I wanted to ask him where he was taking me, but my mouth was too dry and my throat too tight to allow me to speak.

By the time I locked the cottage, Bryce was already inside his truck behind the wheel.

I hesitated briefly at the passenger’s door before opening it. But I did.

As I clicked my seat belt into place, I found the courage to talk. “Where are we going?”

Why would he still want to be in my presence after I had told him I knew about him cheating on me. If I’d cheated on someone, I’d be uncomfortable about seeing them. Another thing I couldn’t wrap my head around was why he looked so angry when it was him who had destroyed us, not me. He made me feel as if I was still the bad guy.

“You’re spending Christmas with me,” he said, glancing at me before starting the truck.

“Why would you… why are you doing this? I’m fine spending Christmas alone.”

He didn’t respond for a moment as he slid out of the parking space. He gazed ahead but I could see the twitch at the side of his jaw. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.

“You seem to forget one thing,” he said. “You and I were friends before we were anything else.”

Friends. That was what we had been, and was one of the reasons it had shattered me to discover he had betrayed me. I had been more than a fiancéee to him. We were bound in more ways than one. We had been friends since we were kids, first lovers in high school, college sweethearts, and eventually an engaged couple. I had believed that the foundation of our friendship would strengthen our romantic relationship. But I had been wrong.

Anger roiled inside the pit of my stomach as I watched him. “Bryce, it was you who forgot that.”

“Sure,” he said pithily and I had to swallow my anger.

I wanted to scream bloody murder, but I couldn’t help being touched that after everything that had happened, he cared enough to want to spend Christmas with me.

There was nothing more between us. We had grown and changed in different ways, but maybe tonight we could try and be friends again or something close to it. Even though I didn’t know how we would get past the pain.

“Thanks… for doing this,” I said, because it seemed the right thing to do. Arguing at Christmas didn’t seem right.

“I’m not doing it for you.” His words were edged with steel. “Gran would not want you to be alone tonight. I’m doing it for her.”

Bryce had always called my grandmother Gran because she’d insisted on it. He had been a part of the family.

I swallowed the lump inside my throat. I had no idea how to think or feel anymore as I turned my head to gaze out the window. “I don’t understand why you’re angry, Bryce. You hurt me and yet you’re the one acting like an ass.”