My Favorite Souvenir(49)

Was I really justifying forgiving Brady because a fictional character who had great taste in shoes did the same?

A part of me knew if I hadn’t had the experience with Milo, I would be much more open to the idea of letting Brady back into my heart. But a part of my heart was with someone else now—a man I knew virtually nothing about in “real life.”

I decided to pay a visit to my friend Felicity, who was still home recovering after her car accident. She had no clue about what an adventure my trip had turned out to be.

On the drive to her house, I gave Brady’s mother a call. I hadn’t spoken to her in a while, and given everything she was going through with the Lyme-disease diagnosis, it was time I checked in. After all, it wasn’t her fault her son screwed up. She had been like a mother to me—more so than my own, who continued to travel the world with my dad.

I put my phone on speaker mode and dialed her.

She picked up. “Hazel!”

“Hey, Terry.”

She cleared her throat. “It’s so good to hear from you. How was your trip?”

“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to call. The trip was great. It was…necessary. Soul-cleansing, really. Thank you for asking.”

“I’m so glad to hear.”

“But more importantly, how are you feeling?”

“Better. Not a hundred percent. But better. You know, they say stress can exacerbate symptoms of chronic diseases. I have to admit that my foolish son doing what he did to you put me in a very bad place. I think that’s what led to my symptoms.”

I frowned. “Oh, I hope not.”

“Well, you know you’re like a daughter to me. I was very sad when Brady canceled the wedding.”

“Oh, Terry. Please don’t be. Everything happens for a reason. I feel like I understand that a little more now.”

She let out a breath into the phone. “Please don’t give up on him, Hazel. As much as he might deserve that, you have to remember that Brady was very hurt when his father and I divorced. It took him many years to get over it. I think he has a huge fear of history repeating itself.”

That had definitely crossed my mind—that Brady had his reasons, ones that may not have been about me. But it was hard not to take everything personally.

I sighed. “I get that.”

“He and I have had some time to chat while he’s been looking in on me. Now, I know I shouldn’t be violating my son’s trust, but fuck it, he lost the right to my full protection when he did you wrong. I can tell you with absolute certainty that his decision was completely fear-based. He’s afraid to bring a child into this world only to have a marriage end in divorce. He feels like he needs to be absolutely sure.”

“Well, I agree with needing to be sure. And I think he made the right decision to not go through with marrying me if he wasn’t sure.”

“But here’s the thing, darling. He is sure now. I don’t agree with how he handled things to get to that point, but I can tell you he’s never regretted anything more in his life than the decision to let you go.”

Mixed emotions started to bubble inside of me.

I pulled up to Felicity’s. “I’d better let you get some rest. I just got to my friend’s house, in any case.”

“Okay, have fun. Please keep in touch.”

“I don’t want you getting overly stressed about this. Okay, Terry? Take care of yourself and know that Brady and I are taking things slow again. We’re focusing on rebuilding the friendship we had when our relationship started. If we’re meant to be together, I’m sure fate will find a way to fix us.”

“I sure hope so, honey. Because he’ll never find anyone else like you.”

? ? ?

After spending the better part of an hour telling Felicity about Milo and all of the places we visited, she was still sitting there with her mouth hanging open. I helped fold some of her laundry while we talked.

“I can’t believe the entire time you were away, I was feeling sorry for you, thinking you were in Vail, wallowing over the fact that the wedding never happened. Never in a million years would I have imagined you were gallivanting around with a sexy stranger.”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t what I expected to come out of that trip, either,” I said as I matched her socks.

She sat up straighter on bed. “Will you ever see this guy again?”

“That’s the thing. He booked us a room at the hotel where we stayed in New Orleans for three months after the time we were there.”

“Whoa. So, like, you’re supposed to show up and see if he does the same?”

“Yeah, unless something changes—unless he doesn’t want to see me for some reason or vice versa.”

“That’s exciting. Like something out of a movie.”

“Exciting unless one of us doesn’t show.”

“So, the whole time you guys called each other by your fake names?”

“Yep.”

“You never got his real name?”

I shook my head. “That was part of the fun. I’m sure if we end up reuniting, I’ll tell him my name. It was just too much fun being Maddie Hooker—much more fun than Hazel Appleton.”

“Hooker! What a name.” She laughed. “But what if this guy had been dangerous? You really took a chance.”