Take Three (The Jilted Bride #2)(61)

“Selena, I—”

“Don’t tell me you’re leaving…” she frowned.

“No…No, I’m not leaving. I’ll be here for as long as you’re here, but I need to tell you that—”

“Great! Do you want to go to the movies with me tonight?”

“Not really, but I take it that you do?”

“Yes! There’s a new romantic comedy out!” her eyes twinkled.

“Then I don’t have much of a choice do I?” I bent down and kissed her.

“Nope, you really don’t.”

I am officially a coward…

My phone rang. Barry.

“Where have you been, man? I’ve been calling you for a week.”

“Sorry. I’ve been meaning to get back to you. I’ve been busy.”

“Busy doing what? Don’t answer that. I don’t even want to know. I was just calling to congratulate you on the Fortune cover. Kate ran across it in the supermarket yesterday. They did a pretty good article on you.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t going to come out until December?”

“December? November? What’s the big deal?”

“I’m undercover! Won’t that blow the whole operation?”

“Dude, you were on an undercover assignment—weeks ago. Now you’re just down there because you want to have fun. Relax. You know they always put magazines out early in Boston anyway. What are the chances of a set being shipped early to Fayetteville? You’re being paranoid. Call you later. Gotta go.”

It was inevitable. I had to tell her. Tonight.

Chapter 23

Selena

I wanted to show Ethan I could compromise. Since he always let me get my way, I wanted to show him that I could bend to him sometimes too.

I’d spent all week working on a box of small gifts, hoping he would like it when I gave it to him later tonight. I hoped that after he read my handwritten note he would tell me he felt the same way I felt.

I walked down the games aisle at CVS and picked up a set of Uno cards for his gift box. I picked up two bottles of apple cider from the endcap and headed for the register.

“Good to see you back in your element hun,” the clerk smiled. “Try to come back more often. Okay?”

“I will, Miss Kline.”

“I don’t care what those papers said. You’re still our sweetheart. Is this it for you today?”

“Yeah, I think that’s—” I spotted Ethan’s face on the cover of a Fortune magazine.

What in the world is this?

“You want that magazine too?”

“Yes, please.”

I grabbed my things once she bagged them and went outside. I sat on a bench and took out the magazine.

It was definitely Ethan, Ethan Lockwood, “The Entrepreneur of the Year.”

I flipped to the first page of the cover story and read: “Ethan Lockwood is so committed to the twenty billion dollar powerhouse that is Autumn Wonder that our staff had to meet him in Fayetteville, Arkansas to take the photo for this cover.

“What brought him to Fayetteville, Arkansas you ask? Staking out the competition. Autumn Wonder’s trademarked goods, the customized local items that can be found in each bakery needed to be better tuned for the Southern state menus, so much so that his board had him pose undercover at a local expansion site for six weeks.

“Mr. Lockwood’s ability to infuse a sense of familiarity into each region’s Autumn Wonder is what sets his company apart from its heated rival, Starbucks. He credits his best friend Barry Worthington, 29, (who happens to be founding partner and current CFO) with helping him to achieve his dream of owning the largest coffee shop in the world.”

I scanned the rest of the article, seething at each word I read, at each truth that juxtaposed the lies he’d been giving me.

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.

I read it over and over, trying to make sure that the words weren’t playing tricks on me.

I felt the sudden urge to cry, but I couldn’t get a single tear to fall.

I was too angry.

I called Joan. “Did you already tell Mr. Hines that I declined to be in Sweet Tennessee?”

“No. He only answers his phone between seven and nine in the morning. I was going to—”

“I want to take the role now…Can you charter a jet for me and my mom? We need to leave tonight.”

“I’ll get everything set up.”

I closed my phone and leaned back on the bench.

Here I was, thinking that I’d finally found someone who honestly cared about me, someone who nearly loved me, but I’d just been a fool. Again.

I wanted to leave Ethan behind in Fayetteville and disappear—never giving him the chance to wonder what happened to me or why I’d left, but I wasn’t the type to let anyone get away without knowing that I’d been hurt.

I took my time driving outside the city, showing up to the address he’d given me for our date.

The house was small and rather quaint. It was white with light blue shutters and a concrete porch that was covered in clay potted plants.

I didn’t make any attempts to hide my tears when I rang his doorbell.

“Hey Selena,” Ethan answered the door and ushered me inside. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”