Page 217 of The Reason I Married Him
“I guess not,” I say. I glance down at my menu, the words and letters all swirling together because I have this weird feeling he’s hiding something from me. It could just be my paranoia, though. “I guess we’ve never talked about those kind of things before.”
“Do you want to talk about those kind of things?” he asks me.
I shrug. “We don’t have to. I guess there isn’t much substance that would add to our situation by talking about exes, especially mine.”
“Because yours was a complete tool,” Wyatt says and then reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. He leans forward and kisses my knuckles before resting our connection on the table. “I think what’s in the past is in the past, and we should just leave it there.”
He lets go of my hand and returns to his menu, where I watch his eyes scan over it, his lips twisted to the side as he tries to decide.
What’s in the past is in the past . . .
Why does that feel like anything but someone who is over the past?
That sounds like something someone still living in the past would say.
Chapter Twenty
WYATT
“How do you like the pancakes?” I ask as Aubree takes another bite of the banana granola pancakes I suggested she order.
Mouth full, she looks up at me and smiles.
“That good, huh?”
She nods, and I lightly smile as I glance back down at my barely eaten omelet. It was nice running into Fallon and hearing how well she’s doing. I’ve known her for years. Since our grandpas were friends, we occasionally hung out at the Canoodle Cover Cabins. I didn’t even think about running into her, which was naïve of me because the town is so small. I should have known she’d ask if Aubree was Cadance, but I’ve been so consumed by what Aubree confessed to me this morning that I didn’t prepare myself for what the town might say to her.
And it hit me harder than I expected.
Just the mere mention of her name twisted my insides. But not twist in the way you’re probably thinking, as if I miss her, because I don’t. I don’t miss her self-importance or her need to always be right. I don’t miss her judgment of this cabin or thistown. I don’t miss the way she’d beg me to skip my deadlines and hang out with her. I don’t miss the way she’d constantly want me to stop everything for her because she considered her life more important than mine.
That twist, the nausea that climbed up my throat from the mention of her name, stemmed from the reminder of the heartache I suffered. A slap to the face, waking me up from the haze I’ve been in since yesterday when I took Aubree’s hand and made my vows to her. These feelings I have for Aubree are real. They’re so real that the fear of losing her crept through me while I was talking to Fallon.
She lifts her cup of tea and looks over the mug at me. “You seem like you’re thinking really hard,” she says.
“Why?” I ask, my eyes connecting with hers. “Is steam coming out of my ears?”
She chuckles and sips her tea. “Yes, the steam coming out of your ears rivals the steam from my tea.”
“Impressive. Didn’t think my brain could work that hard.”
She sets her cup down and picks up her fork. She’s sitting cross-legged, which I think is adorable, and she stuffed her cloth napkin in her shirt because apparently, she likes her pancakes drenched in syrup, and she didn’t want to get any drips on her clothes. Just made me like her that much more because I can see that she’s truly opening up now. She’s letting the walls down, something I’ve wanted her to do since day one.
“Care to share what you’re thinking about?” she asks, looking slightly insecure, and I know exactly why.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” I say.
“Why would I worry? Are you worried?”
“No.” I shake my head.
She sets her fork back down and leans in closer. “Are you thinking about Cadance?”
Yup, I knew what I said earlier wouldn’t stop her from asking about Cadance. Hell, it wouldn’t have stopped me from asking about one of her exes. I would have kept pestering her about it until she told me all about the fucker who hurt her.
But I just got Aubree to confess her feelings for me. She’s just starting to open up. The last thing I want to do is make her feel insecure about someone from my past, someone I’m trying to forget. I don’t want Aubree knowing that Cadance slightly broke me. I’m the strong one between us. Aubree’s been through so much. She needs a rock in her life, and I want that to be me. She doesn’t need to see the rock cracked and crumbling.
“Am I thinking about Cadance?” I repeat her question. “No, I’m not.”
