Page 233 of The Reason I Married Him
“Wallace, leave her alone,” Wyatt says.
Cadance takes that moment to step up to Wyatt and place her hand on his chest. My eyes narrow in on the touch, and I’m simultaneously ready to rip her away and throw up from the rapid emotions running through me.
“Wyatt, I know I hurt you, but marryingher. . . we all know it was a revenge marry. You can’t possibly be serious about this.”
Insult rips through me as I take a step back. What does she mean by “marrying her”? What’s so wrong with me that the possibility of me marrying Wyatt seems so far-fetched?
Sure, I might not be as well put together as she is.
And my hair isn’t as sleek.
My body isn’t as curvy.
But . . . but . . .
My dad’s voice pops into my head.
You will never amount to anything.
You’re a waste of my time.
Could you do something with your hair? You look like a drowned rat.
I’ll be shocked if anyone ever finds you attractive . . .
I bite down on the corner of my lip as I take a step back, my most personal insecurities taking hold of me as my lungs grow tight, my throat constricts, and my deepest hatred of myself rises.
“I am serious,” Wyatt says, moving Cadance away and making eye contact with me. “Aubree, don’t listen to them.”
“Don’t listen to them?” I ask as I take another step back. “Who should I listen to? You?”
“I wouldn’t,” Wallace says. “He’s only using you to get what he wants. Did you even know he was set to marry Cadance two months ago? That the only reason he didn’t was because Cadance didn’t think she could trust him at the time.”
“What?” Wyatt says, looking toward Cadance. “That’s why you fucking left me?”
My stomach grows sick with anxiety and uncertainty.
“You were off and on the whole week,” Cadance says. “Anytime I tried to talk to you about our marriage, about our future, about your past, you evaded me with answers that were never deep. Never to the point. You beat around the bush about everything. How could I trust you if I felt like I didn’t even know you?”
And the truth in that feels so freaking real because that’s what he’s done to me. He’s casually moved around real answers for me. He’s skated on the surface, never giving me his full self, hence why I didn’t know about Cadance.Who he was fucking engaged to only two months ago. What the hell?How did he think thatthe past can stay in the pastwhen it’s only been weeks since they separated?
He wants me to tell him about my emotions, about my past, but doesn’t want to return with the same respect? Instead, I have to be confronted about it in town, making me feel so much worse than I could imagine.
“That’s bullshit,” he says, arguing with her. But why? Why is he arguing? Is it because he still has feelings for her? I mean, he has to, right? He was going to marry this woman two months ago.
Two freaking months.
That means . . . when he came to Almond Bay, he was fresh on heartbreak. He never showed it. Never spoke about it.
“I talked to you all the fucking time,” Wyatt says. “I told you everything.”
Well, at least he talked to someone.
“It was surface level, Wyatt.”
“The fuck it was,” he says, his anger something I’ve never seen before.
“Then why didn’t you fight for me?” she asks, folding her arms over her chest.
