Page 29 of Grumpy Spring Sunshine
My heart stuttered before it shattered.
I lost her.
That quickly.
Because I was an ass who couldn’t seem to do a damn thing right.
She deserved someone like him, not me. Not someone who would dim her sunshine. She needed someone who would make it flourish, not put it out.
“What is it?”
“I can’t watch this, Cassidy. She’s made her choice. She’s moved on. Obviously, she’s much closer to her friend than she led me to believe and she chose him. I refuse to be the man to kill her brightness because I’m too much of a grump.”
“Keith,” she told me, shaking me by my arms, “you are not the grump you think you are. Okay, you can be, but you’re not with her. I wish you could see what I’ve seen over the last few weeks.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you think Kylie called me? Because she saw her cousin in a different light and she kept sharing it with me. My word, brother, you smiled more than I have ever seen you smile. You think you’re killing her brightness, you’re not. She’s making you far more alive than you ever have been. And don’t you dare let her through your fingers.”
She turned, looking through the window and her demeanor shifted.
“She is not fucking dating Caleb, I can you tell that, right now.”
“How do you know him?”
“Of all the fucking towns he has friends in, it’s this one. The one my brother lives in. Just fuck my life. Look, I can’t deal with that asshole, but you can go fight for your woman or I’m telling mom all the shit we talked about, and you can deal with her.”
I paused, looking at my sister with a raised brow. Something was going on and I was going to figure it out.
“How do you know him?” I repeated.
“He lives in Bearhug Valley, Alaska. You know, the town I live in and always try to get you to come visit. Yeah, I know Caleb. Now,” she said, shoving me, “go fight or mom will be on the next flight out.”
“God, you’re mean.”
But I squared my shoulders, not because of the threat. Okay, not all because of the threat, I didn’t need to hear from my mom. Because Cassidy was right. I needed to fight for my woman.
I needed to show her I was all in.
I needed to show her my heart.
I needed to show her we were perfect.
Or die trying.
Chapter 16
Brittani
“You can’t make rash decisions when you’re like this, Brittani? How many times do we have to do this?”
You can when you’re with someone that you shouldn’t be because they are your exact opposite. It really was doomed and it wouldn’t last forever, so yeah, I wanted to leave.
However, I groaned as I finally pulled away, wiping my eyes. I hated that he was right. I wanted to burn everything down in New York when everything blew up and he forced me out to Alaska to cool down and to think straight. I was on a travel website and actually saw pictures from a couple of people about Storyville and I said that’s it. That’s where I wanted to go.
And it’s where I ended up.
Now I’m complaining about my life and wanting to burn it all again.
