Page 41 of Seven Summers Ago
“Then don’t,” I mutter.
“But it’s not like you two are actually married. It’s just a piece of paper.”
“A legal piece of paper,” I correct with a cold glare.
He leans the piece of wood against the siding of the house, running his palm down his thigh. “Whatever. You know what I mean. You haven’t even spoken for seven years. Hell, she had a kid and didn’t tell you.”
In my head, all that he’s saying makes sense. But in my heart—well, that’s a different story. “Do you have a point?” I grit my teeth.
“Yeah, man, I do. Women text all kinds of stupid shit when they’re drunk.”
I shake my head. “Not Rosie.”
“I love Rosie, but yeah, even your precious Rosie. Her man isn’t here. She was drunk and probably just wanted to get laid.”
My skin prickles as my body heats. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Fine. Maybe not.” Milo swipes his coffee off the railing and puts up his free hand in surrender. “So…what did you say back?”
I adjust the ballcap on my head and tug it lower, feeling some residual regret. “Uh…I may have told her I still love her too.”
Milo’s eyes widen.
“Yeah,” I mutter, then give my head a subtle shake. “Not in those exact words. But something like…I’m trying not to love her.”
“Bro,” he breathes out. “Do you? Still love her?”
I raise my brows at my brother. Now who is the dense one? I never moved on after Rosie left. I haven’t even seriously dated anyone.
“Right,” he replies, tilting his head and putting his cup to his lips. “Okay, well that’s that, I guess. Now what’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one. Not one that includes Rosie. That ship sailed.” I turn and face the beach. The fog is beginning to thin and there’re people running and a kid with a woman building a sandcastle. “The only plan I need to make is with Charlie. Nothing else matters.”
“It’s a solid thought. But I know you, and the love you have for Rosie isn’t going to just go away. Especially since you’re going to have to see her more often, ya know, because of the kid.”
I spin back around to face him. “I don’t have a choice,” I say, anguish crawling up my throat. “She’s marrying someone else.”
We make eye contact and Milo’s gaze hardens. I instantly feel like a dick. But Milo and I aren’t just brothers. We’re best friends. And if you can’t snap at your best friend without it rolling off their back, then you weren’t really friends to begin with.
He clamps his mouth shut, knowing when to stop pushing me. He picks up the wood again and opens the back door, pausing before going inside the cottage. “I hate to point out the obvious yet again, but she can’t marry someone else if she’s still married to you.”
I watch him go before I move to the railing. Setting my coffee down, I grip the edge and inhale a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before releasing it. I do it again. In and out. The wood beneath my hands bites at my palms.
The ocean mist touches my face, and I open my eyes and inhale and exhale one more time. My gaze drifts to the water and I study the waves as they crash onto the shore, my spiked nerves diminishing. My brain is telling me that I need to sign the divorce papers that have been sent to me countless times over the past year. But my heart is telling me to hold on.
Hold on for what though, I don’t know.
We finish the build-out on the kitchen island and get the countertop mounted and I call it a day. The painters couldn’t get to it until tomorrow and we can’t wait. Besides having a calendar packed full of jobs, I only have a few days to spend with Charlie before she returns to Seattle.
Milo’s got back-to-back voice lessons tonight, so I send him home while I clean up and put away our tools. He’ll be distracted the rest of the week. He’s booked a recording studio in LA at the end of the week for a single he hopes to release on Spotify. The following day he’s got tryouts for some new reality TV show for musicians.
After I slide in behind the wheel of my Chevy, I pull up Rosie’s contact info on my phone and blow out a breath before I hit the call button.
She picks up after only the first ring. “Hey? Everything all right?”
“Are you free tonight?” I ask into the phone, then quickly correct myself. “I’d like to see Charlie. If that’s okay?”
“Yeah, sure. She’d love that. What did you have in mind?”
