Page 59 of Let Me Keep You

Gemma slams her palm on the table. “Why do you insist on driving me crazy?”

“How am I driving you crazy? I’m sitting here and trying to eat. So either join me or go back to your fiancé.”

“Is that what your damn problem is? You left, and years later, I finally moved on and found a man who loves me. Now you’re hell-bent on…what exactly?” She throws up her arms, flustered. “Making me jealous? What was I supposed to do, wait for you forever? You barrel back into town and⁠—”

“And what?” I snap. Pushing to my feet, I walk until I’m standing in front of her. “I’m not trying to make you jealous. Katie and I decided to be only friends, but I never said otherwise because you didn’t ask. But if you’re second-guessing your loyalty to your fiancé, then that’s on you and was happening way before I came back. So, think about that instead of accusing me of being the problem.”

“I never said you were the problem…” she mutters.

“So there’s a problem?” I ask. “Does he always act like he did Saturday night?”

She lowers her gaze. “No. I mean, not really. He doesn’t have a bad temper, but he’d been drinking and was frustrated.”

I step back slightly and cross my arms to stop myself from reaching out and touching her. “Over what?”

Gemma shakes her head and attempts to walk away, but I grab her arm and gently pull her back. “Tell me.”

“He wants to move the wedding to November instead of March.”

I swallow hard as the vein in my throat threatens to burst. “How come?”

“He thinks we’ve been engaged long enough and doesn’t want to wait anymore.”

Closing the gap between us, I tilt her chin up until her eyes lock with mine. “And what do you want?”

“I thought I knew, but now I’m second-guessing myself.” Her voice sounds so broken that I’m tempted to lower my mouth to hers and take away the pain. But I know that’d only cause more harm than good.

“Follow your heart, Gemma. You can’t go wrong then. Whatever your gut is telling you, believe it.” Cupping her face, I press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Then I do the hardest thing I’ve done in years and walk away so I don’t do anything stupid.

Slowly but surely, Gemma’s weaving herself back into my heart as if no time ever separated us, except she’s not mine to have anymore. I gave her up, and now we’re both paying the price of the heartache.

After work, Gemma’s nowhere to be found, which is a good thing. With what happened during lunch, we both need the reminder that she’s engaged to another man.

Even worse, I don’t have time to lose myself working out because I have a conference call with Serena, Eric, and the prosecutor to discuss the deposition. Serena agreed to be on the call to help me make an educated decision.

When I’m finished showering, my phone dings with a text from Serena.

Serena

Ready? They’re supposed to call in ten minutes.

Tyler

Ready as I’ll ever be.

Serena

Good. Let me do the talking so you don’t unintentionally spill any information he doesn’t need, just to be safe.

Tyler

Got it.

Then I send her a zipped-lip emoji, and she sends a laughing one in return.

Thankfully, Everleigh isn’t home, so I can have some privacy. I don’t want her knowing the details of what’s going on just yet.