CHAPTER THREE
2091 Words
CHAPTER THREE
Ashley circled her sedan around the business complex in Briarwood for the third time. But not because she was having difficulty finding a place to park. With most of the offices concluding their business day an hour earlier, empty spaces abounded. Her reluctance to go inside stemmed from a case of nerves. The thought of seeing Brett again filled her with angst.
Her former fiancé’s SUV sat directly in front of the real estate attorney’s office. She wondered how long he’d been there and whether he was irritated that she hadn’t shown up yet. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard: 5:59 p.m. One minute left until their scheduled appointment. She couldn’t put off the meeting any longer.
Sighing, Ashley pulled her sedan into the space one car down from Brett’s SUV. She’d been told by an administrative assistant that the buyers of the home she’d shared with her ex-fiancé would sign the closing documents first. She hoped they were finished by now. She wanted to get in and out of the office as fast as possible.
As she pushed her car door open, her cell phone chirped. A text message. She glanced at the screen.
Where are you?
The message was from Brett. She guessed she’d received her answer as to whether or not he was annoyed. She stuffed her phone back into her purse and headed up the winding sidewalk to the entrance of the real estate attorney’s office. She stopped outside the raised-panel door and took a deep breath, wishing she had thought to ask whether it would have been legal for her to sign the forms by email.
Crossing the threshold, she scanned the room. Her stomach knotted when Brett’s brown puppy dog eyes locked with hers. He sat alone in the traditionally furnished waiting area, handsome as ever in his charcoal gray suit and burgundy tie. She could tell his dark hair had recently been trimmed.
He stood. “It’s good to see you, Ashley,” he said, a wistful tone in his voice.
Maybe he wasn’t too irritated with her after all.
“You too,” she replied, out of politeness rather than a desire to be reunited.
Standing next to him, the warm scent of his cologne encircling her, she felt her heart break all over again. As though she was just now finding out that the love of her life had been unfaithful. She fought the tears threatening her eyes as she sank into the leather wingback chair next to the sofa where Brett had been sitting.
“How’s the academy going?” he asked, returning to his seat.
“Good.”
A one-word answer was the most she could muster. She knew it was impolite not to ask about his life as well, but she didn’t trust herself to speak. She feared her voice would break. That her tears would flow.
The inner door to the waiting room pushed open and Ashley looked up to see an attractive older woman with graying hair, her hand on the knob.
“Mr. Holbrook, Ms. Hope, we’re ready for you now,” the woman said.
Ashley was relieved to be rescued from the t*****e of small talk with her ex-fiancé. She followed the woman down a long corridor, Brett close behind. At the end of the hallway, the woman motioned them toward an open door.
The closing attorney, a short man with wire-rimmed glasses, was already inside the small conference room. Three stacks of papers topped the table before him. Ashley assumed one stack contained the original documents they would sign and the other two were copies for Brett and herself.
She shook hands with the attorney and then took her place at the table. She could feel the heat from her former fiancé’s body as he sat next to her, mere inches separating them. The attorney’s words floated past her, their meaning lost, as she reflected on her life with Brett. The closeness they’d once shared. The visions she’d had for their future. For a while, it had felt like she was living in a fairytale, as though it was the two of them against the world. She remembered the day they’d moved into the exquisite two-story home on Marigold Court—the exclusive neighborhood where she’d planned to raise a family. Now, the house would foster someone else’s dreams.
The attorney flipped to the last page of the closing documents. A pang of sadness struck her as she signed and dated the line above her printed name. With all the required signatures collected, the attorney thanked them and then handed them their copies of the forms.
And just like that, it was over. The last tie binding her to Brett severed.
She kept her head down as she hurried back through the corridor and waiting room. With her former fiancé at her heels, she jerked the entrance door open and bolted down the sidewalk heading for the parking lot.
“Ashley, wait!” Brett called from behind her.
She slowed her pace but refused to turn around. Didn’t want him to see her cry.
A second later, he was at her side. “Can we talk for a minute?” he asked. “Please?”
There was nothing left to discuss. She’d heard everything he had to say—more than once. Still, choking back a sob, she felt herself nod an agreement. She stopped next to her sedan and leaned her back against the driver’s door.
“I’ve missed you, Ash,” he said.
The same words he’d texted several times before. Words that no longer felt genuine.
Steeling herself against the pain, she tilted her head up and met his gaze. “Is that all you wanted to say?”
“Don’t be like that. You know I still love you.”
“I’m not sure you really understand what love is.” His version of the word had proven to have a different meaning than hers.
He sighed, clenched his bottom lip between his teeth. “I can’t stop thinking about the baby.”
Her hand snapped to her stomach, an unconscious reflex. She’d only been seven weeks along when she’d suffered the miscarriage. It was her second. The first time Ashley had been pregnant, she was only eighteen. With her track record, she was beginning to worry she’d never be able to carry a child to term.
“I think about the baby too,” she said. The truth was she dreamed about the child she and Brett had lost almost every night.
“We can try again,” he told her. “I know we could be happy. Just give me another chance.”
Ashley pressed her eyes shut. But a tear still managed to sneak out and slide down her cheek.
“It would never work out between us long term, Brett,” she said, wiping away the tear. “I wish I was wrong, but I’m not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Cherie.”
Although the woman he’d had the affair with was no longer living, her ghost still stood between them, as real as flesh and blood. Ashley’s psychopathic ex-husband had murdered Cherie—while the woman was in bed with Brett.
The color drained from Brett’s face. Maybe it was a mistake for Ashley to mention the woman’s name since she had only been gone a short time, but it was important to be honest.
Ashley sighed, feeling the need to explain her point of view.
“It would be different if it had been a one-time thing,” she said. “Maybe I could have gotten past a slip-up of meaningless s*x. But that’s not what it was. Do you not understand how bad it hurt when you told me you were in love with her?”
“I only said I might be in love. There’s a difference.”
Whether he’d really been in love—or just thought he might be—didn’t matter. The admission had ripped Ashley’s heart into shreds. And it had made her realize one cold, hard fact.
“The problem is that you were able to fall for someone else. Your love for me wasn’t strong enough to stop it. That means there was something missing in our relationship—for you, anyway. Whatever that piece is, the empty hole it’s created would always be there between us. And consciously or not, you’d always be trying to fill it.”
He stared at her. “How can I convince you that you’re wrong?”
“I don’t think you can.”
“Won’t you at least let me try?”
Not when she already knew how it would end. Although she still loved him—and a part of her always would—she couldn’t put herself through the pain of losing him again. Their relationship might last a year or two, but she knew he’d always be searching for that missing piece.
“Answer one question for me,” she said, “with one hundred percent total honesty.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
She braced herself for his answer. “If Cherie had never been attacked—if she was still alive—who would you be with right now?”
His gaze dropped to the ground, telling her everything she needed to know.
“I’m not sure,” he finally mumbled.
Although she was expecting them, the words still hit her like a brick. Was he being honest? She wasn’t sure. She realized that it was possible he knew exactly which woman he would have chosen—Cherie.
“And that’s one of the reasons you and I will never get back together,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
“That’s not fair. Cherie’s gone. She’s no threat to you.”
He didn’t understand, or at least he pretended not to. If she stayed with him, there would always be another Cherie. Eventually, he’d find the one with all the pieces. With his looks, charm, and money, it shouldn’t take him that long.
“I have to go,” she said, knowing that they could talk all night and it wouldn’t change things.
It was getting late and she had a two-hour drive back to the small trailer on her father’s property in Mettler Ridge.
He looked at her, his own eyes watering. “Tell your family I said hello.”
She knew his words were an attempt at humor to lighten the mood. Her family—who had never trusted her former fiancé—now despised him for breaking her heart. And Brett’s family loathed Ashley as well, but for a different reason. She’d been born and raised in the backwoods of the Cumberland Plateau rather than the affluent suburb of Nashville they called home. As hard as she’d tried, she’d never been able to measure up to the wealthy Holbrook family’s standards. In the end, she’d realized they’d never been worth her effort.
Ashley wished she could smile, but the ache in her heart wouldn’t allow it.
“Goodbye, Brett.”
He stepped back as she opened her sedan door. She noticed he wasn’t smiling either. He stood there watching as she started the engine and backed out of the parking space. The urge to stop the car, jump out, and run into his arms rushed through her. But she knew it would be a mistake. One she would regret. As she pulled out onto the street, she glanced in her rearview mirror. Brett still hadn’t moved, his gaze following her.
Tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She’d give anything to be wrong. But deep in her soul, she knew she could never trust his love.
Her phone chirped from inside her purse on the passenger seat. She waited until the traffic halted at a red light and then pulled a small box of tissues from her console and dried her face. She checked her phone’s screen. It was a text from her younger brother, Shane.
Hurry home. U got a visitor.
The message puzzled her. She had no real friends left in her hometown.
Who? she typed back.
She watched the bubble of dots, indicating that her brother was tapping in his reply.
Wait and c
She sighed and shook her head. Shane loved to tease her. She should have known he’d keep her in suspense.
Ashley veered onto the interstate and sped toward Laurel County.
- Writer
