Rejected by yet another man. The list keeps growing. My father. My brothers.
Seamus never telling me about his girlfriend. Once she popped up, it was over between us. He never really spoke to me again. And I ran away before he could get the chance. Sometimes I look back at that time of my life and wonder if it actually happened. Did he actually exist?
Or did I conjure him up in my imagination?
Maybe I did. Maybe this situation with Perry is nothing but a dream too.
Or a nightmare.
Winston’s wife, Ash, reaches out, rubbing my arm reassuringly. “He’ll show up.”
I offer her a weak smile, helplessly glancing toward the garden entrance, fully expecting Perry to be standing there with that easygoing smile on his face. Acting like it’s no big deal that he’s late.
But no matter how hard I wish for it…
He’s not there.
Chapter Nineteen
Perry
Like an assholeI left the office late, Winston yelling after me as I practically ran out of there toward the elevators, giving him the finger as he slung insults at me. Once I was outside, I jumped into the car waiting for me at the curb, wishing like hell I could swing by the apartment first and change into something different.
Didn’t have time though.
When I got the text from the unfamiliar number, for a second I really didn’t know who it was. Bad move on my part—I think my response pissed Charlotte off.
It wasn’t a lie though. Traffic is absolute shit, backed up for miles. If I’d left on time, I probably still would’ve gotten caught up in this. I decide to send Charlotte a quick text.
Me:Still in traffic. Will get there as soon as I can.
But she doesn’t respond.
At one point my driver takes a little detour to get us there faster, he reassured, but I swear to fucking God it actually took us longer. The guy kept cursing under his breath and punching the steering wheel.
By the time I get to the hotel, I’m leaping out of the car, racing into the lobby with my gaze on my phone. Looking up exactly where I’m supposed to meet everyone when like a dumbass, I run straight into someone, nearly knocking myself on my ass with the impact.
“Sorry, bro,” I tell him as I take a step back, frowning when the man turns to face me.
Huh. He’s familiar, though I can’t place him.
And he’s watching me as if I look familiar to him, too.
“It’s all right,” he says with an accent, one I don’t immediately recognize. “This might seem rude, but your face…it’s familiar. Have we met before?”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I tell him, squinting, trying to place him. Dark hair, dark eyes. Tall and broad. A little older.
Okay, yeah, he’s definitely older. I can tell from the crinkles at the corner of his eyes, and the faint graying at his temples.
I can’t place him, and I don’t have time to figure it out.
“Sorry I ran into you,” I tell him as I start to head for the bank of elevators on the other side of the lobby.
He says nothing as I leave him where he stands, and I realize quick where I’m going doesn’t need the elevator. The garden is on the ground level, and I wander through the maze of hallways in search of the area where we’re to be married tomorrow.
Seriously. What the hell. I’m getting married? Still hard for me to wrap my head around it.
Once I finally enter the garden, I’m so late they’re already in the middle of what looks like a ceremony run-through, with someone else standing in for me as the groom.