Page 163 of Never In My Wildest Dreams

The shock of those words reverberated through Booker’s body. He was struck dumb.

“But everyone has their stupid moments,” Beau said. “And I suppose this is yours.”

The drive to get to Canada, the ability to put Lorelei in his rearview mirror…it all came crashing down. Because the truth was plain. He was hurt, scared, and reeling from her rejection. From the loss of a future he’d dared to imagine. “Look, no offense, but I’m freaking out here.” Because he’d lost her. The only woman he’d ever loved. The mother of his child.

And he didn’t know what to do about it.

You can’t make someone love you.

Listen to her father. That’s what you should do.“I’m not thinking clearly. Can you just talk to me?”

“You understand that her boyfriend and her best friend had an affair right under her nose, right? For ayear. So, I think you can give her the benefit of the doubt if she feels threatened when she finds out your partner’s a woman. One you’ve had manyexperienceswith. Rightly or wrongly, from an outsider’s perspective, it sure looks like a friends-with-benefits situation.”

“It’s not. We’ve never seen each other like that.”

“Okay, but you walked away from Lorelei before you made sure she understood that. Can you understand the impact that might have on her? You say you want a future with her, but at the very moment you had a chance to prove your trustworthiness, you gave up on her.”

“Wait a minute?—”

But Beau raised a hand to shut him up. “Sure, you corrected her impressiononce, but can you imagine how upsetting it might be for her to know that every time you go to New York, you’ll be with the same woman you’ve been close to for years?”

“But I’ve never—” His jaw snapped shut. It didn’t matter what he’d done or how he viewed George. What mattered was how Lorelei processed the information she’d just received.

“Instead of reassuring her—through words and actions for as long as it takes her to finally trust you—you showed her you can easily walk away from her when you hit your first bump in the road. And I can promise you, there will be more. And they’ll be much harder than this one. So, stop taking stupid pills. This one is easily solved. Unless you don’t want to solve it?”

“Of course, I do. But that only works if they love you back. And you know what kept me up last night? Remembering all the times I told her how happy she made me, how much I wanted her, and not once did she say anything like that to me. So, the fact remains. She doesn’t feel the same way.”

“And how many times do you think she told her ex she loved him? All while he was involved with someone else. Think that might be a little humiliating?” Beau reached for his mug. “Well, it seems I’m the one taking stupid pills this morning.” He took a sip of the steaming coffee. “I thought you genuinely loved her.”

“I do. Iloveher.”

Beau looked him right in the eyes. “A man doesn’t walk away from love. A man fights for it.”

* * *

The moment the married couple set off on their honeymoon, and the guests packed up and left, Lorelei hightailed it to the conservatory. She needed to process.

So much confusion.

So much heartache.

While she warmed up, she thought about Stevie. Her parents were bringing her home, and she couldn’t wait to get back to the routine she loved so very much. She tried hard to stay focused on that, on the good in her life, the world she’d built…

But she couldn’t stop seeing Booker’s angry expression when she’d told him they’d gotten carried away.

They had, though. That was a fair thing to say, wasn’t it?

She hadn’t meant to push him away.

Forget warming up. Words came spilling out of her.

I can’t love you

I can’t want you

I just can’t

Because you cut and run

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