Page 158 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

I stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

He grinned. “Holden, I hate to break it to you, but it really is just a piece of paper. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. For us, it was never about the signatures on the paper.” His grin softened like he was thinking about Avery. “It’s about waking up every day together, making her dinner and listening to her talk about her day, sitting on the patio and dreaming about our future together. Picnics at the beach. Getting married is what you make of it.”

I sat there, processing his words. He made it sound so simple.

Emmett sighed. “You’re not getting it. She already chose you, asshole.” He huffed in frustration. “Oh my god, you need to control every situation, don’t you? By staying at your place, she chose you. By telling you she loved you, she chose you. By moving her entire life to Queen’s Covefor you, she chose you.”

People glanced over at him as he raised his voice. Emmett didn’t get pissed off often.

My heart slammed in my chest. “If she doesn’t want to marry me, that means she doesn’t trust me.”

He leaned forward with his elbow on the counter. “Look, you’re my brother. I love you and I want you to be happy, and I sure asshitam not going to sit around watching you mope for the rest of your life, so listen closely. You blew it, Holden. You had it and you blew it.” He straightened up, chest heaving and hands on his hips. “I can’t even look at you right now,” he said, pulling out his wallet and dropping a bill on the counter. His beer was half-full.

He tilted his head to meet my gaze. “Put your pride aside, trust her, and make the right decision. Don’t fuck this up.”

He stalked out the door of the bar without another word.

A bad feeling bled into my stomach, like I had made a huge fucking mistake.

She already chose you, asshole.

She was going to walk away from her dream job for me. She was about to tell her best friend she couldn’t live with her, for me. She was ready to start a brand new life here.

For me.

Fuck.

Emmett made it sound simple because itwasfucking simple.

You need to control every situation, don’t you?

My stomach churned, because he was right. Control gave me a sense of safety, but it had backfired. By being a stubborn, controlling asshole, I had pushed Sadie away.

With a new perspective, I weighed my options: hold on to my stubborn way of thinking and live a lonely, boring existence without her, or get over myself, beg for her forgiveness, and spend every day with her for the rest of my life?

The answer was so clear. The marriage thing didn’t matter, and I wished I realized that months ago instead of this stupid fucking deal I had made with Sadie, but then I may not have gotten to know her and fallen in love with her.

I had to fix this.

The next morning, I got in my truck to catch the first flight off the island.

63

Sadie

“Hello, darling.”Willa plopped down into the seat beside me, cheeks flushed from dancing. She wore one of my dresses, a cinnamon-colored satin dress that looked incredible with her long, dark blonde hair cascading down her back in curls. She sipped a glass of champagne while her eyes roamed the crowd.

“Hello, lovely,” I quipped back, shooting her a small smile. “That dress is perfect on you.”

She fanned herself with a mock-humble expression. “Stop, don’t stop.”

I snorted.

Above us, a cloud of disco balls hung, scattering light across the club and my friends’ faces. The sound system pumped out ABBA while partygoers danced, toasted to the end of another year, and gathered for selfies, beaming and laughing. My floor-length dress had huge embroidered flowers, sneaky cut outs on the bodice, and a soft skirt that swished around my legs. I had tied my hair up in a sleek ponytail because I didn’t have the energy to blow it out all loose and wavy, and Willa had done my makeup. Despite my minimal efforts, I looked amazing.

I felt like crap.

I couldn’t be more miserable, which was crazy, because I loved wearing pretty dresses, going out with all my friends, and ABBA. I played them whenever Olivia handed over control of the music at the bar.

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