Page 63 of Kiss the Bride

“Liv, you’ll be the one to walk away from this. Not me. I’ve had enough years of regrets, and I’m all in.” He sounds sincere, but then again, I didn’t expect him to leave five years ago.

“There are going to be a lot of questions.” It’s too early in the day to think about the consequences of arriving back in Sydney as a couple, but we can’t hide here forever. “Some people are going to blame you.”

“I can handle it. Actually, I’d prefer them to blame me than you.”

“I don’t want to be a victim, not Mitchel’s,” I hesitate over saying his name. Hunter slightly clenches, but I whip my head around for a comforting kiss. “And I’m definitely not an innocent victim with you. You didn’t seduce a vulnerable girl.”

“It’ll take a while for them to believe us, for your parents to forgive and accept me.”

“Maybe, maybe not. They’ve probably been going through their own humiliation, especially Dad. Having to cancel and pay out the rest of the wedding stuff and explain that his daughter …”

“His daughter came into new information that made her question the wisdom of marrying her fiancé.”

“No, I didn’t.”

For this, I need Hunter to see me. I gently dislodge him, our moans in unison, mine just a little more remorseful when his fingers exit their new home.

Rolling in his arms, our faces joined on the same pillow, I wait until my eyes have Hunter’s full attention. Will he believe me? “I don’t want to have to explain this again. Yes, finding them together was the final straw, but it only confirmed my suspicions.”

“You knew he was screwing around?” Hunter’s face screws up in disbelief before I kiss his crinkled nose.

“No, I knew we weren’t going to make it last a lifetime. Not without a hell of a lot of compromising on my part. We would end the day I stopped trying to make it work.”

“Liv, loving someone shouldn’t be hard work.”

“Was it hard?” I giggle as Hunter guides my hand to prove at least some things are. “No, I always assume you’re hard, but I’m talking about us. Was loving me hard work the first time around?”

“Babe, I don’t want to talk about it. Not now. Not when we are like this.”

“Why not? If I don’t know what I did wrong …”

Quickly, he kisses me. Hard and fast, demanding and with his whole body. Just when I think we’re about to start another round, he pulls back. “You did nothing wrong. Loving you was as fucking easy as breathing.”

“Then why? I’ve never understood.”

“I told you, we were too young.”

“Here’s the thing, I’ve never understood what that meant.”

Instead of answering, Hunter strides from our bed, leaving me to enjoy the view of his naked ass making us a coffee. I don’t press the point, assuming he will finally give me the answers, at least one that I can understand and accept. He must, if we are going to make this thing between us work.

The light on my phone is going out of its mind, bleeping with uncleared messages. My friends are getting impatient with Hunter running decoy. Today. I’ll respond to them today.

Dad first, after all, I need to organize the last paperwork and stuff to financially decouple from my mistake. I also need to prepare Dad for the idea of bringing Hunter back into my life. After the mess with Mitchel, who Dad had liked and trusted, I don’t know how he’s going to take the news of me moving on so soon.

Then Mum. She’ll be a harder sell, probably. When Hunter originally broke my heart, I refused to eat and couldn’t sleep. She’d taken to buying my favorite jars of baby food and offering me spoonfuls. We laughed about it later, but she explained that it was the only food that probably didn’t have memories of Hunter. Something that could be comforting, and nutritious, and she could spoon-feed me through tears. For the first few weeks, I’d even slept in her bed. Waking in tears and feeling like I’d never be able to move on.

Does Mitchel deserve to hear about Hunter from me?I want to be the grown-up, reasonable person and do the right thing, send him a quick text so he can be prepared once our friends find out. But as Hunter returns to our bed, his face solemn when handing over the coffee offerings, I push all thoughts of contacting Mitchel aside. I owe him nothing. I have no reason ever to talk, text, or see him again. And I definitely won’t give him a chance to misinterpret even a gesture and throw it back at Hunter.

“Liv, I can’t remember the first time we met.” Hunter waits until I take a sip before speaking.

“Probably because we might as well have been twins, the way our mothers threw us together.”

“Right. Like, most of my baby photos have you in the background or with me.”

“It seemed cute at the time.”

“But that’s the thing. There was never a me without you. Never a chance for Olivia to know who she was without me.”

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