Page 41 of Battle of the Exes

Within the blink of an eye, she’s in my arms, her lips as hungry as mine, her hand tugging at my shirt, like she too can’t get enough. Whatever plan I had to give her space evaporated the second my hand brushed against hers. My mind and heart are filled with nothing but Ivy. The woman I never stopped loving.

As we break away, I brace myself for her words of regret, for her request to leave. With the festival behind us, there’s one less reason to stick around Silver Pine. When she leans her head against my chest, my heart takes flight. I can’t recall ever being this happy.

I feel her shiver, only now realizingthe fire is dwindling. I step away, toss in a few logs, getting it going once more.

I sit beside her, pulling a blanket from beneath my chair and tugging it over both our shoulders, close enough that I can feel her breath on my cheek.

“How did things go so wrong?” she asks.

It’s a question I’ve asked myself for twenty years. It’s time to find the answer.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ivy

The stars are out in full force, filling the sky with a sea of diamonds. Wrapped in the warmth of the blanket, the fire, and Beau’s arms, it all feels like a dream. I don’t know what any of it means but it feels so right. I don’t want to wake up.

My question lingers in the air. I study Beau’s handsome profile, noting his furrowed brow. “I didn’t leave you,” he says. “It was you who left.”

His words are a needle popping my dream bubble. My body stiffens. “Because you were already married.”

“Technicality. If you’d stuck around I would have explained.”

“You would have explained awife?”

My inner barometer is rapidly rising which must beevident to Beau because he says, “Ivy, will you please stop being so stubborn and listen?”

Reluctantly, I stay put.

“Carmen was a college classmate. An exchange student from Guatemala. First in her family to earn a degree. After graduation, her job offer fell through and her visa was about to expire. She begged me to help her.”

It takes a second to sink in. “You married her so she could stay in the country?”

“She would’ve been sent home with nothing after four years of school. Back to poverty.”

Why am I only hearing this now?

But of course, I know the answer. I never let him explain. I deleted every message. Ignored every call.

“What I did was illegal. I know that and regret breaking the law but I had an opportunity to save her and I took it.”

He looks pained, maybe still conflicted.

“Sad story, but?—”

“She and I were never an item.” His eyes lock onto mine.

“I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“You asked for the truth. This is it.”

I try not to fall for his earnest gaze or swoony voice. “And you just forgot to divorce her?”

“She was supposed to handle the paperwork. That was my mistake. I assumed it was done. We’d signed the papers, hadn’t seen each other in years. I only found out it wasn’t final when she showed up on our doorstep. She didn’t know the system, didn’t think it was urgent.”

It’s a lot to take in. But I need to hear the rest.

“She came that day because my old roommate told her I was getting married. She didn’t realize it had already happened.”

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