Page 13 of Ambrosia Kisses
She shakes her head, her expression adamant. "It isn't," she says softly. "Oliver says he didn't leave the country until later."
"Then where did he go? He wasn't here."
Lucy shrugs. "I don't know. I don't think Oliver knows either. Ridley wouldn't tell him. I just know that he didn't leave for Italy until two days after the wedding."
I turn that over in my mind, trying to figure out where to fit it. Hope threatens to swell in my chest, but I quickly tamp it down. Even if he didn't leave the country that morning, I still woke up alone in his bed with no explanation or answers. He never came looking for me. He never tried talking to me. He just…ghosted me.
Honestly, it hurts a little more knowing he didn't leave. At least with him in Italy, there was a reason he couldn't come after me. But knowing he was here when I drove home? Knowing that I spent half the night crying on my brother's shoulder, hoping he'd show up and tell me that he couldn't get on the plane while he was just a few hours away the whole time? Well, there is no spinning that into something other than what it is.
He chose…and it wasn't me.
I guess maybe he isn't done breaking my heart, after all. Because I think another piece of it just cracked.
"It doesn't matter," I mutter to Lucy, wiping my face with all the determination I can muster. "He made his choice. I wasn't it."
"Paisley." Her face falls.
"We're done talking about him, Luce," I say firmly. "I'm done thinking about him. I came to spend time with you and my goddaughter. Ridley can go fly a kite in a freaking lightning storm."
A tiny smile curves Lucy's lips upward. "You're kinda hot when you're being all savage. Defense teams are going to hate you."
"They should." I smile sweetly. "I intend to make their lives hell."
Chapter Three
Ridley
"We need to talk,"I growl at my cousin, Haven, stomping into the winery with my heart in my throat. My fucking head is pounding. I'm so pissed, I want to put my fist through a wall, but I don't even know who I'm pissed at right now.
Nah, that's a lie. I'm pissed at myself for making Paisley cry. That wasn't my intention. I don't know what the fuck I intended. I've been running on instinct since I saw her BMW parked outside two days ago. I tell myself to stay the fuck away from her, but I just can't seem to do it.
When she reminded me that who she fucks isn't my business, I saw red. Before her, I was never a jealous man. Never wanted anything badly enough to feel it. But the thought of her sleeping with someone who isn't me? Yeah, that shit is eating me up, the same goddamn way it has for the last three years.
Did Haven really tell her that I left for Italy that morning?
I can't even wrap my head around that shit. Leaving was the last fucking thing on my mind with her in my bed. I wanted my ring on her finger. I wanted my last name to replace hers. I wanted my kid in her belly. Fuck Italy. I was moving heaven and earth to make sure I didn't have to leave her.
"Hey." Haven looks up at me from the front desk, seeming frazzled. "We can talk, but you're going to have to do it fast. We have a tour group scheduled to arrive in five minutes, and the stupid printer isn't working."
I grunt, sliding around the desk to look at the printer for her. The damn thing never works right. It jams up every time she tries to print out a new batch of materials for tour groups.
I pop open the tray to find the paper jam, trying to organize my thoughts.
"You remember the morning after Oliver's wedding?" I finally ask.
"Vaguely. Why? It says it's jammed somewhere between that tray and the other one." Haven points out the general area.
I spot the stuck paper and start working it out. "Do you remember Paisley coming to see you that morning?"
"Yeah," Haven says, her voice full of irritation. "I'm still mad at you for that, by the way."
"Mad at me? What'd I do?"
"Do you have any idea how awkward it was to tell her that you left the freaking country, Ridley?" my cousin growls, kicking me in the back of the knee from her chair. "I felt like such a jerk!"
"What the fuck?" I rip the rest of the paper out before spinning to face her. "Why the fuck did you tell her that I left the country?"
"Because you did!" she cries, scowling up at me like I'm the one in the wrong here.
