Page 77 of The Nice Guy
Carter glares at me, running his tongue over his teeth. “You screwed up. You screwed up worse than you ever have before, and you better get your ass in gear to fix this before you lose her completely.”
To hear Tim, Playboy of Copperwood, tell me I treated Brynlee terribly hits me hard, but it does little to dampen my frustration. Frustration that only grows when my best friend backs him up rather than defend me. “You don’t know the whole story,” I tell Tim.
“I know enough,” he says. “She had her pick of any man in town, includin’ some of the married ones, and she chose you. You’re goin’ to regret this. I can promise you that, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
I should go after Brynlee. I know I should, but I can’t. Something inside stops my heart shouting at my head to console the woman I love more than I’ll love anything. It’s what has me walking inside to order another beer at the bar rather than hopping into my truck. And I know where everyone stands when no one, even Carter, sits beside me at the rail.
Everyone stares at me, and I hate knowing that this is what Brynlee must’ve felt everywhere in town since she arrived. Instead of being jealous like they were of her, I’m now a terrible person.
I wanted to shed theNice Guylabel for years, but I hadn’t expected this to be the reason why.
I’m three beers in when Darla storms into the bar, screaming at me.
“She told you she loves you, and you told her you don’t think she knows what love is?” Darla shouts and pushes me.
I’m nowhere near drunk, but I still stagger slightly at the unexpected physical violence. I don’t bother responding to her as I sit back onto my chair again.
“What?” Carter asks as the room once again falls quiet. Someone cuts the music, making it even worse.
“You’re the biggest fool I’ve ever met in my life,” she says. “You lost her. Because you’re… God, you’re stupid!”
I refuse to look at her, and I just shake my head, drinking from the mug. “I’ll talk to her when we both cool down.” I’ve already decided to check on how she’s doing when I leave here.
“She’s leavin’, Rhett.”
Whipping around, she finally has my full attention. “What?”
Pointing at the front door, Darla glares at me with hatred as her chest heaves. I haven’t seen her this pissed in a long while and never aimed at me. This is worse than when she was angry at the women talking about Brynlee in the grocery store.
“You stood out there and told her she wasn’t worth it. In front of everyone. After everythin’ she’s told you, how she’s always felt like she wasn’t enough, you just told her the thing she feared the most is true. The rest of this stupid town hasn’t exactly been welcomin’, and those who have are seen asyourfriends.”
“Dar—”
“I couldn’t convince her that she has people here without you.”
How can she not see it? “She was always goin’ to leave, anyway. It was just a matter of time. She didn’t love me.”
“No, she wasn’t!” Tim shouts. “She told that dipshit she wanted to stay here. She doesn’t want any part of his fake life.”
“Then why the hell was the weddin’ countdown still active? Their friends were commentin’ the day before I saw it.”
The scream from Darla makes everyone flinch. “You are so stupid, and I can barely stand to look at you right now. I just… I want to smash your face on somethin’ really, really hard.”
“Excuse me?”
“None of those people in Chicago were her friends. And you really think she had any say in anythin’ to do with that weddin’? Let alone left in charge?” she asks, breathing deeply. “And if she was goin’ to leave, then why did we just sign a business agreement, huh? People plannin’ to leave don’t usually start plantin’ roots.”
“What?” Carter asks. “What are you talkin’ about?”
Turning to face him, she sighs. “Brynlee invested the money I needed to buy out Doris and has been helpin’ me get everythin’ together. She’s really smart with business stuff, and we decided to become partners. I don’t know where we stand, but come January, I own the Golden Comb.”
“This isn’t what we talked about,” Carter says, his voice matching Darla’s anger.
My mind reels. Brynlee planned to run a salon with Darla? She never said anything.
“Yeah, well, she actually believes in me. She says she’ll still help me even though she’ll be gone, but I don’t know if I have the right to ask her after Rhett humiliated her.”
I shake my head. “Why didn’t she press charges against Kevin?” I ask, grasping at any straw that proves I wasn’t completely and totally wrong. That I wasn’t the one solely responsible for screwing up everything.
