Not the One Read online

  “I feel like I can’t start something with Theo right now. I’m not ready.”

  “Tell him that.”

  “Like he’d listen,” she commented, looking out the window where he had a table and chairs set up on the dock. He was lighting a candle, and even from her window, she knew he looked gorgeous. He was wearing a soft yellow button-down, some of those old jeans, and his boots. Her heart raced, and she was shocked to realize she still loved him too. “I can’t believe it, but I still love him.”

  “Of course you do.” Delaney laughed. “You two are made for each other.”

  “I’m just not ready. It wouldn’t be fair to him, or me, for me just to jump back in after five long years with someone else.”

  “Again, Gen, tell him that. He’s a great listener, and he’ll do just about anything for you.”

  “I haven’t even told him I called it off with Montgomery.”

  “Yeah, do that.”

  Gen rolled her eyes. “You’re not helping here.”

  “Team Theo!”

  “Loser, I’ll talk to you later.”

  Delaney giggled as she said, “Wait, don’t hang up.”

  “What?”

  “Randy’s house, you want me to tell them you want it?” Gen bit her lip. She had been thinking about it all day since she got the text from Delaney that someone else was looking at the house. “I think you do.”

  Gen wasn’t sure how she’d do it. Would she go home and get her things, bring them down to Spring Grove? Or have them delivered? She wasn’t sure, but she really needed to face Montgomery first. No matter what, she knew she would be coming back. She couldn’t leave again. Not for good, at least. This place was her home.

  And Theo was there.

  “I’m a mess.”

  “Yup, so that’s a yes?”

  Exhaling heavily, she nodded even though Delaney couldn’t see her. “Yes.”

  “Yee-haw! Okay, I’ll get back with you tomorrow. Good luck! Use protection unless you’re ready for a kid. Then free the beast, girl. Get it!”

  And then the line went dead.

  Rolling her eyes, Gen threw her phone down and headed downstairs. When she reached the kitchen, Theo was coming in from the patio. His gaze fell on her, and his lips slowly curved. “Mercy me, Genny. Trying to kill me tonight?”

  She waved him off. “It’s just a dress.”

  “One that was made to be my undoing,” he announced, holding his hand out. She was hesitant and completely breathless, but she took his hand as he intertwined their fingers. “Let’s go.” After reaching for a bottle of wine, he led them out into the summer night. “I made some fried chicken and greens.”

  “Yum.”

  “Figured you’d love that.”

  “You figured right.”

  She inhaled softly, and when she looked up at him, he was watching her. Again. She’d never felt so beautiful in someone else’s eyes. Not even when Montgomery would look at her did she know what he was thinking. But with Theo, his eyes said it all. He wanted her. Soon, they were both smiling, which caused her to look away so her heart wouldn’t come out of her chest and land on the grass for him to see.

  As they reached the table, he held her chair out for her. She sat down and sent him a smile. He sat across from her and poured them each a glass of wine. “You still drink, right?” he asked, filling her cup to the top.

  She giggled. “I do. Just out of a glass now.”

  “Ah, classy lady,” he teased, and he smiled as he filled his just the same. Reaching across the table, he took her hands, and she was confused until he bowed his head, saying grace over their food.

  “And thank you, Lord, for bringing her back. Amen.”

  Gen looked up, their gazes meeting, and repeated, “Amen.” Her grin grew as she opened her napkin, laying it on her lap. “So.”

  “So.” He dug in, taking one of the chicken legs before stuffing it in his mouth, getting most of the meat off the bone. A silence fell between them as she picked at her mac and cheese. When she looked up at him, he was sucking the bone, his eyes on her. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

  She scoffed. “Not at all.”

  “Your brows are touching, so you’re uncomfortable or confused. Which is it?”

  She gave him a look as she relaxed her face. “Neither, thank you.”

  “Sure.”

  She rolled her eyes as she took a bite of the mac and cheese. It was magnificent. Groaning as it went down her throat, she pointed her fork at him. “Perfection.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” He tipped his imaginary hat to her before digging back in.

  Taking a sip of her wine, she held the glass in her hands as she enjoyed the peacefulness of the lake. “It’s so beautiful.”

  “You are.”

  She gave him a sideways glance and sighed. “You’re ruthless.”

  “That I am.”

  Turning to look at him, she smiled. “So tell me everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yes, last ten years, what you did, who you did it with, everything.”

  He eyed her. “You first.”

  She eyed him back, but he just shot her that devilish grin of his that made her heart go wild in her chest and her body break out in gooseflesh. “Fine. I stayed here about two weeks after you went to jail.”

  “Two weeks? Why?”

  “I was hoping you’d get out.”

  “What did you do for money?”

  “I used my dad’s credit card.”

  “The emergency card? Naughty girl.”

  She chuckled ruefully. “That’s how he found me.”

  “Oh. Well, that sucks.”

  “Yeah, he made me leave. I went to college.”

  “How many men fell under your spell?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t date anyone.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I just slept around.”

  “Sounds about right,” he teased, and she grinned over at him.

  “You make me sound like a whore.”

  “Nah, just a girl with a plan.”

  “I always have a plan.”

  “Yeah, you do.”

  She gave him a sneaky grin and then let out a long breath before grabbing her glass once more, taking a sip. “I graduated, wrote my first novel, shopped it around, and got signed. It was awesome. Especially when I hit the New York Times, that was one of best moments of my life. I was actually out celebrating when I met back up with Montgomery.”

  “And he stole your heart?”

  She shrugged. “No, but he was fun to sleep with, and then he somehow talked me into dating him. And then—”

  “The rest is history.”

  “Yeah.”

  A silence fell between them as he devoured the rest of his chicken. She watched as his brow furrowed and his jaw ticked. He was annoyed. When he looked up, cleaning his teeth with his tongue, he made a clicking noise before he asked, “Fun to sleep with, huh?”

  She laughed at that. “Of course that’s the part that hangs you up.”

  “Yes, because I thought I was fun to sleep with. You loved it.”

  “I did. But I don’t know if you remember, but you got thrown in jail, and I never saw you again.”

  “Yeah, I do remember that.”

  “I was holding out for ya. I came here all the time until the moment he proposed. Then I stopped.”

  “Why?”

  “He didn’t want me here.”

  “Hmm.”

  She nodded, hating how stupid she sounded. Montgomery didn’t want her there. Who the hell cared? This was her spot, her second home, but then, she had to respect him, didn’t she? Well, if that was the case, why hadn’t she respected him when he asked her not to come this time? Shaking her head, she said, “So now you.”

  He looked up, wiping his mouth as he nodded. “I went to jail. Two long years. I wrote to you every day.”

  Her lips curved. “You did? Why didn’t you send the