Not the One Read online

  “I think you should live here.”

  Delaney laughed. “Nope, don’t need to. Plus, why move when I pay nothing where I’m at?”

  “Because this place is breathtaking.” A smile sat on Gen’s face as she exhaled loudly. “Look, you can sit here and—”

  “What, fart? I don’t do anything cool.”

  She gave Delaney a dry look and shook her head. “I’d write. Right here.” She ran her hand down the kitchen table. “Or on the patio. Either-or.”

  “Then you move here.”

  That made Gen laugh really hard. “Yeah, right. I couldn’t.”

  “Why not?” Delaney asked, and Gen laughed some more.

  “What? Be real, I couldn’t live here. I have a life in DC.”

  Delaney held her hands out to Gen. “That’s about to end once you call off this thing with Montgomery.” Gen’s smile slowly faded as she realized Delaney was speaking the truth. “I’m sure I can get them to hold it for you. Or hell, put a deposit down, and it’s yours.”

  Gen could only blink. She hadn’t even thought about what she would do when she ended things with Montgomery. She knew she would be asked to leave the house, with good reason, but would she leave DC altogether? Her mom and dad. Her friends… Well, obviously she didn’t have many since no one had called her since she left, but still. Crap.

  Before she could answer Delaney, though, her phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she found it was Montgomery. “Excuse me,” she said as she went out onto the patio, shutting the door as she answered. “Hello.”

  “You called,” he said, very rushed and monotone.

  “I did. I wanted to apologize for last night.”

  He said nothing. She could hear him typing, but that was it. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t think it’s right that my fiancée is out drinking without me.”

  “You drink without me all the time, and I don’t complain.”

  “Because I’m with colleagues, friends.”

  “I was with friends.”

  He let out an annoyed breath as he snapped, “Whatever. What are you doing now? What did you need?”

  This was a shitshow, she decided. “I’m looking at this adorable little cabin with Delaney.” When Gen was met with silence, she asked, “Hello?”

  “Looking at a house, huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s really pretty. It’s on the lake, only one bedroom, but it’s adorable—”

  “So is that where I’m sending your stuff?”

  She paused. “Excuse me?”

  “What, Gen? It’s a pretty simple question. It’s obvious you’ve moved on, looking at houses and all that. Was that a lead-in to let me know we’re done? That you’re calling everything off?”

  Taking in a shaky breath, she shook her head as she shut her eyes. “I’m with Delaney, she’s looking at the house.” He didn’t answer back, and she rolled her eyes. “I don’t understand what your deal is and why you assume the worst about me. But you know what? Yeah, I’m done.”

  He scoffed. “I’m not the least bit surprised.”

  “Wow, no?”

  “Nope, I knew you were done the moment you left. So what, you’re fucking around on me?”

  “I would never,” she insisted, but then she pressed her lips together. “I’m not you. I don’t fuck people with I’m with someone.”

  “Whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better, Genevieve.”

  “What the hell, Montgomery—”

  “Nope, nothing else to say. Send me the address, and I’ll ship your stuff.”

  “Wait,” she demanded, anger vibrating through her body.

  She fully expected to hear a dial tone, but instead, she heard, “What?”

  “Are you fucking around on me again?”

  “Please,” he laughed. “I don’t have the time.”

  “I find it real fishy that you’re okay with this. That you’re just so dismissive.”

  “Maybe I’ve been done too,” he answered, and it was like a slap in the face. When the line went dead, she dropped her phone, tucking it into her pocket as she looked out at the lake.

  What the fuck was happening?

  When the patio door opened, Delaney popped her head out. “Hey, you ready?” Gen turned, looking at her, and Delaney’s brows pulled together. “Whoa, you okay? What happened?”

  “We broke up,” she said, and just like that, her phone started ringing off the hook. It was her mother, then Verna, then her father.

  “Jesus, give me that,” Delaney demanded before taking it and turning it off.

  “He didn’t even care. He wasn’t upset or anything. Maybe he was cheating on me?”

  “Probably,” Delaney said, tucking Gen’s phone into her back pocket. “Once a cheater, always a cheater. Now, come on, let’s go to the pre-Fourth.”

  But Gen shook her head. “No, maybe I should go on back to the Blu.”

  “Nope, I’m not gonna let you sit at the house and wallow over this. You came here for vacation. Let’s party!”

  But Gen still wouldn’t smile. “Delaney, my five-year relationship just ended, and I think I’m more upset than he is. I need to analyze this a bit.”

  “Tomorrow. Let’s go have a blast tonight.”

  Gen swallowed back the sob that was threatening to escape. While she had wanted this, to be done, she also wanted some kind of sadness from him. Hadn’t he ever loved her? Was he fucking around on her? Damn it, why was this such a mess? When she glanced up, Delaney’s eyes were pleading. Gen knew if she did just go home, she’d cry herself to sleep. Delaney was right. She was there to have a good time and finish her book.

  And she was done writing for the day.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The so-called pre-Fourth party was basically an excuse for everyone to meet up, eat, and drink. A time for the locals to enjoy the festivities before all the tourists showed up. The tiny square was packed with the whole town, Gen was convinced, as she pushed through everyone, saying hi and hugging those who recognized her. Some even asked for her to sign something, which she found incredibly sweet. When she was asked by the librarian of the town, Ambrosia McElroy, who was also Old Man McElroy’s youngest child, to come sign Zoe Jayne books at the library, she found herself saying yes. It made her laugh, though. She didn’t even know what she was doing with her life, but she was making arrangements? She was insane. Her life was insane, and she knew her mom and dad were probably still calling her. She’d need to answer them. Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a good day for that.

  With her arm hooked through Delaney’s, Gen made her way through the crowd to where Delaney said everyone would be waiting. And they were—her mawmaw, her cousin, Holden, their great-aunt, Jackie, along with Theo. Gen stopped suddenly, tapping Delaney’s arm. “Don’t tell Theo.”

  Delaney paused. “Huh? What?”

  “Don’t tell Theo about me breaking it off with Montgomery.”

  She eyed Gen, but soon Delaney nodded her head. “Of course.”

  They were almost to where everyone was sitting when Theo saw her. His eyes met hers, and a little grin pulled at his lip as he drank her in. It was so overwhelming, the pounding of her heart, that she had to look away. But when she did, her gaze met that of Old Man McElroy.

  “Genevieve Stone, why haven’t I seen you up at my distillery?”

  Letting go of Delaney, Gen wrapped her arms around the big man as he gobbled her up in a hug. He was a very large man, tall and round with bushy red brows and even brighter red hair. His nose was always red, from sunburn probably, but his personality was bigger than the town. Gen adored him. “I may not have made it up there, but I’ve drunk a lot of your whiskey since coming here.”

  He laughed, a big, booming noise, as he let her go. “That doesn’t count! I want you in my distillery, on my land, drinking with me. Ya hear?”

  “I hear you,” she laughed and he sm