A Winter Wedding. Brenda Novak

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СКАЧАТЬ put the fear of God into you. And I can see why. She’s freakin’ psycho. We knew she was trouble before you married her, and if she hadn’t been pregnant, you wouldn’t have done it. Nothing like that will happen again.”

      Anything could happen. That was why he was being more vigilant. “I was an idiot to let her trap me.”

      “She’s an extreme example. Forget about her.”

      If only he could. If only she’d allow it...

      “What about the girl you brought to Ted’s Halloween party this year—Danni Decker?” Riley asked. “She seemed cool.”

      “For one thing, she lives in the Bay Area. For another, she has a high-powered investment job.”

      “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

      “We’re too similar. She’d never give up her job to move here. And I wouldn’t move there. So why would I pursue a relationship with her, when it’s bound to end with both of us miserable? Besides, she doesn’t want children, and that’s a deal breaker for me.”

      “You’re looking for a homemaker?”

      “Not necessarily a homemaker—but a woman who’s willing to be a mother. Most of all, I want someone who’s satisfied with who I am, what I do and where I live.” No way was he ever going to be happy with a wife who constantly nagged him to leave Whiskey Creek. He’d already been down that road.

      “I guess that’s not asking too much, but...you’ve got to get over Olivia first, Kyle.”

      This was the second time in a day that someone had called him on his true feelings for Olivia. But Noelle taunted him whenever she could. Ironically, she claimed it was his feelings for Olivia that had broken up their marriage, but she’d known he had feelings for Olivia when she approached him at the bar. He’d dated Olivia for two years before she put their relationship on pause and moved to Sacramento to pursue her wedding planning business.

      “I’ve been over Olivia for ages,” he said, but he’d been claiming that ever since she’d married Brandon.

      Riley didn’t respond.

      “You still there?” Kyle asked.

      “I am. I’m just... Never mind.”

      Riley was skeptical. He knew nothing had changed, but Kyle couldn’t admit that, not without doing his brother a disservice. He wanted to be over Olivia; he just wished he could get his damn heart to cooperate. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I don’t need a woman.”

      “I still wish you could find someone. Marriage doesn’t have to be what you had with Noelle.”

      Problem was...he had yet to meet any viable alternatives. Most of the women his age were already in relationships, like Olivia and even Lourdes. Or they were entrenched in a career somewhere else. Or there wasn’t any spark.

      “Who would’ve thought Phoenix and I would wind up together?” Riley said. “You’ll find someone—the person you’re meant to be with.”

      Not as long as the woman he was meant to be with was married to his stepbrother. “Like I said, it’s fine even if I don’t.”

      “I’m exhausted. I’ve got to go. I’ll tell Phoenix and Olivia you’ll perform the ceremony. They’ll both be glad to hear it.”

      “I’ll do the research tomorrow, right after coffee at Black Gold.”

      “Sounds good. I appreciate it.”

      Kyle started to hang up, but Riley stopped him. “Kyle?”

      “Yeah?”

      “Before I go, can I ask you something?”

      He sighed. “Does it have to do with Olivia? Because I’m pretty much done with that subject.”

      “I just want to know why you invited her and Brandon to join us for coffee. I’ve always wondered. I think everyone has.”

      “What can I say? He’s my brother.” There was no escape. And it was his fault things were the way they were. Why shouldn’t Brandon be included? He’d done nothing wrong.

      “It can’t be easy to see them so often.”

      “Noelle’s the one who makes my life hard,” he joked, hoping to lighten up the conversation.

      “Is she still pushing to get back together?”

      Kyle thought of her offer to provide him with sex and grimaced. “She still calls me far too often.”

      “Maybe she’ll move. She’s been talking about going to New York or some other big city for years.”

      “Sometimes I’m tempted to give her the money so we can both be happy. I’m thinking London would be nice.”

      Riley chuckled. “Except she’d only come back as soon as her pockets were empty.”

      “That’s why I don’t actually do it,” he said. “Have a great night.”

      “See you in the morning.”

      Kyle disconnected, plugged his phone in to charge and tried, once again, to get some sleep. But he could hear muffled sounds that led him to believe Lourdes was in another heated conversation with Derrick. He didn’t envy her the upset or the arguments—or the doubt and suspicion that were eating her up.

      Obviously, love didn’t work for everyone.

      Maybe he really was better off alone...

       5

      “Oh, my gosh! You have Lourdes Bennett staying at the farmhouse?”

      Kyle blinked in surprise. He’d just walked into Black Gold Coffee to meet his friends, twelve of whom were crowded around their usual tables in the back corner, when he was confronted by this question. It’d come from Callie Vanetta-Pendleton, the woman he’d suggested Lourdes stay with, but he didn’t look at Callie. He shifted his gaze to Riley. “You told them? What happened to ‘don’t tell anyone—she’s trying to keep a low profile’? And ‘this is Riley, the friend I can trust with my life’?”

      Riley flinched. “I don’t recall that bit about trusting me with your life.”

      Dylan and Cheyenne were there with their one-year-old. So were Addy and Noah and their little girl, Emily, who was slightly older than Dylan and Chey’s boy. Eve had shown up without her husband and baby, since she ran the B and B her parents owned in town, even though they now lived in Placerville. Ted and Sophia, Callie’s husband, Levi, Riley and his fiancée, Phoenix, rounded out the group—along with Brandon and Olivia, of course. As always, Kyle was hyperaware of their presence, as well as whether or not he’d be sitting close to them. He figured, since he couldn’t put Olivia behind him, he’d be conscious of details like that forever. “Maybe not, but that’s what I СКАЧАТЬ