Wash Read Free Page B

lawyer
said.
    When the heavy walnut door
creaked open, my jaw dropped. There, standing before me, was my
high school sweetheart, though he somehow looked like a stranger.
Speechless, I stared at his beautiful face. His rain-soaked black
locks fell around his shoulders in silken ebony waves. My eyes slid up his towering body, gliding over
his high cheekbones and the d ark stubble
shading his sharp jaw.
    I felt like I’d been struck by
lightning. My breath froze in my throat, and my stomach clenched.
The last time I’d seen the man was when he’d stood me up on my
wedding day, five years prior. Now, all that loneliness rushed
right to my head again, leaving me lightheaded. All over again, I
felt like that broken girl in the fluffy white gown, shooing guests
away from the ceremony that was not meant to be. I had no idea how
to react to such an unexpected intrusion. I couldn’t breathe, and
the attorney’s office seemed to suddenly grow smaller and
hotter.
    He just stood there, staring at me
with those baby blues, those eyes I thought I’d spend the rest of
my life getting lost in. He was casually dressed in a white T-shirt
that stretched over his broad shoulders and tucked into a tight
pair of jeans. He was all grown up, far more muscular than the last
time I’d seen him. He was more manly, more masculine, but that
didn’t stop me from wanting to punch him right in the jaw, just to
make him feel the pain I’d felt on the most horrible day of my
life. I’d never been more humiliated, shocked, and devastated. It
had felt like a bunch of Romans had taken a battering ram and hit
my stomach a thousand times. When he’d run away like a coward, when
he’d abandoned me, he had, quite literally, knocked the wind right
out of me.
    We’d spent days, hours,
minutes, and countless seconds talking about our new life together,
and it was all supposed to be perfect. We’d planned the perfect
wedding and the perfect reception. I’d even found the perfect
wedding gown, and Nadia had pinned up my hair and perfectly draped
my dangling curls around my tiara. We were supposed to ride off
into the sunset and live happily ever after, but he had prevented
that. I would never forget those questions that ran across my mind
for months after that dreadful, embarrassing, heartbreaking
day: Why wasn’t I good enough? Pretty
enough? Smart enough? Sexy enough? What’s wrong with me? Aren’t I
enough of a woman? I had collapsed into my
mother’s arms, sobbing, and the memory of that stung all the more
now that she was gone.
    “ Ashly,” Jake softly
said.
    As anger flooded through me, I lunged
at him and slapped him in the face. “You! You betrayed my love and
trust. You’re nothing but a spineless, gutless, pathetic coward,
Jake! You dumped me, your fiancée, and didn’t even bother to call
to check on me or see how I was,” I said sternly, hoping my slap
had stung him as much as his betrayal had stung me.
    His frown deepened. “I apologize.
Truly. From the bottom of my heart.”
    I just stared at him in
disgust.
    “ You’re probably wondering
what I’m doing here.”
    “ Yeah, you could say that.
My mother hated you after what you did to me, so I don’t see why
she’d leave you anything, and I couldn’t blame her, you lying
son-of-a—”
    “ Look, I’ve got no idea
what I’m doing here either. I’m just as confused as you are,” he
said, cutting me off.
    “ If you’ll have a seat, Mr.
Connors,” the attorney said, “we’ll get started.”
    My heart rate doubled, then tripled,
until I thought might just burst out of my chest. Seeing him again
was too much, too painful. Nausea rose from the pit of my stomach.
I decided that if I had to vomit, I’d aim for Jake’s shoes. I stood
and reached for my purse. “No, I don’t think I can do this.
Sorry.”
    “ Uh…would you like to
reschedule?” Mr. Shelby asked.
    “ I think that would be
best,” I said, my voice cracking like an adolescent
boy’s.
    As I started to