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“Sorry,” he mumbled and put away his phone
Well, that took care of that He had to be right about Hadley’sever to have happened to him, and he was too smart to have ever done that
…
Hadley’s first instinct once she’d woken up the nextwas to crawl under the bed and hide until she could come up with a decent cover story about why her eyes were puffy enough froh, for two reasons One, she was done lying to her fae Two, andday and she was due at the main house now to help her sister with her hair and makeup
Every part of her ached, right down to the scar in the otten six stitches when she elve, but still she rolled out of the bed that smelled like broken drea the fake-it-until-she-, she’d obviously lost her ability not to lie to herself She’d wanted to believe Will actually cared,for her the way she’d already fallen for him
Hads, you are an idiot
But she didn’t feel like a fool Everything ached tooher nose, stuffed frohtened her shoulders, lifted her chin, and did her best to be bent but not broken It was her sister’s wedding day She could pull it together for Adalyn
After a quick shower, she was back at theinto the bedrooe Her sister sat on the queen bed that had replaced their tins on opposite walls She was still in her PJs, hadn’t showered judging by her wicked bedhead, and was s from ear to ear while their mom and Aunt Louise stood there, jaws open and eyes ith shock
“What happened?” Hadley asked, hurrying in as all thoughts that didn’t center around Adalyn got shoved into a deep, dark hole “Is it Derek? Do I need to grab one of Gabe’s shotguns and track his sorry ass down?”
Her sister giggled and shook her head “Nope, I sent hi I woke up, realized that the life I wanted for me didn’t have him in it”
Of all the things Hadley had been expecting to come fro over at her mom and aunt, she sent out the silent question of what the fuck? Both women just nodded
Hadley plopped down onto the chair opposite Adalyn’s bed, her brain playing catch-up hat ht “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been h it didn’t seeer “I realized soht that I love the person Derek could be That’s just not fair to him or to me Everyone deserves to be loved for who they are, not who they ht be in the future”
And to think she’d been acting as if Adalyn was still the eight-year-old who needed to be protected “You just ht be the smartest person I know”
“It’s been an enlightening week” Her sister grabbed a still-steao ahead with the reception—well, party now—so that the photographers can shoot it for the wedding venue brochure It seems a real waste to have everyone home and with all our dresses and tuxes available and not turn this into a win for the business Knox and Weston want to launch”