Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,55
makeup, and my dress I’d worn since the night before. But none of the external chaos compared to the feeling inside my heart.
I’d given up everything, sacrificed everything, for the chance to live life on my terms, but this wasn’t my plan. I’d lost my family. My home. Now I’d lost a piece of my heart, and I had a feeling that when Ronan loved, he loved with his whole self, but when he decided to stop, there was no turning back.
No amount of explaining or convincing could make him do what I desperately wanted him to do. To come back and tell me it would be alright.
Because right now, it wasn’t. And I was afraid it would never be alright again.
I sat on the ramp leading up to the front door of the diner and put my head in my hands. Things couldn’t get worse than they were now. That was, until the news cars showed up.
Someone had to have called them and told them I was here. A woman with a brunette bob shoved her mic out the window as they pulled up and said, “Zara, reports say you were here with a man who is not your fiancé. Who is he? Were you with him last night? What do you say to those who suspect you of cheating on Ryde?”
My eyes flew open wide as I stumbled to my feet. “Cheating?”
Another car pulled up beside them, the newscaster getting out much quicker than the other one. He jogged up to me. “Zara, is the man you were with your lover? Where did he go?”
Someone else got out of yet another news car and said, “Are you wearing the same dress from last night?”
Arms gripped my shoulder, and Chester said, “You’ve got to get out of here, sweetie.”
I’d never been so thankful for him in my life.
With strength I didn’t know he possessed, he batted at the reporters with his cane and led me to his car. He opened the door to his Oldsmobile for me, helped me inside, then went to his side, yelling at the paparazzi the entire time.
Their cameras flashed wildly, but he kept cool and collected as he gunned his engine, warning them, and backed out of the parking lot.
They shouted questions at us as we drove away, but there was only one question that mattered. Chester, saying, “Where to?”
Thirty-Four
I’d only been to this part of Brentwood once before, when we were helping Jordan and her mom move into their new townhome. It butted up against Emerson with a main road marking the border. Following the directions I had to repeat from my GPS, he pulled up to a tidy row of townhouses painted a variety of bright colors.
We followed the parking lot up to number twelve, and he pulled into an empty spot. A concerned look drew his thick eyebrows together. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
I wasn’t, but Chester couldn’t fix that. “Thanks for dodging the reporters back there. At least I know they didn’t follow us here.”
He nodded. “It was the least I could do.”
I put my hand on his arm. “You have no idea how much you did. Thank you.”
With a smile, he said, “Anytime, Zara.”
Jordan’s front door opened, and she looked around until she caught sight of us and began walking toward Chester’s car. “I better get inside,” I said.
“See you around Waldo’s, I hope.”
“If I can ever show my face in public again, you’ll be the first to know.”
He tipped his cap at me. “Happy to hear it. Stay safe out there.” He hesitated, and it was clear he wanted to say something.
Jordan waited outside the car, but I held my finger up to her. “What’s up, Chester?”
He looked down at his weathered, veiny hands and said, “Ronan’s a good boy. I’ve known him since he was little. He’s had a rough life, you know.”
Heat built behind my eyes, and I blinked back the moisture.
“I’m not sure what happened outside, but I hope you two can work through it. Lord knows Karen and I have had our share of spats.”
“Has she ever done something unforgivable?” I asked, because I had. The more I thought about it, the more I saw it from Ronan’s perspective, the guiltier I felt.
“Nothing is unforgiveable when two people are willing to fight for each other day in and day out.”
I leaned over and kissed his scratchy cheek. “Thanks, Chester, for everything.”