Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,80
take a seat. “White or red first?”
“Red, please.” She liked this new Theo—dancing, suggesting dinner, lighting fires. She was afraid to blink, for fear she’d open her eyes and realize the whole thing had been a Christmas dream.
Theo poured their wine and handed her a glass, as he sat down.
She took a sip, the rich floral flavor of it making her feel festive. “So, where do you want to start?” Lila asked.
“Are we jumping right into explanations?”
“Yes. I think it’s best to get them out of the way first, so I can tell you it will all be fine and we can enjoy ourselves.”
“It might not all be fine, Lila,” he said seriously. “But I’ll let you hear it.” He stabbed a slice of his salmon, his jaw clenching as he looked down at it, clearly debating how to begin. “Well, I think the first thing I should tell you is that I’m married.”
Lila, who was cutting a piece of her filet, stopped cold. “What?” Amidst all the updates she’d gotten from Piper and Charlotte, this was something entirely new.
“On paper.” He took a sip of his wine and leaned on the table. “I was engaged to a woman named Alexa.” He took a long, meditative sip. “I didn’t want a big wedding. For me, it was about celebrating us as a couple and both of us had families in the public eye, so a huge event would’ve been a complete circus. We would’ve had to hire choppers to do surveillance, guards at every drive… It would’ve been a nightmare.”
Lila remembered Charlotte telling her about Alexa’s family wanting to sue him for the wedding. “But you planned a big wedding anyway?”
“Yep.” He lifted his shoulders and let them fall, doing a little stretch as if to ease his growing tension. “We’d only known each other a little less than a year, but there was pressure from both sides of the family to get married. My dad had invested in a shady business of Alexa’s father’s—something to do with a real estate development he was heading up. My father had overpromised, and when he couldn’t come up with the money, and Alexa had been so intent on getting married, he wanted me to sort of smooth things over by going along with the wedding she wanted. And I didn’t know this at the time, but Alexa’s father didn’t want us out of arm’s reach until he had his money. He also knew that my recording studio, Winding Alley Music, was doing so well that he’d eventually get his money back if Alexa and I split, which he’d placed a heavy bet on. He didn’t like me from the start because I didn’t have Ivy League schooling and a country club card in my pocket. It put a crazy amount of pressure on both of us.”
“I can only imagine,” Lila said. She added more wine to his glass and then took a sip of hers, the alcohol loosening her tight shoulders.
“We didn’t tell anyone, and we ran off to Fiji and got married. I still remember the doubts I had, even as I said, ‘I do.’ I should’ve stopped, but I just didn’t. When we got back home, Alexa’s mother went hysterical and told her it was a disgrace to the family not to have a huge celebration. She really put Alexa through the wringer. And truthfully, Alexa had wanted the big wedding. Looking back on it now, I think she resented me for not agreeing to that lavish ceremony right away. Her mother told us we could still do the wedding and no one would suspect they weren’t our original vows. Next thing I know, I’m having caviar tastings and choosing calligraphers for the wedding stationery.”
“Wow.” Lila couldn’t imagine the burly mountain man she knew doing anything like that. “That doesn’t seem like you at all.”
“It isn’t.” He took another drink from his glass. “To top it all off, Alexa and I were already drifting apart. The excitement was gone for her, and I got a hard dose of reality when I figured out that she’d never really loved me for me. Once I saw through her, I couldn’t bear to pretend. But by the time I realized I was in too deep, I already had a wife and wedding commitments. We were barely even speaking by the wedding, but she refused to cancel—breaking it off would upset a whole lot of people, and ruin her family’s reputation. I knew I