Mr. Smithfield - Louise Bay Page 0,69

my father. She hadn’t wanted the social stigma, the money worries, the loneliness. But she’d paid a very high price for staying married. And as her son, so had I.

I wouldn’t put Bethany through that. I wouldn’t put myself through that. Not again.

“Did Penelope leave for someone else?” Autumn asked. “Was she cheating?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.” It didn’t matter why she’d left. I’d heard every excuse under the sun for letting your family down. Not a one of them was excuse enough.

“But if the problem wasn’t cheating, then maybe she just had a hump to get over and now she’s over it and ready to be a mother and a wife?”

It sounded like Autumn wanted me to take Penelope back, wanted me to give her a second chance. It was the last thing I wanted to hear. Especially from Autumn, who I cared deeply about, who I raced home from work to see, who I’d just begun to see a future with.

“I should go into the workshop,” I said, standing. I needed some space and I wanted to get away from this conversation. I’d said all I had to say about Penelope. There was no need to rehash it. “I’ve bought an old desk that I’m going to polish up and put in the bedroom next to yours. I’m going to work from home more. That way I can be home for bedtime more often.”

Autumn stood and smoothed her hand over my cheek. “You’re a great father. A good man.” And she shrugged. “And hot as hell. You need an apprentice to help buff your wood?”

I chuckled at her ridiculousness. I wanted to be angry and sullen about my situation, but Autumn made it impossible. But she couldn’t shine her light and make everything perfect. She needed to see there was no future where Penelope was part of my life. I’d gotten over her leaving and I wasn’t going to step back onto that roller coaster again.

Thirty

Autumn

I was officially pissed off on my sister’s behalf.

“Are you mad at him?” I asked her as we stood in front of the store that had fresh pink and blue flowers draped around the storefront like some kind of magical fairyland. Hollie had called me this morning and begged me to come to the florist with her. Dexter had had some kind of issue with a client not being happy with her ginormous diamond and had to go sort it out, and Hollie didn’t want to choose their wedding flowers by herself.

“He was really upset that he couldn’t be here. We tried to rearrange but this woman is booked up for like, five years and a day. I’m sorry I had to drag you here.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

“I thought you might be busy with Gabriel,” she said, stepping forward to smell one of the hanging lilacs that drooped over the door.

“We didn’t have particular plans. And I always like hanging out with you. I’m just a little concerned with Dexter’s lack of participation in your wedding. I mean, I know he offered to take your name and everything, but it feels a little sexist.”

“It looks that way. But there’s so much to do and I think he’s actually done more than me. The guest list, the invitations, the seating plan. All Dex. He’s not intentionally missing meetings.”

I supposed I didn’t know what went into planning a wedding, but if Hollie thought it was okay then I supposed it was. She was usually right.

She peered into the window and rang the pink old-fashioned bell that sat on the pink doorframe.

“Who has a doorbell on a store? Aren’t they supposed to be encouraging people to go inside?”

“People don’t need encouragement. This flower store is so sought after it’s like an urban myth. Dexter had to get one of his clients to pull in a favor to get us an appointment here.”

Rich people were crazy. Roses were roses. What could be so special about the ones here?

A small lady with a short blonde bob appeared at the door, peering over her old-fashioned semi-circle glasses perched on the end of her nose like I’d only ever seen in the books I read to Bethany.

“Welcome to our world,” she said in a hushed voice. “Come through.”

Inside was like a fairytale come to life. I wished Bethany was here. She would have loved it. There were different types of flowers everywhere I looked. Some falling from the ceiling, some hanging from the walls, covering tables and desks.