Saved (Minnesota Caribou #5) - Colleen Charles Page 0,30
few words.”
I gulp down a lump. “If I want to woo her and win her forever, what do I do? I’ve never really had a girlfriend before. The only way I know how to love Cora is from afar. I have no fucking idea how to handle any of this. I need like concrete tips on what I should say and do. Make sense?”
Max points to his chest. “Hello, wife over here.”
“And I had a fiancée for three years. I think you’ve come to the right place, kid.”
I stare at the sad look that shutters his eyes. “Did you love her, D?”
He nods. “Yeah, I really did. I thought we’d grow old together. I thought she’d be the mother of my kids. Now I wonder if I’ll ever get to have any. I’m not getting any younger. And all the women we come in contact with seem to be only looking for one thing.”
“What happened?” Max asks. “I mean—I know you broke up, but why?”
Dylan closes his eyes as if he’s deep in thought, but I know what’s happening. He’s drifting back in time to the pain, wondering if he wants to open that door. I get it—I really do. Because just like Pandora’s Box, once the lid slides back, all emotional hell breaks loose.
When he opens them, he looks at the ceiling. “I guess it all came down to her family.”
I think about Cora’s family. I know all of them as well as I know my own. I can’t even imagine marrying into a family that wasn’t welcoming. “Were they mean or something? I’m finding it hard to imagine what family wouldn’t want a successful professional athlete in the fold.”
He exhales a sigh. “Shanna and I kept disagreeing about stuff for the wedding. She comes from a middle-class family and her folks didn’t have the money to have the type of wedding she wanted. You know chicks and their fairytales. I offered to help out on some things, and she agreed to give a little ground when she really wanted something you’d see on TV. I found out a week later that she and her mom had completely changed everything without telling me. Most of these changes were ridiculous extravagances so that the total cost of the wedding was inching toward half a million dollars. When I confronted her about it and recommended we buy a house instead, she shrugged and said I should just pay since I had the money. The next day, her dad called me and told me that if I was going to marry his only daughter—his little princess—then I better treat her like one. Meaning, I better take over from him and give her every single thing she ever wanted. In my mind, marriage is a partnership. Shanna told me if I couldn’t give her the dream wedding she always wanted, she’d find someone who could. The next day, she packed up her shit and I never heard from her again. And she kept the five-carat engagement ring even though she broke it off. I guess I was the only one in love. On her end, it was nothing but a fucking façade.”
Max hisses out a low breath. “Shit, dude. That’s harsh. I have a wife who works even harder than I do. I can’t even imagine.”
I really can’t either. Cora never wants me to pick up her Frappuccino or her meals and beers when we’re out, but I usually insist. I know she makes peanuts as a teacher and it makes me happy to give her the little pleasures in life she has trouble giving herself. “I hate to say this, D, so please don’t take offense, but you dodged a bullet. She would have bled you dry. A woman who only cares about money doesn’t really understand true love and never will.”
He nods. “But that doesn’t make it any easier. It’s hard for me to trust—even myself. Like I wonder how I got in so deep without seeing it. But you and Cora have a lifetime of friendship behind you. You know her. Like even her shadows—those dark places we like to hide. You should go for it.”
My stomach twists. “But I already blew it.”
Max turns toward me. “You said the kiss was good.”
I shake my head. “It was. But after… that part wasn’t so good. That look on her face…”
“Did you say something stupid because you felt embarrassed? Don’t tell me you haven’t texted her or contacted her since so she’s