by Amy Knupp
The dress that no longer mattered, she remembered, taking less care as she stood.
If she ripped it, so what?
If Saint, Gabe’s oversized, overzealous St. Bernard mix, got mud or hair on it, who cared?
There might be a market for used wedding dresses, but who would ever want one from a failed wedding? She wouldn’t feel right even giving it away for fear it would curse someone.
She grabbed her bag from the floor of the car, dug out her phone, ignored the gazillions of message notifications, and turned on the flashlight to make her way to the door. As she entered the open kitchen and living area, Gabe was coming inside from the French doors in the back of the house. She caught a glimpse out the window of Saint nosing around the expansive backyard.
“Hey,” he said in a gentle tone as he strode over to her. His gaze was assessing, questioning. “You holding up?”
The emotions that she’d held off so far were coming in waves now, and she longed for the numbness of fifteen minutes ago. She merely nodded, battling internally against the storm. “What are our plans?”
“I’ve got Jalisa working on the details,” he said of his executive assistant, “but I’m taking you away. Dress for a flight. Not Europe.” He said the last bit with a hint of a grin.
When she didn’t even attempt a smile, he sobered and trailed his palm from her upper arm down to her hand, which he held on to. She relished the heat of it, the safety, the caring, and didn’t pull away. Just exhaled a slow, semi-controlled breath.
“I don’t understand what happened, Lex. Did you guys fight or something?”
She shook her head. She and Raleigh rarely argued. Not even today, as he’d broken up with her. Today they’d debated. She’d tried to make him see his reasons were unfounded. But she wouldn’t call it a fight.
“Did he get cold feet?”
“No,” Lexie said, recalling numerous times over their ten-month engagement when Raleigh had said how he couldn’t wait to be married. “I don’t think that had anything to do with it.”
“I don’t get it,” Gabe said. “Is he involved with someone else?” He tipped her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look up at him. “Lex, you know you can tell me anything.”
She swallowed and took in those warm, compassionate eyes, knowing he spoke the truth, and yet, half an hour ago, she’d sworn she would never tell a soul.
The truth, though… It weighed her down. And if she was honest, it made her mad, and that anger was bubbling up, starting to boil. The need to let it out burned in her, to have Gabe mirror her outrage, to have him say, You’re right, he’s wrong.
Lexie sucked in an unsteady breath.
“The reason Raleigh called off our wedding is…you.”
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Acknowledgments
I often say in my acknowledgments that writing is not a solo journey. It’s practically a cliché, but every cliché originates from a truth, and this is mine.
I’ve been writing for publication for a lot of years, and when I think about the people who have helped me on my path of learning to tell my stories, the list is mind-boggling. From early critique groups to editors to fellow authors to my own editing clients to my husband to my core group of writing friends and soul sisters, each has helped form me into the writer I am today, with my foibles and insecurities and strengths and published book list.
I would not be the same writer without them. Every single one of them.
This book, this beloved story of Drake and Mackenzie, it tested me hard. For reasons unknown, it was one of the most difficult books for me to write, whether because of story blocks or life happenings or a hundred other possibilities. And a core group of people deserves my thank you—for listening to me vent, for helping me plot, for reminding me of my abilities, for boosting me when I was down, for believing in me.
Thank you, from the very center of my heart, to Justin Knupp, Colton Knupp, Camden Knupp, Natasha Lake, Emily Leigh, Sue Campbell, Meshanna Burno, Rachel Childers, Lisa Guertin, Edie LaReau, and Kathy Paltan. I’m so very grateful to have each of you in my life and on my side.
Also by Amy Knupp
North Brothers Series
True North
True Colors
True Blue
True Harmony
True Hero (fall 2021)
Hale Street Series:
Sweet Spot
Sweet Dreams
Soft Spot
One and Only
Last First Kiss
Heartstrings
Island Fire Series:
Playing with Fire
Heat of the Night
Fully Involved
Firestorm
Afterburn
Up in Flames
Flash Point
Fire Within
Impulse
Slow Burn
About the Author
Amy Knupp is a USA Today Best-Selling Author of contemporary romance and a copy editor for Blue Otter Editing. She loves words and grammar and meaty, engrossing stories with complex characters.
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Amy lives in Wisconsin with her husband and has two sons, four cats, and two box turtles. She graduated from the University of Kansas with degrees in French and journalism. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, breaking up cat fights, watching college hoops, and annoying her family by correcting their grammar.
For more information:
www.amyknupp.com
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If you’d like to know when her next book is available, you can sign up for her newsletter, follow her on BookBub and/or follow her on the social media below.
Copyright © 2020 by Amy Knupp
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.