Page 106 of The Backup Groom

All eyes were on me, actually.

I felt like a horrible human being, even though I truly meant no harm.

Say something. She will understand.

“Amber—I can explain . . .” I had no idea what to say or how I was going to get out of this.

“No.” She placed her hand on her chest. “This can’t be happening.”

I will never forget that expression on her face.

It was a rare mix of horror, disappointment, and despair.

Mercedes mockingly gave two thumbs up, a smug, satisfied sneer on her face. “Good luck finding another Ryan Scott before Uncle G’s deadline. And even if you find another one, I will be all over him like a cheap suit.” She smiled again. “Thank you! It was such a joy to be here!” She cackled again and walked away, as if her job was finished here.

I swallowed again, trying to come up with the right words to smooth this out. “It’s not what you think, Amber. I haven’t seen Tiffany in two years. I’ve been waiting for the decree to be signed by a judge and processed by the court. It should’ve already happened by now.”

“Just stop.” Amber held up her hand. “How am I supposed to believe anything you say? By lying to me, you broke my trust. I quit my job because I believed in you. I believed in our love, it gave me the confidence to finally walk away, because Stella and I would be opening our new business. There was a purpose in what we were doing, not just a pipedream after years of taking abuse from my idiot of a boss.”

Amber’s face was bright red and her hands were shaking. The complete and utter loss she was feeling became more prominent the more she spoke. And she didn’t look like she was even close to finishing.

“And not only that . . . when I realized I was really in love with you, I believed in marriage again.” Amber shook her head in disappointment, staring up at the sky for a moment. “I never thought that was going to be possible after what I went through with my ex. But then you broke my trust, just like he did.”

Her words tore me to shreds. Everything she said was true. Even I was reeling by the depth of what my lie had done to us.

“Please believe me,” I pleaded. “I wasn’t trying to deceive you.”

“For not even trying, you certainly did a bang-up job,” Amber said, barely getting the words out. “I don’t know who you are.” Then she did something that just about knocked the wind out of me. She pulled off her engagement ring and handed it to Dean. “Give this to your friend.”

“Amber, please,” I said.

She staggered back a few feet and blinked a few times. “Stella, get me out of here. I feel sick.”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the unimaginable happened.

Amber passed out.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Amber

One Week Later . . .

The worst part about being lonely while unemployed is that I have too much free time to think about how lonely I am. I’m like a hamster, trapped on the wheel, going around and around and around on a never-ending loop of gloom and doom. Add to that my sadness, anger, heartache, and confusion, and I’m sure I was a complete joy to be around.

Like a cliché, I had been eating my way through more ice cream than should be legally allowed, wondering how many times I was going to rearrange my bedroom or mop the kitchen floor. And whenever I could scrape up enough motivation to actually leave the house, I had to avoid driving by Scotty’s coffee shop, because I knew it would make me bawl my eyes out.

I had quit my job.

My fiancé was no longer in my life.

And I had let five million dollars slip through my fingertips.

Worse yet, it all happened in the same week.

There was a hole in my heart the size of a crater.

And Stella wouldn’t stop texting and calling me.