Page 70 of The Backup Groom

All I needed was a glimmer of hope, a slight smile, a spark in her eyes, anything that told me she was happy with this new revelation.

Her silence was killing me.

To my dismay, Amber left her drink on the counter and said four words that sucked the life out of me. “I have to go.” She turned on her heels to leave, the overhead bell on the door an exclamation point to my devastation as she walked out.

ChapterFifteen

Amber

My mind was running faster than my feet as I bolted down the sidewalk toward PB Donuts to confront Maggoty Mercedes. I had no idea how I had room for so many emotions at the same time?

I was pissed off.

I was frustrated.

I was sad.

But at the top of the list, I felt guilty about Scotty.

The memory of the look on his face when he saw the engagement ring on my finger almost did me in. Then my guilt was upgraded to a complimentary first-class seat when Scotty made me my drink and stuck a jagged line through the heart in my coffee foam.

Message received, loud and clear.

His heart was broken.

Well, so was mine.

Nothing about this whole stupid situation was fair or right. What had Uncle G been thinking when he’d made that crazy will?

The last thing I would ever want to do was hurt Scotty.

But how was I supposed to have known his real name was Ryan Scott?

Everybody called him Scotty.

It was part of his business name!

My legs had almost buckled when he’d shown me his business card. Thank goodness I had a death grip on the counter, or they’d have had to scrape me off the tile floor with a spatula.

And yes, I knew he was interested in me, but I didn’t know he wasthatinterested in me. Even Stella called it a crush. If it had been much more than that, why hadn’t he ever asked me out on a date?

As for my current betrothed, even though I mentioned we could change our minds about getting married, Rectum Ryan said he was a man of his word and would never do so. That meant I would have to be the one to break it off, thus shattering his dreams of using the money to open his own private medical practice. Unless Mercedes had already dissuaded him and I wouldn’t have to do anything at all.

One thing was for sure, I was going to bury my sorrow in a bag of donuts, if Rectum Ryan still wanted to go ahead with the wedding. I just couldn’t marry him anymore.

“Hey!” a man said to me after I bumped into him, trying to squeeze in between him and a light post. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry!” I said sincerely, putting my hands together in the prayer position. “Please forgive me.” I kept moving, almost to PB Donuts.

I needed to focus on where I was going and on what I was going to say when I got there. Enough was enough. I needed to figure out how to put an end to Mercedes’ inappropriate behavior. And if it took a restraining order to make it happen, so be it. She had always been a pain, but at this point, she was the bane of my existence. I needed her out of my life for good. Family be damned.

I stopped and waited at the corner for the light to turn green, pushing the cross button a handful of times. That was when I got a call from Stella.

“Hey,” I said. “I only have a few seconds. I’m almost at PB Donuts.”

“I’m at work now, so keep me updated,” she said. “By the way,Huck the Schmuck asked me where you were. I told him I’m not your babysitter. I really wanted to tell him to bite me.”

I blew out an exasperated breath. “I’ll deal with him when I get there.”