Page 8 of The Best Man's Secret

“How did you get this?” he asked.

“It was under my door this morning. My guess is it was put there before I woke up.”

“Does anyone else know about it?”

I cringed. “Your brothers, Emery, Lior, and Ellie. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.”

He stood and paced the room.

“I need to…” He ran his hands through his tidy hair, messing it up and making it look a lot more like my Adam. I wanted to smile at that but stopped myself. This wasn’t the time to put my feelings first. My feelings didn’t come into this equation at all.

I stood and reached out to him. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I said, “What do you need from me, Adam? What can I do?”

“Take me home. I need to… She might be at the apartment.” With every word, his resolve hardened. I got it. He needed answers. He couldn’t stay in limbo, halfway between married and single, without understanding why.

“Are you sure?”

He glanced at the digital clock on the side table and met my gaze with determination. “We have time. I need to try, River. I can’t just let this happen like this. I don’t know if she doesn’t want to get married today…or at all. Why this? Why now? I can’t?—”

I placed my hands on his cheeks, making him face me so there was no doubt about my role in all of this. “We’ll do whatever you need, okay?”

He nodded, his eyes turning red and moist.

“I’m not crying, okay?”

“I know, buddy. It’s allergies. Let’s get you home.”

4

ADAM

My hands trembled as I looked for the car keys before remembering Victoria had kept them when she moved to the bridal suite. I looked out the window toward the parking lot. The sleek rental car that had sat pretentiously in the lot yesterday was now gone.

Victoria had taken that too.

“Come on, I’ll drive,” River said.

As I slid into the passenger seat, my pulse thrummed in my ears. I took a moment to lean against the seat, allowing myself one deep, shuddering breath.

I kept my head down as River drove us out of the vineyard.

Victoria had picked this place, the date, the flowers, the food, everything. I had been involved in the wedding planning, but Victoria had been very particular about what she wanted.

I’d taken all the ribbing from my family aboutnot helpingVictoria when, in fact, there was very little I could do right in her eyes.

And now…

“Are you sure you want to do this?” River asked for the hundredth time.

I let out a breath. “What would you do in my place?”

“I don’t know.”

He kept his eyes on the road, but his presence alone was enough to ground me.

It sucked that my brothers and their partners had found out about the collapse of my almost marriage before I did, but I don’t think I could have heard it from anyone except River. I also couldn't blame River for going to my brothers for help. Victoria put him in an impossible position.

He was my best friend, the guy who had my back. Always. He knew how to read me as if he’d written the words of my book himself.