On My Way To You (Broken Love Duet 2)

“Oh yeah, she’s the one that signed that act I told you about over the phone,” Jake says.

“Well, Juniper? Do you think you can get me scheduled for Saturday?”

“I think we can make that work,” she replies with a grin.

“Fuckin’ A,” Jake says, and I shake my head.

“Maybe you should lay off the alcohol for a bit,” I suggest.

“I can’t. I’m too busy celebrating. You know, Juniper, I once had me a hot as hell blonde like you. She had tits the size of watermelons.”

I hold my head down pinching the bridge of my nose while everyone else laughs.

“Watermelons? I can’t compete with that,” she laughs.

“Not the big ones. Those round ones that taste so sweet? Christ, Katie’s tits were sweet as candy.”

I reach over and take the drink out of Jake’s hand. “You’ve definitely had enough, buddy.”

“What happened to Katie with the melon tits that were sweeter than candy?” Juniper asks, proving she’s a good sport.

“She wouldn’t go on the road with me and instead ended up with my brother.”

Greg whistles and Juniper winces.

“Well, that’s fucking sad,” Juniper says.

“Ain’t it though? I bet you’d go on the road with your man, wouldn’t you?”

“If it was to live his dream, then definitely. I’ve told Greg if he gets the chance to play with a big name then he better take it.”

“You’re a lucky man, Greg,” Jake responds, and on this—at least—drunk Jake and I are in complete agreement.

CHAPTER 10

Callie

“Are you ever going to talk to me?” I look up from putting my key into my car door to see Mitch standing there. A myriad of emotions swamps me. I don’t know what to do with any of them. Mostly, I do my best to ignore them.

“We have talked, Mitch.”

“Callie, you’ve been out of the house for three weeks now. I want you to come back home.”

I let out a breath and look up at him. I feel a little guilty because we are married. Still, the truth is that living at Katie’s again has felt really good. I’m starting to find pieces of my old self, and I don’t want to lose that.

“I don’t want to come back home. Honestly, I’m starting to think breaking up might be the best thing for both of us.”

“You’re wrong. I miss my wife. I know I’ve been an ass since we lost Ryan, but that’s done.”

“Done?” I ask, confused.

“I admit, Callie, I was really mad at you. I resented you. It felt like you purposefully lost our child just so you could leave.”

“I fell, Mitch! I didn’t do anything on purpose.”

“You wore those fucking shoes in the ice because we were supposed to have dinner at my parents that night. You don’t think I know what you were doing? You were trying to look your best for Reed. It’s always Reed, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t measure up. Christ, it got to where when we were in bed together, I could look at you and know you were thinking of him.”

My stomach churns. Some of what he’s saying might be true, but not all of it. Definitely not about doing my best to lose my son.

“I wanted our child. I wanted a good, strong marriage. I’ve always wanted that. I might have some of the fault in what went wrong between us but—”

“You think? It sure as hell wasn’t me comparing you to another woman.”

“Will you stop that? I wasn’t comparing you to Reed. Reed and I had never actually had sex—not physically anyway. You are the only man I’ve ever been with. I never had anything to compare you to, and I wouldn’t do that anyway.”

“Tell me you didn’t wish at times that it was him you were married to, Callie. Tell me that it wasn’t him on your mind when I was fucking you.”

“God, did I turn you this bitter or were you always like that?” I whisper.

“Well? Am I wrong?”

He is. Well, partly. When we were first married, I did wonder what would have happened if I had waited on Reed. I loved him. I still love him or at least the memory of him. Yet, once I made a commitment to Mitch, I didn’t look back. I really tried and we were happy. He’s the one that changed.

It’s Mitch that became someone completely different.

“I’ve told you before that I didn’t do that. I was married to you. I begged you to try and make our marriage work, to go to counseling with me. You want to blame me for all the wrong I did in our marriage, Mitch? Maybe you should look in the damn mirror.”

“You will come back to me, Callie. You need to get that through that pretty little head of yours. I’m not letting you go,” he warns, his voice going cold, immediately sending chills over my body.