Falling for Fallon (Oak Hill 2)

Fallon

One Month Later

I stared at the sparkling blue water from the pool, glistening with every ripple of movement. I hated that it made me think of Emmett’s eyes. I hated it but loved it at the same time.

It seemed to be a recurring feeling whenever my mind drifted to him.

Everything reminded me of him. No matter how small, my mind somehow always found him. Especially late at night, when I was left alone in the darkness of my room. That was when reality always snuck up on me and whispered, “Boo!” It caused me to jump in my skin, every single time.

Last night, I had a dream. Emmett and I were back in the hayfield. The same hayfield we were in the night we stole that ridiculous flag. We were laughing and running around like idiots. He picked me up around the waist, causing me to let out a high-pitched squeal before he plopped me back on my feet and backed away. I was confused, so I stepped toward him, twigs breaking underneath my feet. I asked him what was wrong, and he motioned to my left hand. I pulled it out in front of me slowly, and my eyes almost fell out of their sockets. My ring finger had a rock on it the size of Texas. It was huge. Heavy. Unnecessary.

I rapidly tried pulling it off, not wanting it there, because I knew what that meant. That meant I was married to Derek—or soon-to-be—and that meant that this moment with Emmett was going to disappear. Forever.

My heart was beating rapidly, and the world felt like it was tilted on its axis.

I looked up at Emmett as he stood in front of me. His charismatic smile and playful attitude were long gone. “Goodbye, Fallon.”

I balked. “What? Wait!”

“You picked the wrong path, but no one can help you now. You made your bed. Now you need to lie in it.” Then it was like I was pushed into reality. I shot up out of my bed, the barely-there sun coming through my bedroom window.

My body was covered with sweat, tears were pouring down my face, and my heart was beating faster than I’d ever felt before. I hurriedly looked down at my finger and saw that it was still bare. A small sigh escaped my mouth but doom washed over me seconds later because I knew that my finger would soon have a ring on it.

That was what led me here, sitting by the pool, wrapped in my robe with a warm cup of coffee nestled in between my hands, contemplating why I kept having these dreams.

They were nonstop.

I felt like I was going crazy. Going back and forth with my decision. Constantly looking up at the big house, wondering how I got myself into this position.

It’d been an entire month since I told Emmett that I couldn’t be with him, and nothing had really changed at my house. We were still doing some planning for the wedding. I had to get my dress checked one more time, and we needed to send the actual invitations out.

Derek bought my ring and plans to give it to me next week when he gets back from his latest business trip.

Things with my parents were back to how they were before, my mother acting as if nothing had happened with the whole Emmett thing, and my father checking in on me constantly. I was pretty sure someone was following me the last time I went to the club.

He probably still had a PI on me, making sure I didn’t run off with Emmett or some other guy who could ruin his perfect little daughter and her life.

I was thankful I still had Lupe for some company – even if I didn’t really share what I was feeling with her. She was worried, considering I’d been avoiding my parents and their house for the last month.

She brought me breakfast every morning—after she finished cooking for my mother and father, of course. She continued to poke and prod me, wanting—begging—me to talk to her, to get whatever it was that was bothering me off my chest, but I would only shake my head.

I didn’t want to talk about it, because it only made my heart feel like it was that much more void.

The more I stared at the ripples in the pool, the more I wondered if my mother knew that my father had threatened to throw me out of the family. I wondered if she knew that he hired a PI to follow me around just as he had done to my brother, Samuel, years ago.

My heart was skipping a beat with every thought in my head.

Was she as cold as him?

It was almost as if she knew I was thinking about her. As soon as the thought left my head, I watched her exit the side door of the house, ready to round the corner to climb into her Mercedes for tennis. Her blue eyes caught mine within a second and she grimaced.

“Fallon, you’ve been moping around here for a month. I don’t know what has gotten into you but if Derek sees you acting like a depressed elephant instead of the poised woman that you truly are, he’ll become concerned and question this marriage. Why can’t you just snap out of it?”

I could feel a cold sweat breaking out along my forehead. My ears started to burn. My hands were trembling.

A depressed elephant? Why can’t I just snap out of it?

That was my breaking point.