The One (Coming Home To The Grove 3)

But I’m able to stop him with my boot lodged in the doorway. “Sir, she won’t answer my calls. Where is she?” I demand.

“I’m not telling you anything. You don’t deserve to even be in the same room as our daughter,” he tells me just as Mrs. Victors, Rose’s mom, peeks out the doorway. “Brody! What are you doing here?”

“Rose won’t answer my calls. I don’t know where she is, and I need to see my wife,” I tell her pleadingly. She must feel sorry for me, because she gives me the address as she pulls her husband back into the house. I thank her, but she shakes her head. “Don’t make me regret telling you.”

I’m furious as I stomp down the sidewalk. What game is Rose playing and why?

I go to her new place mad because it seems like she is making this permanent when it was supposed to be just a temporary visit with her parents.

One of her parents must have tipped her off that I was coming because she isn’t surprised to see me when she answers the door. “What are you doing here?” she asks without even a hello.

“I’m here because you’re here and you aren’t talking to me anymore. What the hell, Rose?”

She confronts me with her arms crossed across her chest. She’s got a stubborn tilt to her chin and she’s so damn beautiful I want to hold her in my arms. But I can’t. Because it looks as if I even try it, she’s going to burst into tears. What is happening?

“I saw you on television.”

“I know. I’ve been sucking it up. It’s pretty embarrassing.” Is that what this is about? Is she leaving me because I’m not doing well? Surely not. The Rose I know wouldn’t do that.

“No!” she says. “I saw you with the girl at the bar.”

“What girl? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She opens her phone, and it’s only a few seconds before she shows me a video on her phone, holding it up to my face.

I vaguely remember the woman after seeing the video, and I understand at last why she wasn’t speaking to me and why she’s upset.

“This looks bad, but I didn’t do anything! I swear to you, Rose. I didn’t do anything with that woman or any other woman.”

She just shakes her head. “I wish I could believe you.”

“You can!” I holler, but when she pulls back, I soften my voice. “You can, Rose. You know me. You know I would never cheat on you. I love you.”

And then the tears come. “I know you love me. At least I thought you did. And I honestly never would have believed you cheated on me. But it’s right here, for me and everyone else to see. You cheated on me, and I can’t forgive you for it. I can’t, and I really don’t want to.”

“You’re not thinking right. You know me. You know I would never cheat on you. Think about it. Think about us, Rose. I’m not going to let you just throw what we have away.”

“This isn’t on me. I’m not the one that got drunk and went out with Kaden to a bar. I’m not the one that let some woman hang all over me and do God knows what.”

“Nothing happened!” I tell her again.

We argue. But no matter what I say, she doesn't believe me.

And then she drops a bombshell on me. “I don’t want to travel anymore. I’m staying in Forest Grove. You need to leave, Brody. I can’t do this right now.”

She closes the door firmly in my face. I knock and pound repeatedly, but she doesn’t answer.

How did I screw up this bad? I thought I had it all, but nothing matters if I don’t have Rose. I go back and am benched for a few games. When I do pitch, I struggle but am able to pull out a win, but the will power comes from me telling myself that Rose deserves better than a loser.

I call her all the time, but she never answers.

When Kaden is stupid enough to make a comment, Kyle steps in and saves him from a broken nose if not worse. I know he’s not to blame for my screwup, but I can’t help but be pissed off at him. It seems he’s screwed up his own marriage and he’s not going to stop until everyone that’s around him is unhappy too.

But not me. I’m going to fix this.12RoseKyle calls me, and I answer the phone thinking it’s a client who was interested in one of my graphic designs.

“Don’t hang up!” he says into the phone. “This is Kyle. I wanted to let you know that I picked up Brody that night from the bar and took him back to the hotel. I swear on Brody’s behalf that he didn’t hook up with any women.”