The Renovation (Contemporary Reverse Harem 2)

Tanner wandered in next.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” I said back. “Does everybody hate me?”

He laughed. “If everybody hated you, do you think they’d send you flowers?”

Ugh. That goddamn lump was back in my throat.

He looked around to make sure we were alone. “Baby, don’t beat yourself up. Everyone respects your decision. We may not like it. It may not be what we would do. But you have to do what feels right.”

Shit. There went one tear, rolling right down my cheek. One from my other eye quickly followed.

“This is hard on you,” Tanner said.

Oh, why did he have to be so nice?

“But we’re here for you. I’m here for you. I always will be, no matter what.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. It was about all I could do.

When he was gone, I contemplated opening the flowers’ cards right then or saving them until later. I pulled them all out of the arrangements and held the little white envelopes, each so small, but each brimming with the promise of love.

Love that I was walking away from.

I tore open the envelopes, one at a time, letting the ripped paper flutter to the floor.

Each of these petals is a kiss I’m sending you—Carter

You’ve stolen my heart—Dig

You have brought so much to my life—Wyatt

You take my breath away—Tanner

Well, shit.

Chapter 28

WYATT

I think all us guys took the news from Jayma okay. We weren’t happy about it, and speaking for myself, I didn’t get a wink of sleep that night. Not sure anybody in the house did.

She did her best to talk us out of the house renovation, but we couldn’t be swayed. She figured she’d just let the bank take it, and that would be the end of it, but we had different plans. With Carter heading up the reno, and Dig the sale, I was feeling pretty good about her getting her money back and then some. It was a good challenge, and it was always great to tell a bank to take a hike.

Plus, I really liked all the guys. We were a good group. With Jayma in the picture or not, I figured we’d still hang out. So all was not lost.

We’d had a couple days to think over what her move meant. She’d taken her stuff and gone over to her friend’s house, so that left things pretty subdued. But it had given us time to come up with a plan while we continued the renovation.

We’d asked her to come back over to Carter’s to talk. I wasn’t surprised she agreed. I figured she missed us as much as we missed her.

I was just finishing up for the day at her house. The plumbing wasn’t in horrible shape, per se, it was just old and a lot of the pipes needed replacing. When the walls were all open and you could easily get to anything you want, the job would go pretty fast.

Being in her house and wondering if I’d ever see her again was playing a trip on my head. When no one was around, I slipped behind the huge sheet of plastic that closed off her bedroom and sneaked into her room. I closed the door behind me and sat down on her bed.

The room looked and smelled just like her. Like the Jayma I knew and loved.

Shit. Did I just say love?