Beautiful Broken Mess(104)

With a wave, Quinn and I step out of Em’s car and make our way up the front porch steps. If what Jace said last night is true, then I’ll get to spend the whole day with him and I couldn’t be more excited.

“Jace has to be exhausted after being up all night,” Quinn says from right beside me.

I stop and turn to face her, asking, “What do you mean? He didn’t get home that late last night.”

She looks at me, appearing unsure if she should say what she was just thinking. “Um...I had to get up with Chloe a couple times last night and each time I saw Jace pacing the halls while talking on his cell phone.”

“Huh...” I reply, because I have no idea what he was up doing. I thought he had passed out next to me after our long shower together.

I push open the front door and step inside the house. After the first couple of feet, I realize my boot heels are creating an unfamiliar echo throughout the foyer. When I gaze around the house, I realize it’s empty. Completely empty.

“What the hell?” Quinn questions.

“How long where we gone?!” I ask in a panicked tone. “Jace!” I cry out into the vacant house.

About ten feet from the front door, I find a white piece of paper lying on the floor. I crouch down to scoop it up and recognize the small handwriting that flows across the page in black ink.



Dear Audrey,

There are furniture magazines in the kitchen. Circle what you want and Josie will have it all ordered and here before you return from your honeymoon. Fill me with furniture. Make me your own.

Love, Your House

P.S. Don’t be mad at your soon-to-be husband. He loves you more than anything in the world and just wants you to feel at home.



I smile at his quirky, yet sweet note. I should be mad at him for doing this the day before my wedding, but I just can’t bring myself to find anger anywhere inside me. This is the new side of Jace I’ve learned to love. He tries to fix any problems between us immediately. After we realized how stupid we’ve been wasting so much time apart when we could have just talked out our issues, he won’t let a second of misunderstanding pass without trying to resolve it.

“Me and my big mouth...” Quinn grumbles, reading the note over my shoulder.

“Do you hate me?” Jace’s voice calls out from upstairs, and I look up to see his handsome face peeking around the corner.

I run up the stairs toward him and launch myself into his arms. “You big idiot, you have more money than sense!” I say into his neck, hoping that my words come off gentler than they sound.

“I want you to be happy in our home,” he whispers into my ear, while pulling me into his arms tighter.

“As long as it’s ours, I’m happy. I don’t ever want you to think otherwise,” I say, kissing a line along his neck.

A throat clears from behind us and we both turn to see Quinn stomping her foot in clear frustration. Jace chuckles under his breath before Quinn says, “And where exactly is my family?”

“Sorry, Quinny. I had to move you guys to Jax and Em’s house. But you’ll come back when the new furniture gets here,” Jace explains.

“Well, if we’re already over there, we should just stay until our house is done,” she replies.#p#分页标题#e#

“No!” Jace and I say in unison.

When she gives us both a puzzled look, Jace says, “I want to see my baby as much as I possibly can before you guys have to move into your home. I’m gonna miss her.”

When he juts out his plump bottom lip in a ridiculous pout, my heart beats faster at the idea of Jace being a dad someday. I know without a doubt, he’ll be the best there has ever been.



That night after our rehearsal dinner, we all crowd in through Em and Jaxon’s front door. Chloe is spending the night at her grandparents’ house so that Cole and Quinn can stay out late tonight. Jaxon leads us all to his back porch where we can have a few more drinks and talk late into the night.

“Mom, you can’t be mad at me forever,” Jaxon complains, while trying to hold back a laugh.

“Yes, I can. Jace is my good son, having a nice, respectable wedding. But you! Not once, but twice now you’ve run away to elope!”

“Mom, it’s been almost a year,” Jaxon pleads. “How come you aren’t mad at Em? She was there too, you know.”

Em immediately whacks him in the stomach and says, “Thanks, traitor!”

“Because I know you tricked her into it somehow. I only have you to blame,” Julie argues. This is an ongoing dispute between the two of them. We all know that Julie was over the moon when she found out Em was officially a Riley and honestly, I wasn’t surprised to hear those two snuck off to Vegas. But his mom still likes to give him hell anytime there is wedding talk.