Real Men Don't Break Hearts(6)

“Ally still lives here.” He waited for Seth to say something, but his cousin’s silence turned a little sullen. “You do still remember who Ally is, don’t you? She’s the girl you didn’t have the guts to face, the girl you left standing at the altar—”

“Okay, you don’t have to go on and on. And by the way, technically I didn’t leave her at the altar; she was in the back office or something. It wasn’t like she was waiting for me at the altar in front of everyone.”

If they’d been talking in person, Nate would have hit his cousin. He’d heard several justifications as to why Seth had left his bride-to-be without a word, but never one so lame. “You can spin it all you want, but the fact is you don’t treat someone like that.”

Seth heaved a heavy sigh. “Yeah, yeah, but you didn’t like Ally anyway. You were glad we didn’t get married.”

“You did the wrong thing, and you know it.” He bit out each word. “And how do you think Ally will feel when she hears you’re marrying Paige right here in Burronga?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows already,” Seth gloomily replied. “Paige told her mother a couple of days ago, and apparently Crystal’s been working the phones nonstop. The whole town probably knows by now.”

Nate’s stomach made a bilious nosedive. The memory of his encounter with Ally in her gift shop seared through his brain cells. Had she already heard about Seth’s wedding? He recalled her blazing blue eyes, her voice cracking, the soap flying past his head… Yes, she’d known, all right. And what had he called her? A prissy Goody Two-shoes? He winced. She certainly wasn’t that girl anymore, not by the way she’d sparked and flared as she’d hurled the soap at him. With her hair tumbling around her flushed cheeks she’d looked anything but prissy. In fact, she’d looked kind of appealing. And now she had even more reason to hate his guts. What kind of bad karma had connived to make him walk into her shop as the new landlord just when she’d learned the fiancé who’d jilted her was marrying someone else, and in the same town?

“You’re not going to use the same church, are you?” he asked.

“God knows. You know women and weddings. As soon as we decided on the date, Paige was off and running. She’s got a whole file of what she wants—the dress, flowers, cake…jeez, everything. Apparently all her friends have wedding files, too. Did you know women do this?”

“Not the women I date,” Nate retorted.

Seth sighed. “Well, it’s out of my hands now. All I have to do is turn up on the day.”

Silence built between them, prickly, uncomfortable. “You know how I feel about marriage, so I won’t bore you again,” Nate said. He was reluctant to ask the next question, but he brought it up anyway. “Are you sure you want to marry Paige?”

“Yeah, mate, I do.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but neither of them could be accused of being sensitive new-age guys. He didn’t ask Seth if he was in love with Paige. Didn’t want to know, didn’t trust the answer. He’d never been in love, so what could he add? Paige was an attractive young woman, but he’d never really clicked with her. For him she was too spoiled, too sure of herself. She was like a million other women he knew, and privately he wasn’t sure what Seth saw in her. But it wasn’t his problem—he wasn’t marrying her.

There was only one more question he needed to ask his cousin.

“So,” he said. “Have you told Paige about Ally?”





Chapter Three

Ally shut her car door and hurried toward her sister’s house. Jess’s place was always open to her, and tonight she needed her sister’s company, but when she entered the kitchen via the back door, there was only Brian, her brother-in-law, pulling off his work boots.

“Uh, hi, Ally.” He looked slightly perturbed at her sudden appearance.

“Hi, Brian.” Ally’s gaze darted past him. Brian was a sweetie, but he was about as garrulous as a lamppost. “Is Jess around?”

“She’s still picking the boys up from daycare. She’ll be back any minute.” He toed a boot off, leaving a crust of dirt on the floor. “Um, you all right?”

I must really look strange, Ally thought, for Brian to say that. He was the type of guy who wouldn’t notice if she dyed her hair blond or started wearing glasses.

“Actually, I’m not all right,” she said, unable to contain her frothing emotions any longer. “I’ve had some bad news this afternoon that’s really got me worried. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it.”

Brian stood, alarm spreading across his blunt features. “Oh yeah, the wedding. We heard about that.”

“You did? Already?” She blinked at him in surprise.

“Your nana called Jess this afternoon…”

“Nana! I should have guessed.” Her grandma lived nearby in a retirement village, a hotbed of gossip, so by now the news would be halfway across the continent.

A rubber toy squeaked under Brian’s foot as he moved toward her. “It’s bad news but, um, these things happen…” He listed from side to side, gave her an awkward little pat on the shoulder. “You mustn’t be too upset, y’know…”

She gaped at him. Brian was a man’s man. He toiled all day, played rugby on the weekends, and the only cooking he did was on a barbecue. Now, he was sounding like a Dear Abby columnist because he thought she was too fragile to cope with the news of Seth’s wedding. Because she knew he didn’t—really didn’t—want to see her break into tears, especially with Jess not around.

“Oh, Brian, I’m not upset about the wedding! It’s not like I’ve been pining for Seth all these years. It was a shock hearing about it, yes, but…” But she would have handled it if it hadn’t been for Nate sauntering into her shop, looking at her in that derisive way, calling her a…a prissy Goody Two-shoes. Is that how he really saw her? How everyone saw her? A stitched-up prude with no sense of humor and all the attraction of plain low-fat yogurt? Without warning, a lump rose in her throat, her chin started to quiver, and—oh, no—hot moisture dammed up behind her eyes.

“Oh! Ah…ah…” Brian shuffled about, his brow contorted, big hands flapping uselessly. He dove for a box of tissues and thrust it under her nose with a mute plea.

Sniffing, Ally waved away the tissues and swiped her fingers across her eyes. She couldn’t do this to poor Brian. Especially when he thought her tears were for Seth. They weren’t. They were for herself, for the way Nate had made her feel.

The back door creaked, and two toddlers burst into the room, followed by Ally’s sister.

“Jess! You’re back!” Brian’s voice throbbed with relief. He dropped the box of tissues and hurried toward his wife and twin boys. “Why don’t I give the boys their bath tonight?” Wedging a toddler under each arm, he dashed off without waiting for a reply.

Jess hefted two shopping bags onto the kitchen counter and frowned after her husband. “What’s up with him? He hardly ever volunteers for bath time.” Then she glanced at Ally. “Oh, no. What did he say to you?”

“Nothing.” Ally dashed the back of her hand across her eyes one last time.

“Oh, honey, it’s not so bad.” Jess darted across the room to fold Ally into a hug before sinking them both onto a squishy, toy-strewn couch. “Don’t let him get you down. That scumbag isn’t worth crying over.”

Why did everyone think she still had a thing for Seth? Ally eased out the piece of Lego digging into her butt and threw it across the floor. “I know that. I’ve known that for years.”

“Of course you have,” Jess cooed, as if humoring a fractious kid.

“No, really, I’m not upset over Seth. I’m upset because Mr. Cummings sold the building today. Guess who’s my new landlord?” She paused a couple of seconds before announcing, “Nate Hardy.”

“Nate Hardy?” Her sister pulled back, her brows drawing together.

“Incredible, right? He came into the shop this afternoon, swaggering like a pirate, not the least bit embarrassed that his feckless cousin is planning to get married right here, again. That’s what really got me—he’s so damned arrogant. Gah!” Grabbing the stuffed monkey lying next to her, she twisted its ear. “Nate’s never liked me. He turned Seth against me, broke us up, and now he’s going to be my frigging landlord! Of all the people Mr. Cummings could have sold to, why on earth did he have to pick Nate?”

“I’m sure it’s just a business investment for Nate.” But Jess was still frowning, and she didn’t look too convinced. “You won’t have much to do with him, as long as you pay him on time.”

Ally groaned and hugged the monkey to her. “That’s another problem. I’m behind on my rent.”

“Oh, no. How much?”

She bit her lip. “Two months. Mr. Cummings has been very understanding about it.”

“That’s a lot of rent to owe.”

Guilt coursed through Ally as she saw how worried her sister was. She shouldn’t dump her problems on her. Jess had her own concerns: a struggling florist business, two hyperactive twenty-month-old twins, a mortgage, mounting bills. She didn’t need Ally’s business woes as well.