The Wright Boss(17)

Landon wasn't being honest with me, and worse, it didn't seem like he was being honest with himself. He wasn't leaving Miranda. Talking to me was only going to cause him trouble.

I had no interest in a battered love triangle.

I had no interest in fighting for someone who was unattainable.

I had no interest in losing my heart to someone who could only break it.

I tapped out a message to Landon, letting my anger guide me. I knew I was doing the right thing. Reconsidering had been the wrong move. Waiting around for him when he was late had been a desperate one. Agreeing to talk to him again after all of that would be utterly stupid.

I know Miranda is here. This is over. Don't ever talk to me again.





Seven



Landon


Heidi's text was explicitly clear.

Don't ever talk to me again.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I had fucked up. I could feel her anger in that one message. She was beyond pissed. I didn't know how she had found out about Miranda, but that was not good. Worse was, I hadn't told her myself that Miranda was here. Now, she probably thought that I was hiding it from her. Who even knew what was going on in her head? It couldn't be good. And, by the sound of it, our friendship wasn't even salvageable.

With Miranda here in Lubbock, I had no chance to make things right with Heidi. Even to apologize and let Heidi be. It might be for the better to keep her out of my baggage at the moment, but I still felt bad. Standing her up after how I'd acted last night had been unnecessarily cruel. I would never have done that if I'd had a way to get away. 

Instead, I'd stayed at Austin's and listened to Miranda talk for hours. Maybe she was serious about making things right. I wasn't sure. I'd need some more time to process. Between my injury, golf, and Miranda, I needed more than a day to figure out what to do with my life.

After a painful afternoon, I decided that it would be better for the two of us to go home. With the reunion   over and Heidi refusing to speak to me, there was really nothing for me in Lubbock. I had another doctor's appointment on Monday. I had serious pain in my lower back, and I knew it was fucked up. I was really not looking forward to him talking to me about it some more.

But that wasn't an option with my career on the line.

I shook my head to clear away the cobwebs. Everything felt as if I were walking on a tightrope without a net. One wrong move, and I'd lose it all.

Miranda must have noticed my somber mood because she dried her tears and became completely compliant. I might be pissed at her for the argument we'd gotten into before I had left. After overhearing her conversation with Janice and confronting her about it, she'd tried waterworks. When she realized that wouldn't work, she'd screamed that it was true.

Fine, she didn't want kids. Was I happy?

Happy?

How could I possibly be happy?

I'd stayed with her for the kids. For the possibility to fix our marriage with children.

Now, she was saying that she hadn't meant all of that. She'd sounded pretty fucking serious when she'd said it. Both to me and Janice. And I didn't know if I could believe her even though I kept doling out second chances to her like candy. We'd see how this one went, because I fucking meant it. I'd stick to my word. This was the last one she got. I couldn't keep living my life like this.



Sunday morning, I dialed Jensen's number as I was packing up my meager belongings. I knew he would answer. My eldest brother was a bit of an insomniac vampire.

"Hey," Jensen said groggily into the phone.

I startled at him sounding tired. That was new. "Hey, did I wake you up?"

"No, no. Go back to sleep," Jensen whispered. I assumed he was talking to Emery. Then, he was back to me. "Sorry about that. I'm up. What's going on?"

"I wanted to let you know that Miranda and I are taking an early flight out this morning."

Jensen blew out a harsh breath. "You're leaving already?"

"Yeah. I think I need to get back to my life and figure out what's going on."

"With Miranda?"

"Yes," I said slowly. "And golf."

"Your injury isn't healing," Jensen guessed. "I noticed you were careful with it at the reunion  ."

I winced. I hadn't even realized I'd been doing that. I'd had some pain ever since I injured my back four years ago, and I'd had to pull out of the middle of my last tournament. Then a couple weeks ago I'd completely thrown it out. It was no surprise that I was hurting the way I was.

"Yeah. We'll see what happens."

"And you're going to miss church," he accused.

This was the hardest part about telling Jensen that I was leaving early. Church was a Lubbock necessity and a Wright tradition. Our mother had gone to church every Sunday, and we continued to do so in her memory every single Sunday. Leaving ahead of church was nothing short of blasphemy, and I was doing it. Again.