Following her sister’s orders, Alyssa got up and changed into real clothes, but she wasn’t as convinced as Amanda was that anything could be fixed. How could it be better when Nick hated her now?
Fresh tears started again, and she went into the bathroom to wash her face with a cold cloth. They couldn’t eat in town because too many people there knew her now. No, they’d have to drive to Logan and eat somewhere there. She was craving Olive Garden, and her sisters could just go and watch her eat if they didn’t want it. She needed to be pampered for a change.
Maybe there was a place in Logan to get a pedicure, too. That would make her feel a little better and give her the courage to face Nick. Something had to.
Twenty-Nine
After spending the day in Logan with her sisters, Alyssa got in her car and headed to Nick’s house. It was after eight, so she knew he’d be home, and hopefully he would be receptive to everything she had to say. She wasn’t going to back down, though. She never would have fought for Tim, but fighting for Nick was a no-brainer.
She pulled into his driveway and parked right behind his truck, walking to his house, taking a deep breath, and opening the door. She walked in and marched straight to his couch, where he was sitting.
He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. “I didn’t invite you.”
“No, you didn’t, but you’re going to listen to me, Nick Peot, because I think our relationship is worth it.” She took a deep breath. “I haven’t really talked to you about Tim, a man I dated in Salt Lake City. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, but I wasn’t proud of what happened between us, and I’m going to tell you all about it now.” She sat down on the couch beside him, curling one leg under her and facing him. “Tim and I started dating seven years ago. We met when he went house shopping with a client of mine.”
Nick turned to her. “I’m not sure what this has to do with us.”
“It has a lot to do with us. Please listen to everything I have to say, and then if you still want me to leave, I will.” Alyssa couldn’t force him to accept what she said and love her back. But he would know how she felt before she left his home.
He nodded, looking surprised. “All right.”
“Thank you. Anyway, Tim and I started dating, and at first, he would tell me how beautiful I was and act like he cared for me a great deal.” She took a breath, finding telling him about this was more difficult than she’d thought it would be. “So, after a few months, he told me I was getting pudgy and he wanted me to work out with a friend of his. He started telling me I had to lose weight and commenting on it all the time. I was already slender, but I lost more than twelve pounds working with his trainer and cutting out sugar.” She shrugged. “Well, except for my Junior Mint addiction.” She pulled a box out of the pocket of her hoodie and showed it to him, popping one of them into her mouth. She offered him the box, but he shook his head.
“You know you’re perfect, right?” Nick asked her.
Alyssa shrugged. “I know now he was playing mind games with me.” Sighing dramatically, she continued, “He would tell me my hair was too long, and then it was too short. I needed to dye it a different color, because he didn’t want to be seen with a ‘mouse.’ He slowly chipped away at my self-esteem, asking me to change everything about the way I looked. Within a year of us starting dating, he lost his job, and he came to me for a ‘loan.’ While he was floundering at work, I was kicking major butt. I was earning all kinds of awards for being the top salesperson in my region. So, I loaned him the money. That was the first of many loans, and he never paid me back a dime.”
“Sounds like he really did a number on you.”
“He did. Shortly before my parents died, he started spending less and less time with me. He had things to do with his guy friends, and he was too busy for me, even though he was once again unemployed. For me, the catalyst came right after two policemen came and told me about my parents’ death. I called him before I even called my sisters, needing someone to talk to who didn’t know them well and could comfort me without me having to comfort them as well. He was at a party, and he made it very clear that he thought I was stupid for calling him and I needed to hang up and call my sisters.” Alyssa shook her head, remembering how she’d felt at that moment. “Until then, I thought we were just going through a rough patch but that we were still deeply in love.”
“He sounds like someone I’d like to put my fist through.” Nick shook his head. “I have a hard time seeing you let yourself be a victim that way.”
“I’ve gotten stronger. My sisters have been my rocks—as well as Hannah, of course. I don’t know what I would have done without the five of them.” She stood up, pacing a little, because now she was getting close to the difficult part of the discussion. “So, after the lawyer read the will to us, Taylor suggested the B&B. I knew I needed a change after everything that had happened, so I agreed. I started to say I couldn’t leave because of Tim, but my sisters weren’t having any of that. They were all worried I was anorexic, and I know I was probably close. If it weren’t for the Junior Mints . . .”
He grinned at that, and his lopsided smile sent a bolt of lightning to her heart. If he could stop looking at her as if she’d killed the feelings he had for her, then maybe they could make this work.
“He came to the door a few minutes later, and I told him I was done with him. He kept trying to talk me out of it, but for once, I was able to stay strong. He finally asked if we could be friends, and I told him no. There was too much water under the bridge for that. Then he asked for another ‘loan,’ and Taylor came over and slammed the door on his foot.”
Nick laughed softly. “Good for Taylor!”
“Yeah. Good for Taylor. Anyway, he came back a few weeks later, asking me to reconsider. Lauren was with me, and when he wouldn’t take no for an answer, she made sure he saw reason. We moved a few days later, and I was sure I’d seen the last of him. It wasn’t like I’d told him my plans or given him a forwarding address.” She moved back to sit beside him, wishing she dared to reach out and touch him, but she was afraid of what his reaction would be. “Then the doorbell rang on Sunday, about when you were supposed to get there, and I thought you’d be on the other side of the door when I opened it. I was so happy and excited to see you and spend some time together. But it wasn’t you. It was Tim.”
He put his hand over hers, and she knew it was all going to be all right. He didn’t hate her anymore.
“So, anyway, he asked me to forgive him, and I said I would, knowing that forgiving him was something I needed to do for me so I could let go of the anger I’d been feeling for so long.”
“Sure.”
Alyssa sighed. “When I said I’d forgive him, he immediately took my hand and went down on one knee on my doorstep and asked me to marry him. I’d waited seven years for him to ask me that, but after I’d fallen in love with you, there he was.” She shook her head. “The man is a boil on the butt of humanity, and I have no desire to ever look at him again.”
“And then I walked up, saw the shocked—and I thought pleased—look on your face, and I assumed you were happy he was proposing. I thought you’d say yes and marry him. So, I turned and left.”
“Yeah, Amanda and I put that together after I talked to you this morning. After I shut the door on him, I went upstairs and took a shower, wanting to wash with bleach and a Brillo Pad.” She turned her hand over and grasped his with hers. “I left Taylor to deal with Tim, if he was still there. I have no idea what happened, because I slammed the door in his face. She was supposed to watch for you. I probably took a half-hour shower just to get his touch off my skin. When I went back downstairs, she said you hadn’t been by, which bothered me a little, but I figured you were just running late. And then I called you, and it went straight to voicemail. I spent the rest of the day worried you’d been killed in a car accident or something else terrible had happened to you. It never occurred to me that you could have seen Tim.”
“I di
d, though. I should have talked to you instead of just reacting.” Nick frowned. “I wish I had.”
“Me too. But I understand you getting upset, because I hadn’t really told you about him, and I should have. Much sooner than I did.”
He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. “Do you know why it hurt that much?”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
He got up and walked to the fireplace, taking a small box off the mantle. “Because I was going to invite you for a walk on the beach and see if you wanted to wear this engagement ring.” He opened the box and held it out to her.
She gasped as she stared at it, a hand going over her mouth, just as he’d imagined it would. “I . . .”
“I know we haven’t known one another long, and I know we don’t know everything about each other yet, but I love you with everything inside me. I know that you’re the woman I’m meant to spend my life with. I’m sorry I botched everything up so badly.”
“You didn’t. Tim did.” She stared at the ring, which was a diamond surrounded by tiny sapphires—her birthstone. “Am I going to get another chance at that ring?”
He grinned, sitting beside her and taking both of her hands in his. “You have another chance at it now. Alyssa Romriell, will you add my initial to your monogram?” It wasn’t what he’d rehearsed and planned to say, but it fit. It’s what he wanted more than anything else on earth.
“Yes. A million times yes!” She threw her arms around him and clung to him for dear life. “You’re everything I want.”
“Well, I kind of want kids, too . . .”
“We need to have five little girls who can learn to laugh and love at the lake.”
“I’m not sure about five . . .” He used his index finger and tilted her face to meet his. His lips slowly descended, and he kissed her softly. “So . . . when? I want to be married yesterday.”
She grinned at him, her hand going to his cheek and caressing it. “I can’t make it happen yesterday, but why don’t we do it in mid-June? Our first wedding at the B&B.”
He nodded. “I would love that. I guess I’ll need to work on a gazebo there.”
“Yes, you will!” Alyssa laughed softly, happier than she’d ever dreamed she’d be. But maybe that was why dreams changed, so she could grow into a happier person.
“You plan the wedding, and I’ll build the gazebo.”
“That’s a deal.” She pulled him to her for another kiss, finally feeling like her life was going in the right direction.
Epilogue
Taylor stood on the edge of the lake, looking out over the clear, blue waters. She was glad Alyssa and Nick had worked things out, but that’s not what she wanted for herself. She couldn’t see herself as someone’s wife, having two point three children or whatever the national average was these days. No, she was going to continue working on Romriell House and turn it into the best darn B&B the area had ever seen.
She turned to walk up the path that led back to the house. They only had a week until the first guests started arriving. She could see where Nick had blocked out a spot for the gazebo he and Alyssa planned to marry in, and she smiled.
Her dreams were coming true.
Next in Bear Lake Dreamers
Taylor Romriell knows exactly what she wants from life, and a man has no part in it. Still grieving the death of her parents, she opens a bed and breakfast with her sisters at her family’s vacation home on Bear Lake in the mountains of southeast Idaho. After her sister’s engagement, all of her thoughts must shift to preparing for the wedding.
Filled with fun, love, grief, and a taco boat, she fights through her busy days and her dreams grow—expanding from what they once were to become something bigger and better.Come and visit the Romriell sisters at Bear Lake and see how their beautiful B&B becomes the heart of their home.
Pre-Order Expanding Dreams Here
About the Author
KIRSTEN OSBOURNE hails from the state of Wisconsin, but has lived in Texas for almost thirty years. She is a mother, a writer, and a wife. Married to the love of her life for over fifteen years, she knows that true love exists and wants to share her vision of love with the world. Writing is something she has always loved and plans on doing for a long time into the future. Kirsten Osbourne writes contemporary romance as well as historical. She invites you to join her in her world of fantasy and make believe where there is always a happily ever after at the end.
www.kirstenaOsbourne.com
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Changing Dreams (Bear Lake Dreamers Book 1) Page 16
