Forked Roads Back

98 - ARCHIE

SIX WEEKS LATER

WATCHING HER WALK UP those steps had been one of the hardest things I've done since walking away from her.

Last time it had been my decision, and I had been so angry I could blame it on that anger. This time she made the decision to leave me, and as I stare down at the piece of card in my hand, I realise it was now too late for us.

I realise I'd lost her for good.

You are invited to the wedding of:

Tessa Louise Granger

to

James Edward McGregor

on July 16

at Achnagairn Country Estate

The card isn't addressed to me, it's addressed to Millie and Greg, and I understand why. She doesn't want me to be there. She's made her choice, she's chosen Jamie, just like she was always supposed to.

I've got to let her go.

But what about after that? After the wedding... Now that I know she's made her choice, and I can finally accept it, maybe I could I find my own happiness? Maybe this was a good thing, even if it felt like my chest had been opened with a serrated hacksaw.

I had options. I had loads of options.

I could move back to New York, make a life for myself there, given how successful the company was now. I didn't want to disappoint Millie, especially after promising her that I was back for good, but this was an extraordinary circumstance that I hoped she would understand. If I did leave, maybe she'd forgive me eventually if I promised to come back whenever she needed me. I doubted it, but I was getting ahead of myself. The wedding wasn't until July, a whole seven months away.

I still had plenty of time to come up with a plan.

I hear the door downstairs close, followed by a shout from Millie announcing she was home. I don't move, but soon my bedroom door creaks open and she appears by my side. She looks like she's just back from her run. Her hair is laced with sweat and her cheeks are red, with the faint evidence of rain on her jumper.

"You saw it?"

She takes the card out of my hand and sits down on the bed next to me.

"I can't believe it's so soon," she says, shaking her head. "They both said a few months ago that there was no hurry... and now?" She holds the invitation up.

She has that same look in her that I do. She's worried Jamie is pushing Tessa into something she can't come back from. It isn't the first time Millie's mentioned him doing something like that either, which only made me worry more.

I didn't want to have an opinion about it, mostly because I had no right to have an opinion on the matter, not anymore, not since she made her choice. But the thought of Tessa being pushed into something makes my stomach turn, especially into something as huge as this.

But then I also know that she's strong enough to know her own mind, and that this decision is theirs... not just Jamie's.

I also know where Jamie is coming from. There aren't many girls as special as Tessa is, and there aren't very many people who know what it is to be loved by her either, so I don't really blame him at all for wanting to marry her so soon. Any man lucky enough to have her love would do the same thing.