Meant to Marry Me: Nashville Country Dreams Part 1 novel Chapter 38

Trent was already there when Bree arrived at the meeting location. She took her time walking over, not because she was puzzled about what she was going to say but because she was studying him. The sun was almost directly overhead. It picked up the golden highlights in his hair and reflected them like a halo around his head. His skin was more bronze now than it had ever been in all the years she’d known him, probably from so much beach time. His eyes were the color of the sea, and the way he worried his hand against his set jaw, he looked so handsome she could hardly handle looking at him, but she also couldn’t pull away.

How could she lose him forever? He’d never truly been hers, but for all of these years, she’d always assumed, somewhere, in the back of her mind, they’d figure out a way to be together. Now, he was getting married tomorrow to someone who not only didn’t deserve him, she didn’t deserve anyone--unless there was someone in this world as evil and self-absorbed as she was, and that was hard to imagine.

Trent saw Bree coming and raised a hand to her. She tried to smile and wave back, but her emotions were about to choke her up, and she didn’t have the heart to be too friendly. She sat down next to him, her hand merely inches from his, and stared out at the ocean.

It reminded her of a time when they were younger, when they’d gone to the movies with a bunch of friends. That wasn’t the memorable part--they did that all the time--but they had sat next to each other that night. It was a scary movie, and every time a jump scare caused the audience to leap in their seats, her hand inched closer to Trent’s until she was actually holding his hand in hers. There wasn’t necessarily anything romantic about the death grip she had on his fingers, but it was still holding his hand, and she wished she could reach over and take it now.

Eventually, she set those thoughts aside and got on with it. “Thanks for coming to meet me. It must've been hard for you to get away.”

“It wasn’t easy, but it's all right. What’s wrong, Bree? Your tone before was worrisome. Monica said that she didn’t see you at the brunch.”

“I overheard her talking to Hannah and Clarice in the bathroom. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard her nevertheless.” She dropped her head and focused on her lap.

“What… was she saying?”

With a deep breath, Bree shrugged and said, “She was making fun of me.” She glanced at him, and his eyebrows were arched as he tried to process what she was saying. “Normally, I wouldn’t care, but she was being particularly ugly about it. I thought, when I took this job, that I was going to be singing for a fan, but Trent… Monica’s not a fan of anyone but herself.”

He held her gaze for a second and then focused on the ocean. “I won’t ask you to repeat what she said. I’m sorry, Bree. She can be like that sometimes.” He swallowed hard. “A lot of times. You don’t deserve that.”

“You don’t deserve that.” Bree emphasized the “you” so he’d get what she was implying. “I don’t understand, Trent. Unless you’ve changed a lot in the last few years, and I don't think you have, what the hell are you doing with her?”

“It’s really hard for me to explain, Bree.”

“Try me. I’ve got time.” She knew she was being demanding when it wasn’t her place to be so. It wasn’t her business.

He ran a hand through his hair and said, “I… wanted someone who wouldn’t remind me of you. And for the most part, she doesn’t. But… she does have her good points. I know you’re having trouble seeing them, but most of the time, it’s easier to see them than it is at the moment.”

“Why did you want someone who didn’t remind you of me?” Her voice was soft and there was hesitancy in her tone.

“Because… by the time I met her, I thought you and I would never be together, and I was tired of thinking about you. So… I went out with her when she asked. I let her call me her boyfriend. And I already explained how we got engaged.”

“All of that because we didn’t connect after… the cabin?” She wanted to say “the kiss” but saying it might be too much. She might lean over and press her lips to his right now, and whether she liked it or not, he was still engaged.

“Not exactly, Bree. I couldn’t tell what was happening between us. All I knew was that I’d been in love with you for as long as I could remember, and it hurt too much to continue to pretend I didn’t love you. So I tried to find someone else I could love, someone who wasn’t into music or sweet natured and kind. Someone who didn’t go out of her way to make sure everyone else in the room was taken care of.”

Now, she was staring at him with her eyebrows arched. “You did a great job.”

He snickered. “Yeah, thanks. In some ways, she does remind me of you, still, though. You’re both driven, smart, sophisticated, beautiful. But… it turns out I didn’t have to be reminded of you to still think about you. I never stopped doing that.”

Bree had the opening she’d been looking for. It might be possible for her to get Trent to break up with Monica without even mentioning Hank. “Do… you love her?”

Trent answered too quickly for her liking. “I do love her.”

“So… you don’t love me.” She resolved herself to that fact, which wasn’t hard. She’d already come to that conclusion as soon as she’d seen him outside the first dinner earlier that week.

“I didn’t say that.”

She stared at him for a moment. Should she ask him? Bare her heart to him? Or just… let him go?

With a deep breath, Bree drew in the salty ocean air and let it go slowly. “If I said right now that I want to be with you, that I’d do whatever it takes to make it work, would you call it off with her?”

Trent’s eyes turned down at the corner and a pained look overcame him. “Are you seriously asking me that right now, Bree? Do you have any idea how hard it would be for me to do that? She’s put so much planning into this. And even if it seems like she doesn’t love anyone but herself, I do think she loves me. She has plans, and I’m part of them. I can’t imagine doing that to her right now, in front of her friends and family. She’d be humiliated. My family would be embarrassed. Bree… if you’re actually considering saying something like that, please, make sure you mean it. Would you give up your career for me? Your music?”

“Would I have to?” she asked, turning to him with a furrowed forehead.

“I’m just saying, if you did have to, would you?”

She knew in her heart that she would. As much as she loved music, and as great as her career was going, she would do anything to be with him. Except for tell the truth if it was going to break his heart. “What if… what if you found out she doesn’t love you as much as you think?”

“What are you talking about, Bree?” His tone was guarded, and Bree felt her insides tighten. It was now or never. She could tell him the truth, show him the pictures and the videos, or pretend like it was a hypothetical question.

Seagulls circled overhead, calling to each other and enjoying the summer breeze. Children splashed in the waves not far from them, and the surf rolled in across the sand. Bree looked at Trent, really looked at him. She had such an important decision to make, but telling him would break his heart for certain, whereas keeping the information to herself could allow him to have a long marriage to Monica. Maybe she wouldn’t cheat on him anymore. Maybe she would, and he’d never know. Was it Bree’s place to tell him the truth?

His hand covered hers in the sand, and all of the feelings she’d been bottling up inside for so many years bubbled to the surface. She was a sixteen year old kid in the movie theater again, a seventeen year old crying in the parking lot at a high school dance, a twenty-one year old leaving a cabin after a horrible break up.

He was her lifeline, her best friend, the guy she’d been dying to be with for as long as she’d been interested in boys. Her thoughts flew forward through time. She saw her own engagement, wedding, birth of her first child, so many images of what her life could be with him in it.

“Bree, what did you mean what if Monica doesn’t love me as much as I think?”

Bree looked up at the sky, turned to Trent, and said what she thought was best for both of them, praying she didn’t end up ruining everything for everyone.