After All (Passion Book 3)

Chapter One

"Where's that bridal magazine?" Maddie called. 

"This one?" I asked, holding up the glossy, high-end magazine that looked like every other magazine she'd gotten me to look through over the last three months. 

She hurried into the room, looking flustered, and grabbed it from me. She studied the cover before shaking her head. 

"No, the one I'm looking for had a princess cut dress on it and white geraniums in the background." She set the magazine on the table. 

I stared at her blankly. "I have no idea what any of that meant." 

She rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to be helping! Not eating all my food. Don't you have your own house?" 

I shrugged. "You were the one that asked me to help you plan your wedding," I reminded her. "It's not my fault that your cooking is to die for." Lifting another tortilla roll up to my lips, I bit into it, savoring the cream cheese flavor that mixed so well with the peppers, onions, and cheddar. "Where are your other friends who got roped into wedding planning?" 

"They'll be here. Maisie is stuck in traffic. She'll be here in twenty minutes." 

It was my turn to roll my eyes. I wasn't the biggest fan of Maisie. She was a nice enough woman, but Maddie had tried to set her up with me a few years ago. Maisie seemed determined to make me and her happen, despite the fact that I was in a relationship. 

A relationship that felt as though it was crumbling. 

I chewed another roll up, trying hard not to think of Oliver. I loved him, but lately my heart wasn't in the relationship. We lived together - though it had originally been my apartment - and we had a dog together. My life was entwined with his, and it would be painful and messy to break things off now. But, could I continue a relationship that was falling apart? That had no future? 

Maddie's eyes turned sympathetic as she watched me. "Go him, Evan. Go talk to him." 

"What is there to say?" 

She took the seat across from me at her round, birch wood dinning room table. "You could tell him how you're feeling." 

"I thought I loved him," I said, scrubbing at my face with my hand. Anything to not look at her. 

She'd been there for aftermath of my break up with him. I'd been a zombie, going through my life without a thought or feeling. One I'd woken up, and I realized that maybe I could have a life without Eddie, no matter how painful I'd thought it would be. I was still missing something, missing him, but I was determined to move on. 

Two years ago, I met Oliver. He'd been handsome and smart and funny. I didn't have the connection I'd had with Eddie, but I wanted to be with him. 

But now, that spark was gone. I just didn't know how to tell him that. 

With Eddie, by the end it had been easy to communicate what I'd been feeling. I'd known him so well. And when we had to have the conversation that neither one of us wanted to have, I had loved him more because he'd been willing to listen about how I'd been feeling. 

I never felt like Oliver listened to me. And that was the problem. 

I was done being in a relationship where I didn't feel valid. It was like Abby all over again. 

"Maybe you're right," I mumbled. 

She flashed me a smile. "I always am. Especially about stuff like this." 

"I've had three serious relationships in my life," I said. "And all three failed." 

"I wouldn't say that your relationship with Eddie failed."