String Beans (The Girls of Beachmont #2) (30 page)

I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my head
to the side. “Frustrating, isn’t it?”

Vi narrowed her eyes and bit the corner of her
lip.

“So you were saying…”

“I’m where I’m supposed to be. Everything brought
me to this point in my life.
Here.
Doing my
thing…with you,” she said. One side of her mouth quirked up and she looked at me
wide-eyed. “I thought all of that was pretty clear with the song I just sang.”

I sighed and took a step away from her, and
watched as her face went serious. I didn’t want to torture her anymore, so I
quickly moved back in front of her and wrapped my arms around her waist,
holding her against me.

I kissed her once and the whispered in her ear. “So
you love me, huh?”

“Does your boss know you flirt with the
customers?” Vi shook her head and laughed as she repeated the question from the
first time we met.

“Maybe you should go to his office and tell him.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her. “I
think I should.”

WILL

I never gave her enough credit.

The first time I saw Vi, there was a spark in her,
a fire in her eyes. The way she spoke about the band on the stage, she said
everything I thought. I fell in love with her spirit and the way that she loved
me.

Everything about us together was electric, until
real life set in. I was chasing the dream of becoming a rock star, while Vi
cheered me on. If I’m honest with myself, she was the talented one of us. And
instead of encouraging her, I watched her shove her dreams and her goals so far
down that I didn’t recognize her anymore.

I didn’t fall out of love with Viola. I just
didn’t think I deserved her anymore. Maybe I was looking to be caught.

I didn’t want her to leave.

But when she did, I barely did anything to stop
her. A part of me always believed that she would come back and we’d pick up
where we left off. But none of that was fair to her. Every time she called me,
I made sure she knew there was someone else around. I wanted her to be the one
to walk away.

And then she did, and everything in my life went
to shit. I knew Kirk and the guys had a show in L.A.; they invited me to go,
but I declined. I wasn’t sure how Vi would react to seeing me after calling me
in Vegas.

“I saw Vi,” Kirk said when he called me after his show.

“Yeah? How was she?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.

I hoped she was a wreck because she really didn’t want a divorce. I
needed to know that she was as messed up as I was.

“Damn good. She got up and sang with us,” Kirk said proudly. “She was
awesome. Crowd ate it up.”

“The song you two wrote?”

“She told you about it?” he asked, clearly surprised I knew.

Vi had never told me that she wrote the song with
Kirk; I figured it out when I came home early one night. They were sitting in
the living room with their guitars and sheet music. I waited outside and
listened while she sang. She sounded amazing. And then I heard her tell him it
was their secret; she didn’t want me to know.

“Nah. I guess I always knew.”

“That’s messed up. Why didn’t you tell her?”

“She didn’t want me to know.”

“No wonder you two are separated.”

“She filed for divorce,” I said, taking a swig of my beer.

I heard his sigh on the other end before he spoke. “Guess that explains
the guy.”

“What guy?”

“The guy she introduced me to at her place. Wyatt something. Decent
guy.”

“So she’s seeing someone,” I admitted aloud. I wasn’t looking for his
acknowledgment on that one.

“There’s an open
mic
at this String Beans coffee
place and she’s going to sing tomorrow night.”

“You’re sticking around there for a while?”

“Just to see her sing and then we have to get moving,” he said. “You
should come watch her.”

He said it flippantly—or maybe it was his subtle way of telling
me I needed to show up.

“I gotta go, man. The bar is starting to get busy. Talk soon.”

That night, I told my boss I needed the next night
off because I was going to be there to watch Vi perform, and hopefully convince
her to give me another chance.

The next night…

I was walking to the front door of the coffee shop
when I saw Vi stepping onto the stage. She looked different. Her hair was
shorter, but she was just as beautiful as I remembered. But the biggest
difference was the way she wore her confidence—the same thing that caught
my attention all those years ago.

When I finally opened the door, I watched her get
settled as she sang the first part of her song, and then she saw me. I wore a
proud smile that soon faded as she looked from her hands and then to me. I
nodded, encouraging her to continue with her song, but her voice cracked and
she began to look shaky.

“I’m sorry…I can’t…” she managed to say before
leaving the stage.

I watched her rush toward the back of the
restaurant, lost in a sea of customers. As I maneuvered my way between tables
and people, I found her standing next to Jo, whose arm was wrapped protectively
around her. If looks could kill…fuck it, Jo was just going to do it with her
bare hands.

Someone stepped in front of me and reached out to
Vi when I spoke up.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

The guy in front of me stopped and turned to face
me before looking back at Vi.

“She’s fine,” Jolie spat. “You need to go.”

“Who is this guy?” the brown-haired man said. We
were roughly the same height, but he looked more squeaky clean than me.

“Banks!” Kirk yelled, catching my attention. “When
did you get in town?”

“Just got in,” I told him. I realized the only
people I knew were Kirk, Vi, and Jo. The rest were strangers, and I felt like I
was she sideshow freak with the way they stared at me. “Sorry. I’m Will. Vi’s
husband.”

“
Ex
-husband,”
she said angrily. “This is my ex-husband.”

“Not yet, I’m not.”

I didn’t mean to sound so cocky; it just came out
that way. I didn’t like the way this guy was looking at my wife, even if I
didn’t deserve to call her that anymore. I chose to ignore him and focused on
the woman in front of me. “Can we talk?”

“This isn’t a good time,” she said, and then gave
her attention to the other guy. “Earp, can I use the phone in your office?”

He nodded at her and she hurried off to a hallway
along the side where I’d entered the place. At first, the Earp guy looked like
he was going to follow, but he stopped short and walked to the stage.

I turned to go after her when Jo grabbed my arm. I
looked at her, her anger was replaced with sadness.

“You need to let her go, Will.”

“I can’t, Jo. I need her in my life. I love her.”

“You’re too late,” she said quietly.

I sucked in a breath and shook my head. “Not until
she says so.”

Jo dropped her hand from my arm, and I rushed
toward the empty hall and found a door open and Vi standing with her hands
braced on the desk. She was breathing heavily and I stepped forward and put my
hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine, Earp,” she said.

“Vi.”

She spun around and her eyes were wide as she
looked past me. She was looking for him. “What are you doing here? Why now?”

“I just needed to see you and talk about this,” I
said, and then pulled out the divorce papers that I had folded and stuck in my
back pocket. “Is this really what you want?”

“How did you know where to find me?” She asked,
and then she laughed humorlessly. “Kirk. I’m gonna kill him.”

She stalked past me and turned right, heading
toward an emergency exit door. I followed her and stood to the side as she
paced.

“There’s nothing left to talk about, Will. I told
you the other night, it’s been almost a year, it’s time to move on.”

“Is this what you really want?” I asked.

We were standing at least five feet apart, but it
felt like more. I wanted to hold her, to tell her I loved her—anything to
make her change her mind. As if she could read my mind, Vi closed the distance
between us and wrapped her arms around my waist, holding me tightly.

“I fucked up, I know I did. You deserve so much
better, and I promise, if you give me a chance, I’ll make it up to you,” I
pleaded, kissing the top of her head.

She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes,
and opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her with a kiss. She
dropped her arms from my waist and pushed against my chest, separating us.

“It’s too late,” she whispered.

“I haven’t signed the papers yet.” I smiled,
hoping that made a difference.

“Will…it’s too late.”

“But I’m here now. For you.”

“I was in Spring Park for five months and you
never once tried. It took me moving away, starting over, and finding someone
else for you to make an effort. I’m not crying for what we lost or because I
want you back. I’m crying because I can finally let you go.”

I stepped away from her and she took one of my
hands between her two and squeezed gently.

“I want you to be happy, whatever that means for
you.”

“That happiness includes you,” I told her.

She shook her head and smiled. “No. I’ve found my
happiness.”

“And it’s with him? With
Earp
?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s here, with these people
and my music. And with Wyatt.”

“But, Vi…”

“I love him, Will,” she said, still smiling, but
tears pooled in her eyes like she knew the words would hurt me to hear.

“Okay,” I whispered, and walked back into the
hallway inside the restaurant. The office was still empty, so I stepped in and
found a pen, signing the papers that she was waiting on.

I paused before turning around and handing her the
documents.

“I don’t regret it,” she said as she took them
from me. “Being married to you, I mean. I don’t regret it.”

I leaned down and kissed her cheek before
whispering in her ear, “I’ll never regret it. You were the best thing that ever
happened to me. I hope this guy knows how lucky he is…because I do.”

When I stepped past her, she reached out and gave
my hand another squeeze before letting me go. “Bye, Will.”

The side door was still open and I didn’t want to
risk seeing Jo or Kirk, so I slipped out undetected.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Wyatt standing in
front of the store where a woman pulled him back inside. I waited before
walking over to see what was going on, and I saw Vi back in front of the crowd.

 
“Sorry
about before,” she laughed. “Guy drama. I just wrote this song today, so if I
sounds like shit…well, whatever,” she laughed. “This is called ‘You’re All I
See.’”

When she started to sing, I wished to hell those
words for me, but she’d moved on and I had to let her go. She was staring at
this man who did for her the things I failed to do. Vi was happy, and
ultimately, that’s what I wanted for her. I loved her enough to walk away.

Six Weeks Later…

Performing in front of the small crowd at String
Beans was exhilarating. Kirk kept insisting that I would be a great addition to
The Fabulous Broken, but that was never my dream. Bright lights, screaming
fans, and a hectic touring schedule weren’t things I aspired to have in my life.

My dream was to write music and hope that maybe
someone liked it enough to listen to it. When Kirk mentioned that he and the
guys would be on the East Coast for a while, I was happy for him. And then he
mentioned that the band would be back in L.A. to record a new album. My song
was to be included, and he hoped that I might have another few for him when
they returned.

“What time are they getting here?” Wyatt asked.

We were planning on going out with everyone that
night, since it had been a while. Kirk and Josh had texted me earlier that they
had checked into their hotel and would be by so we could go to Mood Swings
together.

“Anytime now,” I said.

Connor had moved into an apartment several blocks
away and Jolie appeared to be happy about it. She spent most nights at his
place, but the last few, she’d been with me curled up on the couch insisting we
needed a girl’s night.

I was putting the back on an earring when Wyatt
walked into my room looking pale. I became worried and walked over to him, and
started to ask what was wrong when I looked down at his hand.

“Vi? Do you have something you need to tell me?”

My eyes widened and I looked from the purple-and-white
plastic stick in his hand and back up to him.

“That’s not mine,” I scoffed.

“It’s okay…you can tell me. It’s not what I was
expecting, but I love you and we’ll be okay.”

I reached out and touched his hand, careful to
avoid the toilet paper-wrapped end in his hand, and laughed. “I love you for
that, Earp…but it’s really not mine.”

“Then whose is it?” he asked

The door to the apartment opened and we both
turned to see Connor and Jolie entering the apartment holding hands.

“Are you two ready?”

“In a minute,” I answered and then turned to
Wyatt, lowering my voice. “No way. Right?”

“No way—what?” Jolie asked from behind us,
catching us off guard. It felt like slow motion as the plastic slipped from
Wyatt’s fingers, landing with a snap on the floor below.

Jolie’s eyes darted from me, to Wyatt, to the
floor…and then to Connor, her hands covering her mouth.

Connor stooped down and picked up the unsoiled end,
and studied it before smiling widely at Wyatt and me.

“Congratulations, guys…didn’t know you were there
yet.”

Jolie’s eyes pleaded with me not to say anything,
though we both knew it was the wrong thing to do.

“We’re not…” Wyatt started.

“Telling anyone,” I interrupted quickly. “Big
secret. Don’t want to freak anyone out until we know for sure. I mean, we’re
not even sure it’s accurate.”

Wyatt looked down at me, his brows pinched
together briefly before going along with it.

“Yeah, she probably needs to take another one,” he
said slowly, as if questioning the validity of the statement.

“Right, yeah, another one.” I nodded at Jolie, who
dropped her hand from her mouth and hid it at her side.

“Three?” I gasped before recovering. “I’ll know
for sure in three days.”

Connor handed me the pregnancy test, still smiling
as he patted Wyatt on the back. They walked to the kitchen, leaving Jolie and
me standing a short distance away.

“You’re pregnant?” I whispered. “How far along are
you?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” I questioned,
pulling her aside so they wouldn’t hear us.

“I just took the test today.”

“So why don’t you tell Connor?”

“I can’t… This ruins everything!”

“It’s a baby,” I cooed. “How can it ruin everything?”

“Because we set the wedding date.”

“And?”

She started crying. “I don’t want to waddle down
the aisle.”