BooksBarbecue
Back First Comes Love
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

“Well, I’m not anymore. I made so many mistakes, and coming here today is probably going to be the biggest one yet. But the one thing I’m sure wasn’t a mistake in my life was—is loving you. Because that’s what I came to say, I love you… and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for leaving you, I’m sorry for all the wrong choices I made, and I’m sorry for choosing the worst possible day to tell you all this. But I’m not sorry I love you. Knowing I was about to lose you forever made me realize that in the past three years, I’ve lived my life without being really alive. Because you’re what makes me feel alive. You always have been. And I don’t care if my life’s here, in London, or wherever else, because now I understand that you are my life, Jake. Not a job, not a place.

“I’ve tried not to love you—believe me, I’ve tried. But I just can’t. I don’t care if this is lame or embarrassing. I don’t care about anything other than you… I thought you should know… what I’m trying to say is just that I love you, I’m in love with you, and I want to be with you.”

I finish my speech, and the entire room stays wrapped in an eerie silence. Everything seems frozen in time. The guests look like petrified statues, and Jake’s face is inscrutable. I keep looking into his gray eyes, trying to decipher what’s going on inside his head. I get lost in his gaze of misty winds, ice, and snowstorms.

That’s until the bride breaks the spell. “Well, you’ve said your piece. Now you can go. Jake, tell her to go.”

Jake tears his eyes away from me and stares at the bride.

“Jake,” she repeats, her voice shaky, “tell her to go.”

Jake has his back turned; I can’t see his face as he’s dropped his head to stare at the floor. When he looks back up at the bride, her face scrunches up in a grimace.

“I can’t,” Jake says heavily. “I’m sorry.”

“You bastard,” the bride yells, raising her bouquet above her head. I think she’s about to go Carrie-Bradshaw-after-Mr.-Big-leaves-her-at-the-altar crazy and hit Jake on the head with the bouquet, but she must have a change of heart midway because she hurls the bouquet at me instead, screaming, “You bitch!”, and runs out of the room.

Instinctively, I duck. The bouquet soars above my head, hitting Jake’s mom straight in the face. Why did I duck? I should’ve taken one for the team. This isn’t going to gain me any I’m-a-better-daughter-in-law points. Stupid reflexes!

I see Jake murmur something to his younger brother, Edward, who walks toward my side of the room.