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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

The next evening we’re standing in front of Amelia’s door with a bottle of wine and a handful of good expectations for the night. But as William opens the door to let us in, all my optimism is crushed. William’s being perfectly nice and polite. He smiles, shakes Jake’s hand with an attitude of male comradeship, hugs me, offers us wine… but something’s off. I can feel an emphatic wave of awkwardness coming from him. As perfect as all his gestures are, they don’t feel sincere. It’s as if he wishes he were anywhere but here. I’m probably over-analyzing as always and he’s just tired after a week at work. Maybe tonight he wanted to stretch on the couch watching a movie instead of having to entertain guests.

“Gemma.” Amelia launches herself at me and crushes me in a hug. Now, this is a heartfelt greeting. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Me too. Ames, I’m so sorry I missed your wedding.”

“Don’t. You don’t need to apologize; you had a very good reason.” She lets me go and shifts her attention to Jake. “Come here, you very good reason,” she tells him. “I’ve missed you too.” They hug. “It was about time you two came to your senses and stopped wasting your lives.”

“Still bossy, are we?” Jake teases.

“As always. Please sit down; I’ll bring the appetizers in a second.”

As the night proceeds, I can’t shake the sensation that something’s off between Will and Amelia. It’s nothing they do, more what they don’t do. They never touch, they never kiss—and I’m not saying they should make out at the dinner table, but I expected a newly wedded couple to be at least a little overbearing in the PDA department. They never look at each other, like at all. I try all evening to convince myself it’s just my imagination, and that I’m reading signals where there’s nothing to read—at least until William drops a conversational bomb on the table.

“So Jake,” he says, “would you say calling off your wedding was the best decision you could have made?”

I stare at him dumbfounded. Did he really just ask that? I look at Jake; he’s taken aback by the question, but he’s recovering fast.

“It was the best decision I could have made given the circumstances. I should probably have realized I was making a mistake way sooner than the day I walked down the aisle.”

“Mmm,” William presses him. “But even after you realised it was a mistake, didn’t you feel the pressure of your family, her family, your friends?”