“Julia, I screwed up. I admit it. I don’t love Beth. I’m not sure if the kid she’s carrying is even mine. If it is, I’ll do the right thing and pay for her abortion.”

My eyes opened wide. “The right thing?”

“I’m not sorry. The only children I want are ours.”

Our drinks arrived.

I closed my fingers around the stem of the glass, contemplating my next move. As I swirled the light-colored liquid, tossing the contents in Skylar’s face was moving higher on my list of possibilities.

“Julia, I want you to know that I’m committed to making our marriage work.”

Taking a deep breath, I leveraged the table’s edge as I pushed my chair back. “I’m not.”

“You have cold feet. Ana said it’s normal. She said you’ll come around.”

Ana was my mother. Her real name was Anastasia. She liked the longer version for business and social purposes. Being as Skylar had known her since he was born, to him, she was Ana.

“My feet are fine. I hope you’ll reconsider the right thing when it comes to Beth. You’re also correct; you screwed up. Now it’s time to man up. I’m staying in Ashland. I’ve accepted a job.”

Skylar stood.

I lifted my chin, keeping our eye contact.

Through the years, I’d seen most of my ex-fiancé’s moods. If I were to predict, his steady, reassuring, and slightly self-deprecating position was about to give way to a more forceful demand. Skylar was a lot of things, but violent wasn’t one of them. My reasoning for not inviting him to my hotel room wasn’t because I feared him or because I was concerned he’d make inappropriate moves; he’d had reason for the first over time and never gone that way. As for the second, he’d had ample opportunity and failed.

My reasoning was simple.

I was done with this relationship.

“You can’t be serious,” he said. “You already have a job at Wade.”

“I need time to let the dust settle. You do too. Take it. Our engagement is off. The wedding is canceled. I want you to leave.”

He pulled a twenty and a ten from his money clip and laid them on the table. Lifting the glass with his whiskey, he downed the two fingers. “This could devastate Wade. Do you even care about your family business?”

Skylar was prepared to give me every guilt trip possible. The problem was that I wasn’t guilty. He was. “Do I want my life to be a contract to keep control of my family’s dream?” As I spoke the question, I realized the answer applied to more than Skylar and me but also to Van’s proposal. “No. I do care. I just won’t live my life regretting that decision.”