Chapters (42)
- Cover Page
- Dedication
- Dear Friend
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Acknowledgments
- Reading Group Guide
- An Excerpt from the Goodbye Bride
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- About the Author
When the show returned, they focused on the TV, but it was a segment about trans fats in restaurant food.
Kate wondered what questions they would ask Lucas. Would he tell them she’d cried herself to sleep on their honeymoon? Would he tell them his mom disliked her from the beginning because of whose daughter she was? Would he tell them about the special moments—the ones when they forgot their marriage was an arrangement?
Fear sucked the moisture from her mouth. Kate felt as if she stood on the gallows, with a thick rope at her neck, waiting for the floor to open. And there was nothing she could do but wait.
The segment ended and another commercial break ensued. It was half past the hour.
“Hang in there, Kate. Whatever comes, I’ll be here for you.” Her dad reached over and squeezed her cold hand.
“Thanks, Daddy.” She couldn’t sit anymore. She stood and walked to the patio door. Outside, darkness swallowed the yard and a sliver of moon peeked from behind a curtain of clouds. She kept remembering the last days with Lucas, the way he’d kissed her that night, She’d never felt more cared for, more cherished.
And now he’s airing our dirty laundry on national TV. It doesn’t make sense.
“It’s back on,” her dad said.
Kate returned to the living room, stopping behind the recliner. Evan Greggory began a segment about the sole survivor of a ferry accident overseas. They were saving Lucas’s segment for last, which showed they viewed it as important. They must’ve gotten some juicy material from Lucas.
The ferry segment seemed to last forever. A long commercial break followed. Kate’s heart rate tripled as she waited for the commercials to end. This was it. There was only twelve minutes remaining—only enough time for Lucas’s story.
When the program returned, her dad cranked up the volume. The camera panned in on Nancy Lopez. “Welcome back to NewsWire.” She turned to a different camera. “She is the queen of relationships and the author of recent self-help book Finding Mr. Right-for-You.”
Nancy held up a copy of the book. “Dr. Kate’s book was released with much media attention on her wedding day this summer, and it soared to the bestseller’s list.”
Kate nearly rolled her eyes. The book had barely made it to the bottom of the bestseller’s list, achieving less than Rosewood had hoped.
Nancy continued. “But Dr. Kate’s career recently turned upside down when it was revealed that her real fiancé, Bryan Montgomery, left her at the altar, and that Dr. Kate impulsively entered a loveless marriage arrangement with Nantucket native Lucas Wright as a last-ditch effort to save her book from certain death.