Meant to Marry Me: Nashville Country Dreams Part 1 novel Chapter 48

Before Bree even opened her eyes, a tightening in her stomach reminded her that this was the day she’d been dreading for days--maybe longer than that if she was honest with herself. She’d been dreaming of marrying Trent for a decade, hadn’t she? Now, he was getting married. But not to her.

He’d tried to call her the night before. She’d seen a missed call on her phone. And at one point, she thought she’d heard a soft knock on the door. She’d been in the bathtub and hadn’t been sure. When she made it to the door, no one was there, so either she’d imagined it, or he hadn’t been too serious about coming to see her.

It was just as well. He likely just wanted to apologize to her, sort of like he had in the restaurant earlier in the week. At the time, she’d felt as if they’d bonded a bit, like they were getting their friendship back. Now, she realized that had all been a part of the same delusion that had made her think that showing him evidence that his fiancée was sleeping with another man would make him call off his wedding.

She got up and went through the motions she always did. The wedding started at 2:00. While she’d been invited to come to the salon to get ready with the bride and the rest of the bridal party, she’d declined via a quick text to Lilly. If she never saw Monica again, that would be too soon, and since she’d have to see her at the wedding, Bree had sworn off going anywhere that might bring her into contact with the bride.

Instead, she decided to spend some time on the beach. Since she didn’t want to see anyone--including Trent and Hank--she went for a long walk away from the resort and found a spot where she was fairly certain no one would come looking for her. It wasn’t as beautiful as the spot where she’d found solace earlier in the week, closer to the resort, but it was lovely, and she pulled out her notebook and wrote down the words to a song.

The ocean was a great inspiration. Before she knew it, she’d penned three songs, all about love and life--about feelings washing away with the tide, about love sifting through one’s fingers like sand, about chasing each other through the sky like birds only to fall from grace…. She was happy with her work but knew she’d never sing any of these songs without thinking of Trent. She’d have to get used to it. So many of her songs had been inspired by him in one way or another.

Her phone rang around noon, just as she was thinking she should probably head back so she could get cleaned up, dressed, and go to the chapel. It was Trent. She turned it off. He left her a voicemail, but she didn’t bother to listen to it. The last thing she wanted to hear was him making excuses about why he couldn’t break up with Monica. In a matter of hours, it wouldn’t make any difference anyway.

She headed back to her room, humming one of the new songs she’d written as she went. She’d have to put herself into performance mode to get through the song at the wedding, but that was okay. Bree was a pro--she could do it. Then, she’d be done, and she could leave--and forget about Trent forever.