Page 73 of A Little Bit Engaged
He opened his mouth to speak before he pressed his lips together. His gaze darted between them as if comparing the two twins, trying to decide which sister he wanted.
Reality hit Cara like a Muni bus. Disappointment flooded her. She forced herself not to collapse to the ground.
Everything she’d wanted with him—love, a future, a family—was nothing more than a dumb fantasy. The way it had always been. Oh, logically a part of her had known her dreams wouldn’t come true, but the rest of her had been holding out hope.
So much hope.
No longer.
It was over.
The pretending.
Everything.
She was on her own.
No place to live. No family. No Brody.
Her heart shattered, but it somehow kept beating while air flowed into her lungs.
Caitlin was back and single. Her career had been salvaged and her reputation still sparkled clean as could be. Brody no longer needed to play the part of Cara’s fiancé. He no longer needed her.
Her insides twisted, but she couldn’t deny the truth. A sexy, famous starlet was better than an unemployed, homeless librarian turned bookseller with a spoiled cat.
Time to go.
She stepped back from the altar.
“Where are you going?” Brody asked.
“It’s over.” Their time of being together—laughing and kissing—hadn’t changed anything. Nothing would ever change between them. He didn’t want her. Would never love her.
Cara saw that now.
She was finished.
With him. With her sister.
Caitlin’s lies and selfishness might have ruined Cara’s life, but she had been the one to allow it to happen by not standing up for herself or going after what she wanted. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Fighting the urge to scream, she stared into her sister’s eyes. “You need to tell Mom and Dad the truth. Today.”
Cara wanted to ruin her sister’s life the way Caitlin had ruined hers, but if Cara did that, she’d be no better than her twin. And she wanted to be better. Desperately. She wanted to do what was right.
Not for Caitlin or Brody, but for herself.
Cara needed to put herself, her needs, first.
It wasn’t logic telling her that but her heart.
And she would.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cara ran inside the Bay View House. Each step pummeled her aching heart, but she couldn’t stop or stay. Hot tears burned. She blinked them away.
For now.
