Page 92 of The Holiday Makeover

I wanted to feel relieved. I should have felt relieved. But instead, I felt like I was missing something.

Or like I was a huge idiot for ruining my own proposal.

Except . . .

He said he should have thrown the ring away.

He had called it a regret.

Which meant he had the ring before he came back to Aspen Lake. Before we’d spoken. Before we’d even seen each other again after more than two years apart.

My stomach turned.

“I’m confused,” was all I could think to say.

Tate swallowed hard enough to make his Adam’s apple bob.

“I bought the ring when we went to New York,” he admitted.

“We as in when you and I went there for Good Morning America?” I asked. “Where I snorted on live TV?” I had to clarify.

The corners of his lips twitched, but the almost smile didn’t last. He gave me a pained nod.

“You were going to propose to me?”

That question hung between us, unanswered for an uncomfortable amount of time. Long enough for the truth to settle.

He had planned to. But he hadn’t.

I braved another question. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I’m an idiot,” he muttered.

I wanted to say that much was clear, but I was too stunned by the unpleasant turn of events to form a decent insult.

“I was waiting for the right moment,” he said, his voice haggard. “The perfect moment.”

Unfortunately, I knew exactly what he meant.

“You mean the perfect moment for Hammer and Hue?” My stomach turned some more. “For our fans.”

The huge rock suddenly made sense. It had to be at least four carats. A ring meant to sparkle under lights. A ring meant to be seen and oohed and ahhed over.

“Yeah,” he admitted, barely above a whisper.

I pressed a hand to my stomach, feeling sicker by the second. “I think I felt better when I thought the ring was for someone else.”

Tate’s eyes widened.

“You bought a ring,” I said, my voice cracking, “but I wasn’t even worth fighting for.”

“No. No. Damn it, no.” Tate scooted closer, but stopped when I stiffened. “That wasn’t it. We were fighting more and more because of the network’s offer, and I didn’t want you to think I was using the proposal to manipulate you into coming with me.”

I shoved the covers off me, crawled out of bed, and landed unsteadily on my feet.

“You didn’t ask because you knew we wanted different things, and you couldn’t have me coming between you and your precious show.” My voice shook, but I kept going. “Tate, you didn’t even look back after you walked out the door. You couldn’t even answer me when I asked if it was real.”

“You didn’t fight for us either.” His voice rose.