Free How to Lose a Groom in 10 Days by Catherine Mann and Joanne Rock

smell amazing.”
    “They’re planted at the ballpark. That first night we danced in the rain in the dark, we were close to them. You said something smelled good and I asked the landscaper about them the next day. Peonies, he told me.”
    “Grady.” Her voice broke. “I know I haven’t been fair.”
    He gripped the steering wheel in white-knuckled fists, staring straight ahead. “What if I stayed here with you? Told the Stars I’d buy back my contract and—”
    “No one does that.” She shook her head in disbelief, her silky hair sliding over her shoulder just as it had slid over his body last night. “You don’t turn your back on talent like yours.”
    “Hypothetically speaking, then.” He had to know the answer to a question that had bothered him deep in his gut since he’d seen her sprint away. “If I was a regular guy you met at the field. Just another baseball fan. Would it be different right now? Would I know your parents or have a real wife?”
    She blinked fast, looking away and outside the window so long he wasn’t sure she would answer. Her chest moved with a heavy sigh. “I’m not sure this will make sense to you, but nobody ever put me first before. I didn’t believe it was real because I didn’t know what that felt like. So, no. I don’t think it would have been any different. I still wouldn’t have trusted what we had was real.”
    He’d asked for honesty and he’d gotten it, so he couldn’t complain when it hurt like hell. She wouldn’t have given him her heart no matter what he did. Maybe that should have made him feel better, but it burned a hole straight through him and left him raw. Empty.
    Fresh out of words and realizing exactly how small his chances were of ever winning her over, Grady focused on getting to the airfield as fast as the law allowed. He’d shown her that he cared. That he loved her and wanted her in his life. She just didn’t love him enough to want to be his wife.
    When he pulled into the private airstrip where the team plane waited, he shoved the car into park but he didn’t get out fast enough. Melanie took his hand and pressed something cold in his palm.
    Her wedding ring.
    “I’m sorry, Grady.” At least her voice choked on the words. “Truly, I am.”
    Grinding his teeth, he took it and dropped it in the Honda’s cupholder.
    “I got it for you, Mel. Just like I got the house in Atlanta that I don’t want anymore either. I’ll sell our house, but you figure out what to do with the ring.” The simple act of speaking hurt. Physically. Hurt. He reached in the backseat and pulled out Polly’s carrier. “I’m taking our most important asset.”
    He eyed the Golden Retriever pup as she struggled to stay upright in the moving crate. He knew exactly how that balancing act felt and the dog managed a whole hell of a lot better than him.
    Around them, he could see other players’ cars pulling into the dark parking lot. He’d purposely put the Honda in a space farther from the team aircraft just in case there were any media gathered, but it looked quiet enough.
    “Grady—” Melanie had slipped out of the passenger seat and stood across the hood from him.
    But the time for talking was over. He had his answers now.
    “Let’s at least end this honestly.” He didn’t know how he’d stand on a press podium and talk about her to the media in a few hours’ time when it hurt this much just looking at her. “I’ll look into an annulment when I get to Atlanta. Goodbye, Melanie.”
    He thought he saw a glint of tears on her cheeks, but it was probably a trick of the lights. Turning on his heel, he shouldered his overnight bag and took his dog to start the regular season without his wife.
    *
    Melanie watched him leave and wondered if he’d felt like this when she ran out of the courthouse two days ago.
    This was how it felt to watch the person you love most in the world walk away from you .
    The hurt was worse than anything she’d ever felt, and she’d