The Man I'll Marry Read online

  The Man I’ll Marry

  Danielle Lee Zwissler

  A Young Adult Love Story

  Falling for You Book III

  ©2016 Danielle Lee Zwissler

  Firefly & Wisp Books

  ISBN-13:

  Also published by Smashwords

  Copyright © 2016 by: Danielle L. Zwissler

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or use of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of Firefly & Wisp Books.

  www.fireflyandwispbooks.com

  First Firefly & Wisp Publishing Printing 2016

  All the characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. All work is from the imagination of the author.

  www.SheWritesRomance.com

  Dear Reader,

  I’m assuming that you already know about Keri and Payton, and of course, all of their ups and downs. If not, you may want to pick up “The Boy Next Door” and “The Boy I Love” before you start this one.

  When you’re young, everything seems as if it’s the only thing in the world, and being in love is such a powerful thing. Keri, at the end of book II, finally figures out what she wants…but at what cost?

  Payton, our fun-loving good guy, is a bit depressed to say the least. And to top it all off, Keri decides to come back to town.

  I hope you get the ending that you were hoping for in this series as I’ve had so much fun in writing this one. Please make sure you read til the very last page where you’ll find a bonus story link on my website to continue this last bit of Keri and Payton’s life. Until then, have fun, read on, and fall in love with the boy next door that turns into the man I’ll marry.

  As always, thank you!

  Much love and happiness,

  R Danielle Lee Zwissler

  With Thanks,

  As always I have some thanks to hand out!

  To my husband of nearly fifteen years, thanks for all of your love, encouragement and help in coming up with a pretty fantastic storyline for this book. I love you.

  To my kids, Ariana and Logan, thanks for putting up with me taking all of your ‘computer time’ and not always getting to bed at a decent hour. I love you.

  To Everclear -So much for the afterglow--You got me through college, and now you got me through this book. You’re even better the second go-round.

  Chapter One

  * How about a mulligan…*

  I stood there, looking at the charred wood, and the sad looking debris where the once-loved treehouse used to stand. I put my hand up to my mouth and cried, wishing I knew how to fix what I upended in the first place. It was summer now, and I hadn’t been back since Thanksgiving. Payton never called, never answered my emails, never texted me back.

  Mom even told me it was best that I didn’t visit. She didn’t tell me why, and now I definitely knew. He destroyed everything. Well, Jessup did.

  Okay, I did.

  I was now twenty, having just celebrated my birthday last night when I got back to Ohio. My brothers weren’t there; only Mom. Dad was dead, and Payton, well, I had no idea where he was either. It was the first birthday that I’d celebrated without both him and my Dad since I could remember, and it felt odd.

  Payton didn’t live at home anymore, from what Mom was saying, and I felt as if my heart was cut in little pieces, unable to be repaired.

  Summer was going to suck.

  I knelt down in the field that separated our two properties and put my hand up to my eyes as the sun was shining down making it hard to see. The field, no longer taken care of in this area, made me want to puke. Our treehouse, our special place—gone. Tears started flowing from my eyes as I fell to the ground. Everything was going so horribly. I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and texted Payton.

  *I’m home. Can I see you?*

  Who’s this?

  *Very funny, Pay.* I shook my head, and wiped at my eyes. I knew I screwed up, but he didn’t have to be so damn mean about it.

  Not Pay… This is Jessica.

  Jessica… My heart started to hammer in my chest, and I started hitting the keys—angrily.

  *Well, can you please tell Payton to call me. It’s important?*

  I don’t know who Payton is… I’ve had this number for a few months now. Sorry.

  I took a deep breath after reading the text and closed my eyes. He even went to the trouble of canceling his phone number… A number that he’d had since middle school.

  *I’m sorry. Thanks for letting me know.*

  No problem.

  Before I pocketed the phone, I got up and took a picture of where the treehouse once stood.

  “What are you doing here?” a male voice called out.

  I hurriedly turned in its direction, hoping that it was Payton. It wasn’t. It was his brother.

  “Hey! How’s it going?” I asked, trying to put a smile onto my face.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Mitch replied.

  I frowned, and could feel my pulse quicken. “I’m…I was just…”

  “He’s not here anymore.” Mitch looked down at the burnt ground and shook his head.

  I swallowed. “I know.”

  “You did this,” he said angrily. “This is on you.”

  I sniffed and tried to swallow down my tears. “I didn’t do what he thought I did.”

  Mitch scoffed. “You have no idea what he’s been through. He’s left,” Mitch said and gestured toward the house. “Mom’s devastated, and Dad, well, you can imagine how well it has gone over here since Payton stopped helping out.”

  My eyes widened as I looked around the field. That’s why the place was a mess. “I didn’t…”

  “Know? Yeah, I figured as much. You were too busy out messing around with that college boy, Jessup, to realize you had a great guy here. Well, I don’t think he’s pining for you anymore.”

  I flinched, and started to sob…loudly. It was embarrassing. “I wasn’t messing around with him. He…nothing happened.”

  Mitch wasn’t having any of the conversation. He looked up toward the sky and then shook his head once more. “He’s got a good thing going now, so don’t screw it up.”

  “Wh…what do you mean?” I asked, scared to know the truth.

  “He’s working downtown, and he’s dating Patricia Walters. They’ve been thick as thieves since her big Christmas party.”

  I felt my stomach give out, and the bile forced its way up my throat and out. There was no stopping it. I ralphed all over my chucks and nearly splattered Mitch.

  Mitch’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

  I kept heaving until there was nothing left. “But…” I sobbed. “I…”

  “Damn it. Keri, are you okay?”

  I cried. “Now you care?”

  Mitch put his hand on my back and rubbed it slowly. I was shaking, and I felt absolutely wretched. Payton had moved on. I heard his voice once more. “I want all of my firsts with you.” My sobbing got louder and louder until I sounded like a lunatic. Mitch kept rubbing my back.

  “Fuck, I’m so sorry, Keri. I shouldn’t have…”

  “No,” I shook, “it’s… it’s…fine. I’m just…”

  “This sucks, and you know it,” Mitch replied.

  I nodded.

  “Let’s get you out of this…area…”

  My breathing was heavy and it was becoming increasingly harder to get air. My chest shook, and Mitch held on to me as we moved away from my favorite place in the world.

  “Is he okay
now?” I asked, hoping that he was and wasn’t at the same time.

  Mitch shook his head. “I don’t know. We don’t see him anymore.”

  I turned toward Mitch and my lips trembled. I was going to lose it even more than I already had.

  “Stop, okay? I’m sorry for what I said.”

  I nodded. “I didn’t do anything… I kissed him, well, Jessup kissed me, and then I stopped it. I knew as soon as it happened that it was a mistake, and I figured it all out.”

  Mitch nodded, and I wasn’t sure if he got what I was telling him.

  “I knew, Mitch. I know now how Payton was feeling.”

  Mitch smiled sadly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah,” I said, sniffing, “me, too.”

  ***

  Payton

  I hadn’t been home since Christmas morning. Mom was mad at Dad, and it was all my fault. Things hadn’t gone well in a while, and I didn’t want to spend one more minute in that house, knowing that the “I told you so’s” were coming. Keri made a complete fool out of me, and I let her.

  The night of the text, I just lost it, and I can’t get that moment out of my head. Stealing liquor out of my parents’ cabinet, drinking in excess, and burning down the tree fort, with myself in it.

  The cops told my parents that I was suicidal, and I think they still believe that to be true.

  Maybe I was… Maybe I am. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

  I was with Patti now, and she liked me. Loved me. And, it felt good to have those feelings returned, even though it was impossible for me to say those words to her. I wished I could. Keri killed my heart.

  I looked down at my phone and saw the text come in and frowned.

  Keri made it home.

  She was in our field.

  She saw the fort.

  My lip trembled as I replayed the moment I got the text from her “boyfriend” and I picked up my fist and slammed it into the desk.

  She didn’t love me. She loved him.

  My jaw clenched, and I texted my brother back.

  *Who cares…*

  I waited for his reply.

  She’s devastated, Payton.

  *Once again, who cares?*

  She said that she didn’t do anything with this guy…

  I read the message and felt my blood pump through my veins. I could feel my heart hammer and, with each thud, I felt as if I’d be sick. She was lying.

  *Well, I don’t believe her.*

  She seemed like she was telling the truth.

  Fuck, Mitch. My own brother sticking up for her.

  *She’s good at lying.* I replied, and put my head down in my hands. I’d never known Keri to lie in my life, even when there were times that it would have been easier to do so.

  Believe what you want. She’s very upset.

  *Good. Now maybe she’ll know how I feel.*

  I’m outside. Let’s talk.

  “Who you textin?” came Patti’s voice.

  I hurriedly shut my phone, feeling guilty and wiped at my eyes. I felt like a total idiot, pining for the one that got away when I had a perfectly good woman already in my life.

  “It’s nothing,” I said smoothly. Patti frowned. “I’m surprised to see you here today.”

  She shook her head. “It’s that tramp, isn’t it?”

  Immediately, I was on the defensive. “Don’t call her that.”

  “Why do I even bother?” Patti asked. “Seriously, Payton. We’ve been together now for six months.”

  “Don’t say that, Patti. I know, and I’m happy.”

  “Then why are you talking to her?” she said, sounding anxious. “Let me see your phone.”

  “She didn’t text me,” I said, defending myself.

  “Then who did?”

  “Mitch.”

  Patti scoffed. “Oh, your brother? The one that hasn’t bothered to come see you?”

  She was right. Mitch and I hadn’t seen each other since Christmas, but it wasn’t all one-sided. I didn’t want to go home, and he didn’t want to cause a rift between himself and our parents.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, that’s cute. What did he do? Did he tell you as soon as she landed? Is she over there waiting for you now?”

  I sighed. “Patti, please don’t do this. It’s not my fault that Mitch texted me.”

  “Let me see your phone, Payton,” she said once again, and I flinched.

  “No.”

  “No?” she asked, eyes wide.

  “No.” I took a deep breath and waited for her reaction, when the door to the office opened and my boss walked in.

  “Hi, Patti; hi, Payton.”

  “Hey, George. I’m almost done in here.”

  George smiled. “It’s fine, I just wanted you to know that your brother’s outside.”

  I put my head down and sighed, Patti was livid. George took the hint and walked back out of the office, not saying anything.

  “Are you going to go out there?” Patti asked.

  “I’m sure he’s going to come in here,” I finished.

  “No, no, I’m not putting up with this,” Patti said, and then shook her finger at me, “you need to put an end to this…this, whatever it is.”

  “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Patti. Like I said, I didn’t know she was home. Mitch is the one that texted me.”

  “And you didn’t tell him to just stuff it?”

  I laughed gruffly. “No, and I won’t. He’s still my brother.”

  “Then we’re done!”

  I nodded. “That’s fine with me,” I said, and Patti started to freak out. She picked up some papers off my desk and started throwing them in all directions, and then she picked up a picture frame that she had made up of both of us and threw it against the wall.

  “Fuck you, Payton!” she cried, and just as I was about to stop her, Mitch walked in.

  “Hey, what’s…”

  “And fuck you, too, Mitch!” she yelled before she walked out the door.

  Mitch grinned as I looked up, and he pointed to the chair. “Is it all right if I?”

  “Go ahead,” I replied, and laughed at the look on Mitch’s face.

  Chapter Two

  * Is it too late to say…*

  I was in a daze, sitting in my stupid bedroom, watching my stupid TV. There was nothing on cable, and I’d watched nearly everything on Netflix. So, I decided on watching infomercials. More specifically, Body Beast.

  Damn.

  All the people on here were hot

  I licked my lips and leaned back into my comforter and crossed my arms behind my head. May as well get comfortable. My cell rang.

  Thank God.

  “Hello,” I said, a little too energetically.

  “Wazzzzzzzz upppppp,” Alexis replied. She was laughing, and I could hear Todd in the background, telling her to tell me that I was a loser.

  “Tell Todd he’s a loser, too. And, nothing. There’s nothing to do here.”

  Alexis laughed. “Yeah, there’s nothing much to do here either.”

  “Hey,” Todd cried from the background.

  I rolled my eyes. Those two were even more so in love than they were back in Ohio. “So, how’s home?”

  “Ugh… Mom keeps making me be home by nine, and Todd has to stay in the guest bedroom.”

  I grinned, thinking that if only her mother knew all the different bedrooms her daughter had been sleeping in on campus. “I can’t believe she still doesn’t know about our…living arrangement.”

  “Oh,” Alexis said, sighing, “she does, she just said she can ignore it when I’m miles away. Unlike now, and you’ll never believe what she said!”

  I laughed. Alexis’s attitude was contagious. “What?”

  “She called Todd…slurpy!”

  I snorted. “Ha! See, Todd, I told you!”

  Todd was laughing now, too, and it was like I never left school. I missed them so much. “I miss you guys.”

  “We miss you, t
oo,” Alexis said. “Can you come here?”

  God, how I wished I could. “I really wish I could, but Mom needs me, and I need to make things right with Payton. I really made an ass out of myself today.”

  Alexis sighed and then laughed. “What did you do?”

  “I puked all over myself in the field between our houses.”

  Todd laughed, and Alexis laughed even harder, and then stopped. “Sorry, why?”

  “Because it’s gone.”

  “What’s gone?”

  I swallowed, thinking that once I said this part out loud it really meant it was gone, even though I knew it was already.

  “The fort. It’s gone.”

  “What do you mean, it’s gone? I thought it was in the tree?” Alexis asked, confused.

  “He burnt it to the ground.”

  There, I said it. It was out there, and knowing that didn’t make me feel any better at all.

  “Oh my God,” Alexis said. “No wonder you were sick.”

  “Yeah.” I’d told Alexis all about the fort, and Payton, and our history, and us building the place, and how all of our major moments were in there, and how I thought we’d eventually have more there, and our kids would. Now, it was gone.

  “Well that’s just…”

  “Sucky,” Todd finished. “Damn, Keri, are you sure you don’t want to come out here?”

  I blew out a deep breath and closed my eyes. “I really wish I could, but I need to figure out what to do. What would you do?”

  “Me?” Todd asked, and I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.

  “Yeah.”

  “Shit, I don’t know. If we were together and that was my fort with you, I’d… I guess I’d try to rebuild it.”

  As soon as the words left Todd’s mouth, I knew that that’s exactly what I had to do. “Todd, you’re a fucking genius.”

  Todd laughed, and so did Alexis. “I’ve been trying to tell you this,” Todd said, and continued. “So, you want some help?”

  My eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  “Well,” Todd said, and then Alexis interrupted.

  “Yeah, we could… I mean, that’s if your mom has enough room for us…”

  “Yes!” I cried, before thinking. “I’m going to go talk to her. Do you think this could happen?” I asked. I didn’t want to get too excited, but having my friends here, having them be with me this summer, and for them to help me through this really shitty time… Well, it would be great.