Read Online Seven Nights with Her Ex by Louisa Heaton - Free Book Online

indifference to planning the future, his studies, his life. She’d loved the way he could get excited about one thing and then develop a passion for something else entirely further down the line. How he could be thrilled by new technologies, new inventions, new medicines. Whereas she had always been cautious—researching new methods, new techniques, checking the statistics on their success, talking to the people involved about their experiences, making sure everything was safe before she considered using anything in her work.
    Beau did not like surprises. Especially unpleasant ones. And Gray had caused her the most unpleasant surprise in her life so far by not turning up to their wedding. A wedding could be planned in advance, carefully thought-out, with alternatives arranged, waiting in the wings, to prevent any last-minute hitches. You planned the day meticulously so that you didn’t have to worry about it running smoothly, so that it just did . And on the day itself you were meant to just turn up and go with the flow. Put on your dress, do your hair, do your make-up, smile for the camera and enjoy .
    And because she’d planned her wedding so well, she’d not expected anything to go wrong at all. She’d been naïvely blissful, secure about her feelings for her husband-to-be, anticipating the joy that their marriage would bring, knowing the happiness they already had was growing and growing with every day.
    So when he hadn’t shown up, it had felt as if she’d been punched in the gut! A blow that had come out of nowhere. And her heart...? It had been totally broken.
    And then the questions had flooded her mind. Why had he abandoned her? Had she been wrong? Had it all been one-sided?
    Looking at him now, adored by his fellow hikers, she still found it hard to tell herself that he had actually just left her there. Without a word. Without a hint of concern.
    Had there been signs in the days before the wedding that he’d planned to run out on her? She couldn’t recall. He had seemed a little distant occasionally, when she’d gone on about the arrangements, but weren’t all grooms-to-be like that? Surely it was the bride’s prerogative to go overboard when planning her perfect day?
    The pain had been incredible. It had made her doubt their love. Made her doubt herself . She’d spent weeks worrying that there was something wrong with her . That she was lacking something—that there was something Gray needed and couldn’t get it from her.
    But what? She was a nice person. Clever. Kind. Friendly. Loving. She’d never been shy in showing him her affection. Their sex life had been great! Hadn’t it? Of course it had been. No man could make a woman feel like that and then say things were lacking in that department.
    He hadn’t said much in the days leading up to the wedding, she supposed. He hadn’t said much in regard to their marriage, or his hopes and dreams, so she’d talked about hers, hoping to draw him out. But he’d never said anything. Just smiled and looked...nervous.
    Beau poked at the campfire with a long stick and watched as the embers collapsed and spat heat upwards and outwards, tiny flecks of flame bursting forth and disappearing into the night sky above. The dark blue of the night revealed the sparkle of stars that she could never have hoped to see from her home town of Oxford. Even from the hospital roof you couldn’t see a sky such as this.
    The vast openness of Yellowstone made her realise that there was so much she wasn’t used to seeing. Or noticing. It made her aware that she wouldn’t know if something else was out there until she made the time to look for it.
    Was there something about Gray that she’d not known about?
    She glanced up at him once more and caught his gaze upon her through the heat of the orange flames. He looked pensive, and he rubbed at his jaw before he turned to answer Rick, who’d