“I just borrowed him.” She patted him on the neck, and Adam wished Chips hadn’t responded to her so gently. “I needed to get to you to explain…and I thought this would be the fastest way. Plus, he knew the way. I didn’t. You invited me.”
“Then you’re now uninvited.” There wasn’t even the tiniest hint of teasing in the statement.
“I don’t know what all you heard, but—”
“But what does it matter?” He looked away.
“Let me explain.” Her brows lifted, concerned he’d misunderstood something he’d overheard. “Please, Adam.”
His lips were pressed tight, his head shaking in disbelief that she was even sitting there on his horse. “Probably wasn’t your first time riding a horse either, was it?”
“What?” She seemed to process his comment. “Yes, it was. What did you hear?”
“I heard enough. You’ve been married half your life. I’m not the kind of guy that spends his time with another man’s wife, Merry Anna. I thought more of you.” Disgust hung in the back of his throat. “I trusted you, confided in you.”
Adam looked at Chips and mumbled the wordtraitorunder his breath.
“Why couldn’t you have just been straight with me?” he asked. “Was that too much to expect? Really?”
“I didn’t mislead you. I’m not married.”
“I heard him.” He looked at her, wondering why part of him wanted to believe her. But he’d heard it with his own ears.
“I’m going through a lot of changes. You’re a big part of that. I’ve learned so much about myself since I’ve been in Antler Creek. Look at me. I’m on a horse.” She raised her hands in the air. “Look, no hands.” She waved them, a little smile playing on her lips. “Okay, not funny.”
Zan took the gesture as a friendly cue she could join in. Adam spun around but kept his tone in check. “Zan, you keep working on that wreath. I’m going to talk to Merry Anna for a minute, okay?”
“Yes sir.” She sat back down, pressing pine needles into the wreath.
“Adam, I’m divorced. I was divorced, papers in hand, well before I ever rolled into this town.”
He didn’t comment.
“Before I came to Antler Creek, I believed the breakup was all Kevin’s fault. He cheated on me, and I caught him red handed. The divorce wasn’t pretty, and I ended up having to pay him alimony. He wants more. Now I do think I’m part to blame for that failed relationship. I didn’t break the marriage contract like he did, but I did have my priorities wrong. I put my job first, before everything. I was so dedicated to that job that I didn’t even know who I was anymore.”
“Married to that guy since high school? That’s a long time. How could you have not told me you’d been married?”
“At first, I didn’t think I’d be in Antler Creek long enough for it to matter, and you know what? I wasn’t proud of it. Iwas hurt and embarrassed, and I was searching for something inside myself.”
“You were playing a game. You were just a character in a movie or in a book, letting us be the backdrop for whatever it was you had going on in your head. People around here don’t do things like that. They are sincere. This is real life. Real responsibility.”
“You’re going to tellmeabout responsibility?”
“I may not be doing everything right, but at least I’m trying,” he said. “You made a fool of me.”
“Don’t pass judgment on me for not being completely transparent,” said Merry Anna. “You weren’t so transparent either.”
He was tempted to tell her why he was in Archdale last night, but what was the point? “I’m not having this conversation.”
“Adam, I was faithful to Kevin the whole time I was married and even through our divorce. I never made light of our marriage contract. I wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t just run off. Look, he was here to cause trouble. Tara caught him poking around my house. He’s grasping at straws. I was his meal ticket for a long time.”
“He took advantage of you.” Adam’s words were steady. “It’s why you were worried I was doing the same thing.”
“And that wasn’t fair. I know it.” Her words sounded sincere. “I’ve wasted a lot of precious time doing things that didn’t matter. I want my life to be different. I’m different now.”
He wanted to believe her.
“I was so embarrassed that Kevin wouldn’t keep a job that I never even told my parents. They were completely unsupportive of the divorce. They think once you get married, youstay married at all costs. But I couldn’t live with the cheating. I carried the burden of that broken heart and disrespect. It hurt.” She swept a tear from her cheek. “No journey is perfect. I know that, and I’m not looking for you to feel sorry for me.”
