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She tilted her head and took a moment to think. “You’re intelligent like him, and you have his nose.” She tapped mine.
I smiled, though I wasn’t really feeling it. “I also don’t know how to love.”
She faltered as if someone had pushed her. “Who in the world would say such a ridiculous thing?”
“Me,” I choked out.
“Honey.” She rubbed my arm. “What would make you think that?”
I turned around, leaned against the railing, and wiped the sweat off my brow. “It’s true.” I related to her my long list of running-away offenses.
She sighed and shook her head. “Let’s go sit on one of the benches over there.”
We weaved in and out of the crowd on our way to the bench. We took a seat, and the bench’s heat radiated into my skin. Still, it wasn’t any worse than the discomfort my heart was feeling.
Naomi gave me such a tender look. A mother’s look. “Honey, you were bound to have some relationship issues due to your father’s stupidity, but you have a bigger heart and love better than anyone I know.”
“That’s not true. Remember Alan? He said I did a great imitation of a woman in love. And he was such a great guy. You even loved him. I let my fiancé go too. Not to mention half a dozen other good men. And I have, what, maybe three friends? Just admit it—I’m a runner.”
Her facial expression bordered on amused and sympathetic. “Sweetheart, have you run away from some things? Yes. Given your history, it’s not surprising. With that said, you’ve tackled some humungous mountains—college, medical school, your residency. Not to mention your father. You’re no quitter. Or runner for that matter.”
“My father?”
“Do you think most daughters in your position would have stuck around? Absolutely not. But you . . . you, my dear, are the very essence of love. Love is what kept you coming back.”
I wiped the corner of my eye where a tear had escaped. “But what about all those men?”
She waved her hand in front of me dismissively. “That was only your heart telling you they weren’t the right one. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Will I ever find the right one?” I begged to know.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Haven’t you already?”
I covered my face with my hands. “Don’t say that.”
“You are running,” she teased me.
“No. Well, yes.” I dropped my hands. “But he ran from me first.” I sounded like I was tattling on him. Then I told her Kane’s tale of why he’d left.
Naomi listened intently, nodding here and there. When I finished, she said, “Hmm. Well, that was foolish, but I have to admit, it was an honorable thing he did.”
“What? Honorable?”
“Honey, you were so young and naive. You needed more experience with men before you settled down.”
“You’re taking his side?”
She patted my knee. “I’m always on your side. However, it sounds like he had good intentions. Just a very poor execution.”
“So, I should just forgive him?”
“For your own sake, you should always forgive,” she said wisely. “Whether or not you give him another chance, that’s up to you. You have to ask yourself which you will regret more: loving him or leaving him.”
I rubbed my temples. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving him.”
“There’s the crux of the problem and why you quote, unquote, ‘run from other men.’ You’re already taken.”
Yes. Yes, I was. Body and soul. “Tell me what to do,” I pleaded.
“Darling daughter, that I can’t do. What I can tell you, though, is what I know. There was something about you two together that was, in a word, magical. He unlocked something in you. For that I will always thank him. And . . .”—she grinned—“for talking your father out of getting married again.”
“What?” I perked up.
“Oh, yes. According to your father last night, it was Kane who convinced him to hang up his tuxedo. He called him out for all the hurt his marriages have caused you.”
“He did?” I shouldn’t be surprised. Why did he have to be the best ex-boyfriend ever?
“That’s what your father said.”
“What else did my father say to you?” I started my fishing expedition to extract any juicy details she would give me.
Naomi laughed. “I see what you’re doing. I thought we were talking about you.”
“We were, but I want to know how last night went. What do you think of my father’s ‘episode’?”
She blew out a heavy breath. “I’m only surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner. The man subsists on caffeine and has worked eighteen-hour days for years. Did he tell you he drove himself to the hospital?”
“No! Why didn’t he call someone or 911?”
“Pride. Stubborn fool,” she muttered before standing. “Let’s get a drink. I need to cool off.”
No one could get her ire up like my father. That and shoddy police work at a crime scene.
