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I stared at him in amazement. Was there any wonder why I hadn’t been able to forget him? I’d never met anyone who took life on the way he did. I didn’t think there was anything he couldn’t accomplish, except maybe convincing me I should travel on the road with him.
“Kane,” I whispered. “I thought I knew who I wanted to travel with and where I was going, but you took a major detour, and I had to exit. If I hadn’t, the pain would have crushed me.”
He rested his warm hand on my knee. “Scarlett, I’m sorry.”
“I believe you, but the road I took hasn’t been bad. In fact, there has been a lot of good. A lot of things I wouldn’t change. Maybe it hasn’t been as thrilling as the one we were on, but I don’t know if I can risk jumping back on that road. Or even if I should. You left a crater-sized pothole when you left. I wonder if you realize that.”
His caramel eyes searched my own as he seemed to grasp for his words. Several times he attempted to reach up and touch my face, only to stop himself. I was grateful for his hesitation. This was a precarious situation that called for an abundance of caution.
“Scarlett,” he finally managed to say. “I will never forget the look you gave me when I told you I was leaving. It broke my heart and has haunted me for years. I hated myself for it. It took everything I had not to call you and beg you to come to London. But I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“It didn’t feel right,” my voice cracked.
“I know.” He sat back against the pillows. “I don’t know what I can do to make it up to you. Or make you see I’m not leaving again.”
I didn’t either. I held up the melting cookies. “These are always a good start.” I tried to add some levity back into the conversation.
He laughed lowly. “There are plenty more.”
“That’s good news.”
He braved resting his hand on my cheek, and, naturally, I leaned into it. “Don’t give up on us, please,” he begged.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I whispered.
“I thank God for that.” He dropped his hand and I felt the loss of his touch.
I filled the void with cookies.
Kane took out his phone and held it up to take a selfie of us. “We need to document another item being checked off our list.”
“Um . . .,” I mumbled with my mouth full.
Kane gave me a wicked grin. “I noticed you blocked me on Facebook eight years ago.”
I choked on my cookie and Kane patted my back.
I hacked and hacked until finally I could breathe normally. I turned to Kane, red faced. “I couldn’t bear to see you,” I stuttered. “Or you documenting your dates with other women,” I admitted.
Kane rested his phone between us. “Scarlett, I never documented another date on Facebook after Edge of the World.”
My eyes widened. “You didn’t? Why?”
He leaned in and tapped my nose. “Because I didn’t want to hurt you. Plus, no woman has ever compared to you.”
I nudged him. “I saw your beautiful girlfriends over the years in living color. They were plenty worthy of a few Facebook posts.”
He shook his head. “If only you could see how I see you. You would know those women don’t hold a candle to you.”
I bit my lip, not sure I could believe him, but oh, I wanted to. “Um . . . what did you say in your Edge of the World post?” I’d missed that one, as I had blocked him as soon as I could after we broke up. I’d thought it would help lessen the pain, though it hadn’t. It had only deepened the void.
“Why don’t you unblock me and read it for yourself?” he dared me.
“Maybe I will,” I stammered. I was more than curious. But I was afraid it would be painful. How could it not be? I didn’t think there was any spin he could have put on it to make it okay. And why would he post a picture of us after breaking up with me? Better question was, what picture? I didn’t remember us taking a photo together that day.
Kane grabbed his phone and held it up. “Good, then I can tag you in this post. Smile, darlin’.”
I leaned into him as if there weren’t eight years between us and smiled.
He took the shot, then looked at the photo as if he were stunned.
“Oh, no. Do I have chocolate on my teeth or lips?”
He turned his screen toward me. “No. You’re perfect. I was just thinking what a fool I was to let you go.”
I stared at us together. A sense of belonging swept through me. It was as if I could see the past, the present, and the future all wrapped up in his smile. It scared me, and I practically shoved an entire cookie in my mouth while I backed away from him. We had been down this road before, and, like I’d said, it had ended in a huge pothole. But I had to see if the pothole could be filled, or if we were meant to travel another road together. Or, maybe I would find out the separate roads we were currently on weren’t meant to intersect.
