Page 114 of Love In Hiding

She grabbed her purse, turned, and slammed out the door so loudly the hinges rattled.

He lunged after her, but by the time he got the door open she was already stepping into the elevator, her spine stiff, her eyes straight ahead pretending as if he didn’t exist.

And he was still half-dressed.

“Fuck me!” he roared into the empty condo.

The echo bounced back at him harsh and hollow.

Yelling did nothing but make the knot in his chest cinch tighter. It never helped.

It only made him feel like he’d just lost something he wasn’t ready to lose.

Something he maybe…loved.

She said she loved him and then marched right out the door.

Everything in him said to chase after her. But he wouldn’t.

Because they both had to calm down. They both had to gather their thoughts.

She’d go home to her sister. He was left alone.

What he didn’t want.

He went back to his room, finished changing and then called his mother.

“Spencer,” Barb Jensen said on the second ring. “Ihaven’t heard from you in a few weeks. Nothing more than texts. I thought for sure you’d be with London tonight.”

“We were,” he said. “At a charity event.”

“And she’s not with you now?” his mother asked.

He sat his ass on the couch, put his head back, closed his eyes and told her exactly what happened. “It’s a mess. We are night and day. I’m not sure why I thought this would work.”

“Do you love her?”

“That’s the thing. I do. I have for weeks. Then something like tonight happens and I remember everything about her that rubs me the wrong way.”

“Not everyone is the same,” his mother explained. “You know that. You’ve never shied away from a challenge in your life. Could it be that?”

He let out a laugh. “She’s a challenge, that’s for sure. And I’m willing to bet she’s thinking the same about me.”

“She’s not wrong, you know.”

“She won’t think so.”

“Get your head out of your ass,” his mother said. “She’s right that you hold it all in. You never want the world, anyone, to know what you’re thinking, doing, or even feeling. But if you’ve got someone important in your life, then you need to open up with that person. Just like she’s been doing more with you than it appears you are with her.”

His mother wasn’t wrong. “I didn’t need her to say what she did. It could come back and hurt her too. She doesn’t see that.”

“Or maybe she cares about the important things and took that road.”

“Meaning I don’t?”

“Meaning you don’t let yourself even try. Why didn’t you go after her?”

“Because she needs to cool down.”