He reached out to grasp her hand before she could walk away.If he expected hugs and forgiveness, he would be disappointed.“Mi’ja, please.”
“Don’tmi’jame,” she said, and yanked her hand free.“I don’t want your sympathy or your charity, and I don’t want your guest room.”
He didn’t say anything else.She turned and left him sitting in the garden, all alone.She found Jackson and Emily rearranging dollhouse furniture.Vanessa was too emotional to speak, so she stared out the window and took deep breaths.Memories of her parents’ fraught relationship closed in on her, making her stomach churn and her eyes water.
After a few minutes of quiet, Jackson took out his phone to show Emily photos of hotels with swimming pools.Vanessa didn’t want him to pay for their hotel room, but she stayed silent.She kept her gaze focused on the horizon and tried not to weep.
“Mommy!”
Vanessa turned away from the window.Emily was tugging on the hem of her dress.“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Penelope.She got kidnapped!”
Chapter Twelve
Paul sucked atapologies.
He tended to avoid emotional scenes with women, so he didn’t have much experience with them.He didn’t argue, he didn’t get attached, and he never made promises he couldn’t keep.No one got hurt, himself included, and that was the way he liked it.His last relationship hadn’t ended well, despite these guardrails.The acrimony of their breakup had surprised him, and he’d vowed to steer clear of entanglements moving forward.
He regretted the way he’d handled the apology to Vanessa, but he was determined to put the drama behind him and bury himself in work.
Luckily, he had plenty of construction to do.He went next door to remove the last bits of debris from the cabin.He’d ripped out the old carpet and foam padding in the bedrooms and living room, and peeled away the linoleum in the kitchen.What he’d discovered underneath was not a subfloor but solid Spanish tile.It was scuffed, but not broken.He imagined it could be resurfaced instead of replaced.
By mid-morning, he’d loaded his truck with the demolition materials and driven to the local refuse disposal station.The foul-smelling setting matched his mood.
He didn’t need Vanessa Nava in his life.He didn’t need her in his bed.He didn’t need her tempting him and challenging him every time he ventured outside.Now that he had the dock to himself, he could spend the afternoon cruising the lake or fishing.
He was searching his fridge for lunch options when his cell phone rang.It was Kyle.Paul swiped his phone off the countertop to answer him.
“I have an update on Sharma,” Kyle said without preamble.
“Okay,” Paul said, bracing himself for the worst.Aisha Sharma was the victim of the carjacking he’d interrupted.
“She’s out of ICU.They think she’ll make a full recovery.”
Paul released a slow breath.“That’s good news.”
“It’s excellent news.”
“Any word from the husband?”
“He’ll come around,” Kyle said vaguely.“The day you saw him, he’d been told she might never wake up.He was upset.”
That was putting it mildly.The crazed husband had burst into Paul’s hospital room, shoved his food tray into the wall, and threatened to kill him.If Paul hadn’t been injured, the guy might have followed through.“He still blames me.”
“He doesn’t understand the position you were in.”
Paul scrubbed a hand over his face.“Maybe I should have waited for backup.”
“If you had, that little girl and her mother might both be dead.”
“We’ll never know, will we?”
“No, we won’t, and you have to stop torturing yourself about it.”
“I’m not torturing myself.”
“Good,” Kyle said.“How’s your new bunny?”
