Page 97 of No Headlines Please

"Seriously?" She stared like I'd just confessed to murder. "That's all you have to say?"

If she looked capable of listening, I might've pointed out that I would've told her plenty if only she hadn't vanished for ninety minutes after saying she'd be right back.

I forced a shrug. "Hey, you're the one who left." Not only had she left. Apparently, she'd spent most of that time listening to someone call me a monster while believing every word.

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't even live here."

No kidding. "Neither do you."

She blinked. "Is that a joke?"

"Sure, but it's still true."

She blinked again, and for the first time, her eyes looked suspiciously bright. In a small voice, she asked, "Was any of it true?"

At the look in her eyes, at the sound of her voice, at the set of her mouth, I felt a crazy urge to gather her close and tell her that the woman was full of shit.

But that ship had already sailed.

Sure, I hadn't told Delaney every little detail about me and Sloane, but I'd told her more than I'd told anyone else. And I would've told her everything if she'd returned with actual questions, not the same accusations I'd been hearing for months.

Okay, so she hadn't made those accusations out loud.

But her emerald eyes were accusing me of plenty, like I'd personally wronged her by leaving a different girl at the altar.

Screw that.

When I said nothing in reply, Delaney asked in a choked little voice, "Should I be worried?"

I didn't get it. "About what?"

"Oh, come on! Nobody likes to be hounded and followed."

What the hell? "So you think I'm gonna hound you?"

"Well, aren't you?"

If she was the same girl I'd played Monopoly with, I might've tried to work it out. But this Delaney? I'd have to be out of my mind.

In a flat voice, I told her, "I'm not the hounding type."

"Fine." Her chin lifted. "How about the stalking type?"

Was she insane? "Wrong again."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. "At least tell me this. What exactly is the timeline?"

Huh? "The timeline?"

"Yes." She spoke very clearly, enunciating every word. "When will it be over?"

A strange calm settled over me. It was already over. But hey, if she wanted closure, I was just the guy to give it.

I summoned up another smirk. "How about now?" But even as I said it, it felt like a kick in the teeth, because it had ended before it had even begun.

She frowned, looking suddenly confused. "Now? Like…as in it's done? Right now?"

"Yup."