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That he trusted her.
All he had to do now was collect his woman and wow her. He didn’t bother with a jacket, just shoved his feet in his boots and jogged across the street. As he reached her porch, his phone pinged with a text.
Ronnie: You seen Mickie? She was supposed to meet me 10 mins ago & she’s not answering her phone.
He frowned. She’d probably just forgotten, but that wasn’t like her. She and Ronnie had been thick as thieves lately, up to something for sure, but she’d told him they’d reveal their secret when they were ready, so he’d let it slide.
Keith: She just got home. Heading over. I’ll have her call you.
Ronnie: Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your afternoon ;) I’ll catch-up with her tmrw.
As he stuffed the phone in his back pocket, Keith let himself into Mickie’s house “Babe?” he called out as he went straight for the staircase.
She didn’t answer, which made him grin. Maybe she was in the shower. He could certainly get behind that idea. Getting a show of her little wet and slippery before he enticed her across the street would only enhance the excitement and make the semi he’d been sporting for half the day stand at full attention.
Rubbing his hands together, he speed-walked to Michaela’s room only to draw up short at the sight of her stuffing clothes into an open suitcase on her bed.
What the hell?
Don’t panic.
Her movements were stilted, with hunched shoulders and mumblings under her breath. “Mickie?” he asked as his heart sank. None of what he saw had him thinking positively.
She squeaked and jolted as if he’d zapped her with a cattle prod. How had she not heard him calling her and clomping his size thirteens down the hallway? “Shit.” She whirled around, hand on her chest. “You scared me.”
Though he wanted to grab her and pull her close, he stayed five feet away.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a tone so flat it made her cringe.
But she recovered fast, brightening and giving him her world-class smile. The one drew millions of fans and melted heart everywhere, but it did nothing to calm the raging storm in his gut. That wasn’t her smile. It was Scarlett’s. The movie star smile.
Made of plastic and PR coaching and meant to fool the world, which it did.
Everyone but him.
“I have to go to California for a little bit.” She took a step closer, still sporting the tooth-paste ad grin. “But I’ll be back. This is not a permanent thing.” Her tone held an overly cheerful pitch.
“Is it for the sale of your house?” He thought that had been finalized through Ralph.
She swallowed as her smile wavered but didn’t fade. “Uh, no. It’s not that.” Then she turned her back on him and began rearranging the perfectly organized suitcase. “It’s for a movie.” She said the words so low, he couldn’t be sure he heard accurately.
At least he hoped he’d misheard. Because, Christ, she couldn’t have said what he thought she’d said. She’d promised just last week she wouldn’t return to film. That she had no desire to revisit that chapter of her life.
And he’d believed her.
Fuck, his chest felt tight. Too tight. Heart attack tight.
“I’m sorry?” he said with a sharp bark of laughter. “Did you say you’re doing a movie?”
Her shoulders slumped as she kept her back to him. “Y—” She cleared her throat. “Yes. I did.”
Keith’s laugh turned ugly. “You have got to be kidding me.”
She turned around without the phony smile this time. Instead, her eyes and flattened mouth held the bleak truth. Exactly seven days after she’d vowed to remain in Vermont and listened to him express his belief in her and commitment to their relationship, she threw it all in the trash.
With an almost urgent desperation, she reached for him. “Keith, it’s—”
He lifted a hand. Christ, if she touched him, it’d be all over. He’d break down like a child and sob on the floor. Without the softness of her hands on him or her body pressed against him, he could keep anger as the prevalent emotion. “Don’t bother.” God, how could he have been so fucking stupid? How many times did he have to learn the same lessons?
People couldn’t be trusted.
Promises weren’t worth shit.
Hope was a cruel illusion.
This was Della all over again only she wasn’t leaving him for a man she considered better, but a more glamorous life. Except this time, it hurt a million times worse because he was an adult who’d fallen instead of a stupid teenager.
“I don’t want to hear whatever bullshit excuse you’ve come up with to justify this.”
“It’s not what you think,” she rushed on as though he hadn’t spoken. “I’m not leaving for good. It’s temporary. I’ll be back after the movie and on breaks. This is just a job.”
