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Angry, she slapped the water and got out. How could she consider the possibility that Jordan was the right man for anything? He’d spent his life determined to be a bachelor, traveling the world. His idea of commitment was spending the weekend with a temporary companion in a hammock built for two.
* * *
CHELSEA TURNED AND gazed in awe at Mount Rainier rising through a gap in the trees. It was the second Saturday she and Barton had hiked and she was getting the feeling he wouldn’t mind making it a tradition. To think that she’d spent her whole life in a city and had never thought of taking a day off to do something so wonderful. When she was a kid they’d gone on a few vacations to national parks, but spending a Saturday or Sunday in nature had generally meant visiting a crowded beach.
“You doing okay?” Barton asked, looking back at her.
“Great. I’m sure going up the stairs to my apartment several times a day has helped my climbing muscles.”
“You appear to be in good shape.”
She wasn’t sure whether it was a compliment in the usual sense, but his eyes seemed to show approval.
On both hikes they had chatted occasionally, other times just concentrated on their surroundings. She was glad he was okay with them not constantly talking. Ron had…she promptly cut off the thought. It was getting easier to stop looking at the world through Ron-colored lenses.
Even though he didn’t know it, Barton had been a huge help. He was sane, sensible and nice, and could tell the goofiest jokes. No wonder kids seemed to think he was the greatest guy on earth.
The previous Saturday, they’d come back early because Barton had gotten a call from his closest college friend. His friend’s wife had gone into early labor, so Barton had gone to the hospital to bring his godson back to his house. Barton hadn’t expected her to stay, but she’d wanted to. Charlie was a cute five-year-old who had begged her to eat dinner with them and play, declaring that “you need at least three people for a real game.”
The evening had been loads of fun, although it had also made her sad. She’d expected to have kids by this point in her life, and spending time with Charlie was a reminder that so many of her hopes and dreams hadn’t come true yet. Still, other things were great and her job was one of them. Another of the Moonlight Ventures partners had been there the past several days. Rachel was as nice as Nicole.
They rounded a curve in the trail and Seattle’s distant skyline broke into view. Amazingly, her cell phone rang, though she couldn’t imagine a cell tower being anywhere nearby. Pulling the phone out, intending to turn it off, she saw the call was from Ron. Somehow he’d gotten her new number.
Suddenly angry, she hit the button to answer. “Hello,” she said crisply. Barton had moved a few feet further along the trail, perhaps to give her privacy.
“Honey, you haven’t been answering my calls or getting back to me,” Ron said in his most reproachful I’m-hurt-but-I’ll-forgive-you voice.
“That’s because I don’t want to talk.”
“I know you don’t mean that.”
“Ron, we’re through and we’ve been through since the day of the accident. Long before that, if I’m going to be honest. I should have broken things off months ago. So stop calling. Stop sending things that I’m going to send back or dump in the garbage can. I never want to see you or hear your voice again. Is that clear?”
“How can you treat someone who loves you this way?”
“You don’t love me. You love yourself and how you can try to change me into something you want.”
He clicked off after a brief silence. Chelsea sighed.
Ron wasn’t even her first lousy relationship that had held the same creepy dynamics. She’d heard that men like that could zero in on the kind of woman they could control. It was a sobering thought to wonder if she was putting out the wrong kind of signal and attracting the wrong sort of man.
Well, she didn’t have any intention of being a doormat for the rest of her life. Or even for another day.
“You look determined,” Barton said, bringing her attention back to the present. “Did you convince him to leave you alone?”
