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“Kitty, I… Do you have any idea how much I like you?”
He liked her?
How was she supposed to respond to that? Other than knocking him upside the head.
He stood and adjusted his trousers then gave her a hand up. “Let’s go back to my place. We need to talk.”
“Your place?” He’d used that term before and while technically, it was true, it sounded as if they weren’t together anymore. “Are you moving out permanently?” she asked him.
“What?” He looked confused. “You know why I’m at the Mexico Beach house.”
“I thought I did, but it feels like maybe you’re relieved that we’re spending some time apart. Maybe we should spend some time apart.” She couldn’t be with him anymore. Not if he didn’t love her. It had been different before, but now that she’d exposed their relationship, it could never be the same again.
What had she done?
His cell phone rang. He ignored it.
“Aren’t you going to get that? It’s after ten at night, it must be important. Maybe it’s the limo driver. Isn’t he coming back to pick you up?” Keep talking. Keep moving. Keep…doing something.
He fished the phone out of his trouser pocket, looked at the screen, and then he must have pushed the decline button because the ringing immediately stopped.
“Who was that?” she demanded.
“No one,” he said in the same tone of voice he’d used when he told her he couldn’t get cell phone service near the construction site. It had sounded like a lie then, and it sounded like one now, too.
Never in the year that they’d been together had she suspected him of being anything but honest and truthful with her. But the fact that he didn’t want her to know who’d called…
Anger, hot and pure, surged through her. He didn’t have to love her. But damn it, she wasn’t going to allow him to lie to her. She had too much pride for that. She placed her palm up in the air. “Let me see your phone, Steve.”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
She didn’t say anything. She just kept her hand out, waiting.
He reluctantly handed it over.
There was a missed call from someone named Joanna.
This was…no. Never in a million years would Steve cheat on her. He might not love her. And he’d definitely lied to her. But he wouldn’t cheat on her. Somehow, she knew that. The same way she knew the sun would come up tomorrow morning. To think otherwise was to be wrong.
“Who is she, Steve?”
“No one important. You have to trust me on this.”
“If she’s no one important, then tell me who she is.”
“I’ll tell you everything. But not here. Let’s go back to my place,” he pleaded.
There was a time in a woman’s life when she had a choice to make. She could buckle down and scream and rant and make a scene or she could walk away with her head held high. Or…she could jump in the ocean and swim far, far away. Choices one and three were tempting. But neither one felt right to her.
They walked back to The Harbor House in silence. In less than twelve hours, she was supposed to stand by her father’s side on what would hopefully be the happiest day of his life. How was she supposed to do that when her own life was falling apart right in front of her?
She couldn’t do this tonight. She just couldn’t.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk right now. Can we do it tomorrow? After dad’s wedding?” When I can fall apart in private with no one to see me?
He looked like he was going to be sick.
She knew the feeling.
