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“You can be mad at someone and still love them.”
For some reason she found that more comforting than anything else anyone had said to her. “The one thing I really wanted to get right in life, I got wrong.”
“You made the decision you thought was right at the time. That’s all any of us can do.”
“Have you ever made a decision you regretted?”
There was a long silence. “Yes.”
The way he was looking at her left her in no doubt about which decision he was talking about.
There had been a time when his confession would have left her dizzy with hope and longing.
Now? She didn’t know. Over the past few weeks her feelings had been battered so badly she felt numb, but now something inside her was reawakening. It was a tingle in her skin and a flutter in her belly.
“Eat.” He reached across and put the fork back in her hand. “Before you can be responsible for someone else, you have to take care of yourself.” The kindness to his tone brought a lump to her throat.
Since Ed had died, her focus had been on everyone else—his mother, her daughter—never on herself.
Lauren hadn’t had time to deal with her own feelings. Maybe she didn’t want to. She’d rather postpone the moment when she had to deal with the fact that Ed was never coming back. That he’d deceived her.
The thought made her chest tighten.
“Tell me why you’re buying the house.”
Scott rose to his feet and cleared the plates. “Instead of asking me why I’m buying it, you should be asking your mother why she’s selling it.”
It sounded so straightforward and obvious when he said it, but he was correct in what he’d said earlier. Talking to her mother had always been the hardest thing in the world.
She stood up and picked up her bag. “Thanks for breakfast and for rescuing my daughter. And for scraping me off the deck that day.”
“Anytime.”
“There won’t be another time. I don’t intend to make a habit of passing out.”
“Eat more. That helps.” He gave her a rare smile and that smile felt like a balm.
Some people never smiled and some people smiled all the time. Scott Rhodes smiled when he meant it, and right now he meant it.
That smile made her feel stronger.
“See you around, Scott.” She headed to the door, wondering why he bothered to arrive at work so early when Charlie wasn’t even here to see it.
She had one foot through the door when he spoke.
“Laurie—” The urgency in his tone made her head whip round.
She looked at him, mesmerized by the glacial blue of his eyes and the dark shadow of his jaw.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Forget it.”
The reckless, wild side of her that she’d buried a long time ago thought about pushing him to tell her what it was he wanted to say. But what was the point of that? She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t tell her what was on his mind until he was ready.
She also knew that whatever it was he’d wanted to say, it hadn’t been “nothing.” But whether it was something she wanted to hear was a different matter.
19
