AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A frustrated sigh broke from her lips, and she sat behind him on the tub’s edge. The scent of his skin, including the earthy musk of outside, teased her. The man seemed set on making light of her secrecy, and still, something about him, about the way he looked at her when his mouth wasn’t moving, tugged at her sympathy.
Maybe she made the connection up in her head, but she got the sense Dean here hadn’t had a whole lot of second chances in life either—missed opportunities being something she identified with.
She moved to bury the needle for her third stitch, but he grabbed her wrist, dragging out a long silence before he spoke again. “Sarah. I really am sorry.”
A small hollow grew deep within her. She bit the insides of her cheeks, attempting to come up with a smart reply, only for nothing but a rough croak to escape her mouth.
His low, soft tone. The sincerity in his apology. She wanted to believe him, but she shook her head and tried again. “It doesn’t matter.”
Of course it does. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have raced over here.
“It does matter.” His words echoed her thoughts, and his grip on her wrist tightened by the slightest margin. “It does to me, and I made you a promise that I didn’t keep.”
She slid her wrist free of his hold and sank the third stitch in, that sinking in perfect harmony with whatever happened within her heart, the all-too-familiar plunge of disappointment. “I’m a grown woman. I’ll survive.”
His little stumble today really wasn’t the worst thing ever to happen to her, and she genuinely did forgive him, so maybe she needed to bail from his house as soon as she could.
His gaze burned into her face, creating a heat there while she fastened a new knot.
She did her best not to return the attention, even wincing as he spoke again. “The sheriff has a soft spot for you. Why?”
She dabbed blood from his wound through her ensuing lie. “Harlow’s a small town. Everyone’s invested in everyone else’s business here.”
“Sheriff Marlin showed more concern than your average. Is he family or something?”
“Something.”
She dropped the cotton pad she’d dabbed him with onto her lap. What was with his sudden questions, anyway? Though, even as she got what she wanted—uninterrupted silence—that silence provided far too much space for her to think… of her father, the sheriff, her erratic mother, Sarah’s failed engagement, and her recent forced solitude.
Heck, even her solitude wasn’t all that recent or forced. She kept to herself more than any normal person, even when she was in a relationship. Blaine hadn’t minded. Perhaps that should have rung alarm bells since he’d held his own secrets, ones that hurt her in the end.
So, maybe keeping quiet wasn’t the best thing for her. Maybe opening up to this mysterious stranger would help somehow.
Or maybe the breakup has affected me worse than I thought, and I’m starting to lose my marbles…
Maybe.
Still, she had a choice here. Say exactly what bothered her, or clam up as she always did, which hadn’t gotten her all that far, now had it?
She swallowed hard and readied to speak, her thoughts snagging on the man beside her and how the heat from his skin seared into hers. In that moment, she wished for their usual scuffles or for him to kiss her again—to pull her from the everyday humdrum of being sad, unfortunate, and bitter Sarah Overton.
The silence here was too dangerous. So, she drew back the intrusive self-pity long enough to decide that talking beat overthinking.
“For a time there, I was both Mommy and Daddy.”
