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No matter that he wanted to be more than just a casual guy in her life, he knew he couldn’t be. Because even though what he felt for her was intense, he knew it would burn out eventually and they’d both have to move on.
Jen woke Monday morning to the sounds of Riley and Marcia getting ready to leave. One of the nice things about her job was that she didn’t have to rush out of bed every morning. She got up and put on her robe before going downstairs.
She hadn’t heard from Nate yesterday but she knew that she wouldn’t. They were both feeling their way through this thing—she was reluctant to call it a relationship because she wasn’t sure she was ready for it yet.
“Morning, Auntie Jen,” Riley said, giving her a hug.
“Morning, Riley.”
“Mommy, I’m ready.”
“Great. I need to talk to Auntie Jen. You head out to the car.”
Riley nodded and went out the front door. Marcia stood in the doorway so she could remotely unlock the car and keep an eye on Riley.
“I left the newspaper out for you.”
Jen glanced at her sister. “I don’t read it.”
“You’ll want to this morning. There’s a picture of Nate in it with some woman—a Spanish royal or something.”
Jen nodded. She’d just said they weren’t dating so why would this news hurt. “It’s fine. We’re just friends.”
Marcia reached out and hugged her. “I can come back after I drop Riley off if you want to talk. I’m not due in court today.”
“No, don’t do that. I have a meeting at eleven at the club to talk about the tenth anniversary celebration. Besides, it was just one date.”
Jen didn’t want to talk about this. She wanted to hide away until she figured out why she felt so hurt. She knew he wasn’t the kind of man who was going to give up his jet-set lifestyle for her after one date.
“I’ll be fine. Have a good day.”
Marcia pursed her lips. “I know you’ll be fine. But that doesn’t mean this won’t hurt. You didn’t need this now.”
“Marcia, stop. I’m trying to get it under control in my head. Don’t make me hash it out or I’ll start crying.”
Her sister hugged her again and then turned to leave. “Call me if you need me.”
“I will.”
Jen closed the door on her sister and nephew and leaned back against it. She didn’t want to go and look at a picture of Nate with another woman. Especially since she’d dreamed about his arms around her all night. She’d dreamed of them being on that yacht of his together and making love on the sundeck.
She put her hands in her hair and stood there for a minute trying to get her head around the idea. It didn’t matter that she’d already thought he might not be serious about her. She didn’t want to see the proof that the very next night he’d gone out with someone else.
But she wasn’t a coward and she never ran away from anything. She walked into the kitchen and saw the coffee mug her sister had left for her next to the paper. There was a Post-it note on it in Marcia’s handwriting warning her that there was a picture of Nate inside.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and then took the mug and the paper outside with her. She sat down on the bench next to the water feature and let the scents of the garden surround her. The sweet smell of jasmine mingled with the scent of hibiscus in the air. The sound of the water flowing in the fountain soothed her troubled nerves.
She took a sip of her coffee and then set it on the ground at her feet before she opened the paper. The Miami Herald didn’t have anything as lurid and gossipy as the New York papers but they did have a society page owing to how many celebrities made South Florida their home.
The picture was…she looked away and then made herself look back at it. Nate had his arm around the other woman and she was laughing and looking up at him. The same way that Jen had looked up at him. She’d been pressed to his side and she knew the weight of his arm on her shoulder…knew how it felt to be that close to him. And this hurt.
She tossed the paper aside and picked up her coffee mug. She walked around the garden wondering what to do. Alison had said that men who were fun liked to have fun. And that the only way to be successful in that kind of dating situation was to realize it was all about fun.
But to be honest, Jen had no idea how to do that. She wasn’t a fun girl. She wanted it to mean something that she’d had sex with him. And that they’d talked about their pasts. She needed it to mean more than just a bit of fun.
And that wasn’t Nate’s fault. It was her burden. She was the one who’d been impulsive and jumped before seeing where she’d fall.
