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“I hope selecting a toy will help you see that I’ve completely forgiven you. You need to work on forgiving yourself now.”
He pulled the car into the small plaza housing Mama’s Lattes, Auntie Belle’s Playhouse, and Sugarplum Sundries, a shop of Christmas candles, odds and ends, and handcrafted items. Three of the best shops in all of Falcon Creek! I couldn’t wait to see what sort of changes had happened over the years.
“Yes, yes I’ll work on it.” I nodded. “One more thing.”
“Tiana.” He cocked an eyebrow.
I gulped, but it was important. “Is it okay for me to go to two different places?”
“You are safe with me, buttercup. If I was worried about my ability to protect you, I wouldn’t have offered it.”
“I always feel safe with you, Jesse, and I’d really love to go inside for a few minutes.”
“We can’t dawdle, but a few minutes is fine. Let’s go.”
Walking hand in hand with Jesse with the promise of hot chocolate and a new toy from my favorite shop, I let some of my racing thoughts slow. Fewer worries and the hope of more things to come was more important. I had a lot of people on my side looking after me. Things were going to work out somehow.
Chapter 7
Dane
Staring across the room at Tiana, I hated seeing her beautiful brown eyes red-rimmed from crying. A furry green blanket and two teddy bears laid tucked under one of her arms while she sipped from a large drink from Mama’s Lattes. Jesse brought me my favorite drink, a chocolate and caramel latte, but it didn’t taste as sweet under the current circumstances. In an unexpected turn of events, I’d invited Tiana to stay in my home while things were sorted out. Jesse had given me limited details before he returned to work.
“Would you like to see the guest room?” I offered to give us something to do, but I just kept looking at her. She’d grown up to be even more beautiful than the last time I’d set eyes on her, and I couldn’t believe she was a few feet away from me after all this time. It had been over ten years, and there was a chance that she wouldn’t even care about me anymore. “I set-up the one closest to my bedroom in case you need anything.”
“Sure. Will you tell me how you and Tanner met?”
“I can do that,” I assured her as I picked up her belongings. Leading her up the grand staircase, I chided myself in my head for letting us go for so long without talking. “It’s a funny story.”
“I like funny,” she sighed dreamily. “Did he rescue you from a burning building?”
“No. I didn’t realize you needed to change the batteries in a smoke detector. All the ones on the left side of the house were beeping. I ignored it for a few days until they all started shouting at me from everywhere.” I shrugged. It wasn’t my fault my parents never told me all the things that went into managing a household. They hadn’t anticipated me letting all the live-in staff leave. “I called the fire department directly because I didn’t know any better.”
“And?” She smiled mischievously, as if playing out the meeting in her head.
“Tanner was on duty. He figured out the situation quickly. I ordered dozens of new batteries and he changed all of them out for me.”
“Interesting.” Tiana stopped on the landing and I pointed toward the third door on the left. “You didn’t get a lecture about leaving your house potentially unprotected against a fire?”
“Oh, I did, sunshine.” I swallowed hard. I hadn’t thought of her sweet nickname in years, and yet it came out so easily. “Tiana,” I corrected.
“I sort of thought what we started meant something to you.”
I led her into the guestroom. It was a nice room as far as a typical bedroom, but it didn’t have any feminine touches at all. I wondered if it would be to her liking, but after her accusatory tone, one I deserved, it brought me back to the situation at hand. I’d taken her virginity. She hadn’t told me until the next morning, and it made me feel worse when I had to leave her for a jaunt around the world.
“My parents whisked me away, but I should have stayed in better touch. I’m sorry for not telling you how much I wanted to be with you.” I reached forward to touch her cheek, but dropped my hand.
Tiana wrapped her arms around my waist, surprising the daylights out of me. “I’m not mad at you for something your parents did, but it stung for a long time.”
“I should have apologized years ago.” I breathed in the sweet smell of her hair, loving how she fit against me.
“Dwelling on past stuff is never a good time,” she muttered. “I’m pretty raw and caught up in my emotions today, but I’d like to talk more.”
“Will you at least tell me the topic you’re referring to?”
“Not yet.” Tiana pulled out of my embrace. She crossed the room to the window seat and looked out across the expanse of the lawn. It was a beautiful, serene view. “It’s so peaceful here. I hope you’re not mad at me for getting tossed at you like an unwanted present.”
Joining her at the window, I sat on the soft cushions and tugged her to me. “Get that narrative out of your head, little girl. I invited you to stay here because your safety is important. I already have a lot of security in place, but there are additional measures being taken. Everything’s been handled.”Shit. I had no right to throw that at her and was clueless as to why I’d called her ‘Little Girl’.
