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“She was taken by surprise, angry in the moment.” Chase offered the explanation like it made all the sense in the world.
“How would you feel if the woman you’d loved since sophomore year in high school accused you of sleeping with a friend when you’d never done anything, not one damn thing to ever make her think you’d look at another woman the way you looked at her?”
“I’d be mad. And heartbroken.”
“You’re damn right, because even when I told her the next day and days later that I never slept with Hillary, she wouldn’t believe me.”
“Why not?” Chase asked, his eyes narrowing and filling with suspicions. “If you and Hillary both denied it, why wouldn’t she believe you both?”
Max went so still he felt like even a pinprick would shatter him. “Why wouldn’t she believe us?”Why would she take the blame now?A cold shiver went through him.
“That’s what I asked. Your relationship was solid. Hillary was friends with both of you. It should have been an easy matter to clear up.”
Exactly. And because he couldn’t do that with Kenna, he’d gotten even angrier. She should have believed him. But she didn’t. Why?
“Hillary was more my friend than Kenna’s.” Time rewound in his head. The things he thought he knew took on a whole new dimension and truth. “Hillary had a crush on me. I always knew that, but I was with Kenna, so I ignored it.”
“How did Hillary act after you and Kenna split?” Chase asked, only making things worse.
Max swore. “She pushed for us to get together. She showed up at the bar all the time, seemingly looking for me. But every time I saw her, I saw the end of Kenna and me, and I just couldn’t go there.” But he’d used a lot of other women to try to wipe away Kenna’s memory and the mark she’d left on him.
It never worked.
She was tattooed on every bit of him.
He felt the reckoning that had been a long time coming building inside him.
“Before you walk out of here, you need to be clear what you want and what you can forgive, or you two won’t have a chance at fixing this.”
“I can forgive her for thinking I lied to her.”
“Can you forgive yourself for letting her go and all you’ve done to try to forget her these last three years? Because we’ve all seen the way you’ve punished yourself.”
If he could get Kenna to forgive him, maybe he could forgive himself.
“I need her to know that I see what happened now and it wasn’t her fault. It was mine for not fighting for us.”
“Good luck.”
Max stood and walked out of the barn to face the woman he’d never stopped loving and to face a past he thought he understood but had not seen clearly, wondering if Kenna would ever forgive him for the way he’d turned his back on her. And them.
Chapter Fifteen
Kenna pulled open the bedroom door wide enough for Max to see she was already done packing. He stood in the doorway, looking too damn good and still wearing that damn scowl on his face he always got when he saw her.
She brushed back the wisps of hair brushing her cheek. “I’ll be gone in a few minutes.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Zander is making arrangements.”
“No he’s not. He’s in the kitchen eating a slice of apple pie and drinking coffee, giving you and me a few minutes to talk alone.”
“Just let me go.”
He took a step closer. “I did that once. I can’t do it again. Not with things the way they are between us now.”
“Are you drunk?” That had to be the explanation for him saying something so crazy.
