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“You have a point.” She leaned her hip against the arm of the couch, settling into a half-standing, half-sitting position. She’d changed clothes since lunch. Now she was wearing jeans and a blue blouse that looked great with her eyes and worshipped her curves. He fisted his hands in his lap. She was so close the need to touch her was almost overwhelming. But he wouldn’t give in to his primal urges. Not with Chloe in the next room.
Touching her because he could was something he would have done in his past life. That was when he was angry and resentful over losing his parents and having to move to Savannah, and he had taken out his anger by taking whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, without considering the consequences.
He stuffed his hands into his back pockets.
“What was the turning point for you?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“When did you decide that being the rebel wasn’t the way to go?”
He studied her face for a moment, drinking in the contours and planes.
“There comes a time when you either choose to grow up or continue down that senseless, self-destructive path to nowhere. It also comes from finding something you’re good at. Something you’re passionate about.”
As he stared at the Christmas tree in the corner of his brother’s house, he thought about his late wife, Lana. She’d been good for him. In many ways she’d saved him. Most of all made him realize that the best way he could honor her after the aneurysm was to carry on with purpose, to not let his grief and anger make him self-destruct. That was part of the reason he’d come back to Savannah. To settle old scores, not through rage or even passive aggression, but through redemption. He learned fast that the best path to redemption was through self-worth.
“For me it was renovating old houses. I liked the irony of it. I used to break things, but now I fix them.”
A look of dawning washed over her pretty face and he wanted to kiss her. The same way he had all those years ago.
“I never thought of it that way, but you’re right.”
She held his gaze and drew her bottom lip between her front teeth. He wondered if she was remembering that kiss and wanting to revisit it, as much as he did.
“Why did you feel the need to break up my wedding, Daniel?”
Well, there it was. The million-dollar question that he had both dreaded and wanted to plow into headfirst to clear the air. Because until they had talked about it and it was out of the way, there would be no moving forward in the direction he was certain they were destined to go.
* * *
“Are you sure you want to get into that now?” he asked.
Elle didn’t want him to know she was ambivalent about knowing the truth. It had taken so long to get over the hurt and humiliation, bringing it up was like opening the wound all over again. But if she was truthful with herself, she knew the only way for the wound to truly heal was to bring everything out into the open.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Now probably isn’t the time to talk about it,” she said, suddenly second-guessing herself.
Why did she do that? She hated that about herself.
Make a decision and stick to it. Stop running away.
Daniel shrugged. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. As far as I’m concerned, it’s as good a time as any to talk about it. I’d really like to clear the air.”
“It was insensitive of me to ask tonight, Daniel. You have more important things to worry about than dredging up the past. Especially when you need to find out about Chloe’s Christmas camp.”
He shook his head. “I’ll find out if Chloe’s friends are going to it and get in touch with their parents.”
“That’s a great idea,” she said. “Since I’m a teacher, you’d think I would’ve thought of that.”
“You helped a lot today,” he said. “You really shouldn’t be too hard on yourself.”
She wondered if this was his way of subtly changing the subject to the camp so that they didn’t have to talk about what happened at the wedding. She really shouldn’t have brought it up.
She stood.
He was standing so close to her now. A frisson of awareness zinged through her and nearly took her breath away. She stepped back and butted up against the couch. He reached out and steadied her.
