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“Jen, I didn’t tell you about my past because I knew you’d think I was an ex-con loser—because that’s what I am. Right now you’re high on winning, achieving every goal you set for yourself—as usual—so you can’t see what’s right in front of you. You can do better.”
“Better than what?” I ask. “Better than you?”
“Don’t play dumb, Jen. It isn’t like you.”
“It’s an honest question, Fallon. Do you honestly think that a tattoo would turn me off so much that I’d want to end things between us?”
His eyes flare. “How about the knowledge that I went to prison for three years for aiding and abetting a robbery? From eighteen to twenty-one years old, I was locked up. How about the fact that the robbery was committed with a deadly weapon? Does that change what you think of me?”
My parents told me of his conviction earlier, but it still stuns me. I guess I was expecting him to have some sort of explanation.
Thoughts whirl in my head, but I can’t quite seem to make words. I still feel the same way about Fallon. I still love him. I still want him to stay. I believe that people can change, and just because he made mistakes in his youth, it doesn’t change that I know him to be a good man.
But why wouldn’t he tell me?
Fallon must see the look on my face, because he shakes his head and pulls his shirt back on. “I’m going to make this easy on you, Jen. Move on. I know I will.”
Then, with one bag grasped in each of his strong hands, Fallon walks past me without looking back. In the silence of the night, I hear his engine turn over, then fade in the distance. My eyes shift to the dresser, where my trophy gleams silver in the moonlight.
I may have won the prize, but I lost the only man I’ve ever wanted.
CHAPTER 28
Fallon
The only hotel in town is owned by the two biggest gossips I’ve ever met, so I end up sleeping in my car. Bleary-eyed, I pick up Nora at six o’clock in the morning, and we start to journey to Reno, Nevada.
The drive takes just over seven hours, the first three of which pass in complete silence. Nora has her own demons to battle as we head back to the home she’s leaving behind, and my thoughts never stray far from Jen.
I saw the look on her face when I told her about my criminal conviction. I know she was judging me, seeing the real me for the first time.
I’m a felon. An ex-con. That’s a fact that will never change.
When my sister and I stop for lunch after barely saying a dozen words to each other for hours, she stares at me from across the restaurant booth.
“What?” I bite out.
“You’re surlier than usual. What’s up? Aren’t you all cashed-up with an extra fifty grand and a dream woman by your side?”
I just snort. “Something like that. You sure you want to move to Heart’s Cove?”
Nora squares her shoulders. “Yes. I can’t believe you ever left.”
“Small towns can get stifling.”
She frowns, searching my face. “Are you nervous about going back to Reno? Is that what this moodiness is about?”
Reno is where I got arrested. I might feel a bit apprehensive about going there, but I spent six months in Carson City this year, going to the Nevada State Prison three times a week to provide cooking lessons to the inmates. I’m not worried about being in Nevada.
I feel like shit because the woman I’m in love with will always be too good for me—and now she knows it too.
“Things don’t always work out for people like me, Nora,” I finally answer.
My sister stares at me for a beat, as if I’ve just spoken in a foreign language. “People like you?” She tilts her head. “What does that mean?”
“Criminals, Nora.” How hard is it to understand?
My sister starts laughing, then stops when she realizes I’m not. “Wait, you’re serious?”
