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“What does that mean? Are you saying there’s no room for me? Because you’re certainly acting like it.”
“No, of course not. My daughter’s in the fucking hospital. Her fingers are numb, and my mind is racing, thinking it happened because I—”
“Stopped controlling things.”
He had a terrible look in his eyes. “I ran off. Left her in someone else’s care.”
So you could do something selfish.Yeah, she got it.“This didn’t happen because you went away for two days. It didn’t happen because you weren’t watching her. This is just life. Nobody gets through childhood without scrapes and bruises.”
“I know that.” He was ramping up again. “I get that it’s just a broken arm, that it’s part of growing up. But I didn’t follow my gut, and in hockey, when you don’t follow your intuition, you fuck up.”
“You didn’t fail Kinny by letting her take a beginning figure skating class. Every kid falls at some point, but they get better at it. If sheisyour mini-me, then you can count on her intelligence, her agility, her…” Clarity hit with a punch.
Stop it. Just stop trying to convince a man to want you.
Because that’s what this comes down to. You’re trying to help him heal, so he’ll be free to love you back.
Spooked, she backed away. “I’m going to ask the nurse to get her some milk, so I’ll let you get back to her.” She started off.
“Grace.” His tone held urgency.
Yeah, she heard that. Grace. Not Gracie.Dammit.“What?” She would hear him out, but nothing he said would matter. He was stuck in an endless cycle of guilt and penance.
“Look, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to give me a break here. My daughter’s in thehospital.”
Time is the one thing we don’t have.
And I’m not waiting around for someone to choose me.
Other than the first time Ian had broken up with her freshman year, she’d never been this devastated. And it was not lost on her that ending a fifteen-year relationship hurt less than losing Jaime.
At least in both situations, she’d known they were truly over. There was no overanalyzing, no wondering if she should give it another chance. Because she knew she couldn’t stay with a man who walled himself up every time something triggered him.
She wasn’t making light of Kinny’s accident or the trauma Jaime endured from witnessing Booker’s fall. It was simply that he wasn’t ready for a relationship. She’d seen it in his expression. He’d crawled back into his cave.
Fear got hold of her lungs and held them in a vise, making it difficult to draw a breath. Because this time, she’d lost something truly spectacular.
After leaving the hospital, she’d known there wasn’t a chance she could head to the amphitheater and sing. She needed to get away. But where? Where could she go?
Since Jaime hadn’t had a chance to deal with the overnight bags they’d left in the rental cabin, he’d gone and paid for another week, figuring he’d drive out there later. But she needed the road trip, so she called the place for directions and told them she was coming.
She tried listening to her favorite songs but was too distracted, too wound up. The thought of leaving Jaime and Kinny, this town she’d come to love—no, the future she’d decided to claim for herself—didn’t sit right. She knew she’d found something special here. Something she’d never find again.
For most of the ride, she’d picked apart everything he’d said, analyzing every shift of emotion across his handsome features, and it had her spiraling. So, with twenty minutes till she reached the campsite, she called her brother.
“Hey, what’s up? Haven’t heard from you in a bit.”
“It’s been a wild couple of days.” She’d gone from the highest of highs—the most beautiful relationship she’d ever had—to quite possibly the lowest. “Kinny got hurt. She broke her arm.”
“Oh, shit.” Her brother got it, of course. It wasn’t too hard to piece it together. “Ice-skating?”
“Yep.”
“You’re not blaming yourself, are you?”
“I mean, a little.” The mountain road was remote with scary switchbacks, and only the occasional truck flew by. But she didn’t really see much of the view. Jaime’s expression, the way he’d said,You’ve got to give me a break here, held her mind hostage. “I pushed him to do something he wasn’t ready for. In any event, it looks like I’m coming home.”
“Wasn’t that always the plan? Wait, you’re not cutting it short because of some guy, are you?”
