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“Nothing.” He avoided eye contact.
“I don’t know what to do. I have to start making my own life decisions, you know?”
He slid his hand onto the small of her back. It left trails of fire over her skin. “I understand. You deserve your own life.”
“Exactly. I’ve been doing everything she’s wanted. And I shouldn’t complain. It’s turned out great. I have a fantastic career, but I worked hard to get here. And now I want to be able to explore the avenues I choose.”
They continued down a path in the park that was lit with small lanterns. “Have you talked with her about any of this?”
She’d tried. Many times. But she always ended up doing what the great Gail Wentworth wanted her to. She sighed. “Yes, but she won’t listen.”
“Maybe it’s time to do things a bit differently.”
Lana slowed and he matched her pace. “What do you mean, I should do things differently?”
Hayden motioned to the gazebo. “Let’s go there. We can talk some more.”
“Okay.”
They stepped up under the wooden structure. It reminded her of the Victorian era, a time gone past. Hayden leaned on the railing and stared out at the flowers budding along the walkway. He sighed and turned to her. “There’s no real nice way of saying this, so I’m just going to say it. I think your mother broke us up.”
Lana took a step back from him, her head spinning. “Wait, what?”
“I mean, I was the one who broke things off, but it was because of something your mother said to me. I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to blame her, but she never wanted us together. Am I right?”
Lana’s throat grew dry, and she tried to process what Hayden was saying. He wasn’t exaggerating. Her mother hadn’t liked her dating Hayden. She’d whined and complained, and even tried to get Lana to break up with him. A hollow feeling entered her chest. “What did she do?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is. Tell me.” She needed to know to what lengths her mother had gone to get what she wanted.
“Why do you want to know?”
Lana took his hands in hers. Even through the gloves, his touch sent warmth through her. “I don’t want anything to come between us. I want to be able to tell you everything. And I want the same from you.”
He nodded slowly, bent down, and gave her a kiss that sent cascades of tingles through her. “All right. She came to my house the day before I broke it off with you. She showed me the bad press you were getting because of me. She said it would only get worse. I believed her.” He stroked her hair. “I didn’t want to damage your career. But now that I think about it, I should have talked to you about it first. I shouldn’t have believed it would get worse. Maybe it wouldn’t have.”
Lana shook her head, confused. “What bad press? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The media…when the story broke about us.”
“What story about us?”
He blinked. “You must have read it. It was in the newspaper. Your mother said…” His voice trailed off.
Her throat closed, and she blinked back tears. Had her mother gone to such great lengths to get what she wanted? It was hard to believe, yet, she knew the truth. “There was never any story about us,” she said, her voice breaking. “My mother made it up.”
He let out a breath and shook his head. “How could I have been so stupid?” He pulled her close, pressing his lips to her hair.
“I thought it was so odd that you broke things off with me. But then I saw you with that woman, and I assumed you had someone else.”
“A woman? What woman?”
Pain stabbed through her, remembering that day. “I saw you at Mal’s diner. You were with some blonde.”
Hayden pulled back from her. “The last time I ate there was with my cousin.”
“Your cousin?” Lana’s voice came out small.
