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But she was already hurrying to the door. And goddammit, all eyes in the diner were on them. Jesus. The diner was Gossip Central. Not the place to be having this conversation. Or argument. Or whatever the hell was going on.
Then again, Isobel was almost out the door. Swearing, Hunter fumbled for his wallet and threw a few twenties on the table, then rushed after her.
Outside on the sidewalk in front of the diner, he finally grasped her arm and spun her so she was forced to look at him. Only to find tears running down her cheeks. “Bel—”
She jerked out of his grasp. “I saw the framed wedding picture you keep in your glove compartment earlier when I was looking for hand sanitizer.” Her eyes were both devastated and accusing as they flashed up at him. “You keep a picture of her in your truck? I guess you’re not as over her as you pretend to be.”
Hunter felt like she’d punched him in the chest. He couldn’t help taking a step back from her.
She just started nodding rapidly. “That’s what I thought. And I’m not exactly your type, am I? I’m not skinny or blonde or—” She broke off and shook her head. “Just forget it.”
Hunter heaved out a deep breath and ran a hand into his hair. Christ. How did he even begin to untangle all this?
“Jesus, Bel, it’s not about being blonde or— I mean, if I think about it I guess you and Janine do have some things in common.” Speaking Janine’s name hadn’t hurt as much as he expected it to.
And suddenly he wanted to tell Isobel about her. As much for Isobel’s sake as his own. He took a step closer to her, speaking quietly as he reached for her hand. She let him take it. “Janine was strong. And stubborn.” He felt the familiar twinge in his chest every time he thought about her. “She was a good woman. Passionate. Rebellious.” He smiled sadly.
“Do you still love her?”
Hunter let his eyes drift, thinking about the small blonde firecracker he had married. They’d made so many mistakes, but he liked to think the love had been genuine. He nodded. “I hope some part of me will always love her.”
Isobel yanked her hand out of his and she backed up several steps. More tears shone in her eyes. Seeing her like that made Hunter’s chest ache.
“Isobel, wait.” Hunter started to follow her but she held up a hand.
“If you love your ex so much, maybe you should go find her and be having dinner with her.”
Then, before he could grab her hand again, she turned and hurried down the sidewalk.
“Isobel. Isobel!” he called as she strode down the sidewalk, not looking back.
He jogged and caught up with her just as she reached her car that was parked on the street in front of the diner. “Isobel, stop. Shit. I didn’t realize you thought—” He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn around when she didn’t move.
Her mouth was pinched and she refused to look up at him.
Fuck. There was nothing to do but come out with it. “Janine died a little over a year ago.”
If he thought saying her name was hard it was nothing to uttering that sentence. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach as soon as he got it out. He dropped Isobel’s shoulders and put a hand against her car to steady himself.
“What? Oh my God, Hunter. The night we met, you just said she left, so I assumed…” she trailed off and Hunter ran a hand through his hair.
“Yeah. I haven’t been so great at being able to talk about it. Or deal with it. At all. I even kept on paying her cell phone bill so I could call and hear her voice. It’s only just recently that I’ve been able to…” Hunter paused as a middle-aged woman walked past with a big dog on a leash. The sun had just set and while there weren’t a lot of people around, there were still some.
“Want to take a walk?” He held out his hand to her.
She nodded and took it. As soon as he felt her small hand in his, he felt calmer. Like maybe he could tell the story after all. For the first time since giving his statement to the police that night.
“She hated living in a small town. Almost from the first day we moved in.” He explained a little about how things had gotten worse and worse toward the end.
“It was one of those nights after we’d, well,” he looked away, “been intimate. But then right afterwards, she left to go sleep on the couch. I got pissed. I followed her and we started fighting.”
Hunter remembered every detail of that night. Janine had been wearing his ratty old Purdue shirt to sleep in. She was beautiful but he hadn’t been able to see it. He was so tired of the rut they’d fallen into.
“What do you want from me?” he’d demanded.
She accused him of not loving her.
“Not love you?” he scoffed. “You think I’d put up with all this bullshit if I didn’t love you?”
