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“No, we’ve really been racing to meet several deadlines. But the more Will texted, the more I could see the writing on the wall.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
Not a question but a quiet accusation. “I hoped I was wrong, but I shut down, started distancing myself from you. I hoped if I did that, it’d make it easier to part ways.”
“Totally explains why you invited me in both times I stopped over.” She threw a dark look over her shoulder.
“The first one was an accident. Well, I mean,nothingabout what we did inside was an accident, but I hadn’t meant for that to happen. And the second one, I just… I needed to be with you, to hold you one last time, in case my prediction was right.”
“Would have been nice to be in on that little tidbit,” she said. “I could have told you no and spared us from having this conversation.”
A fair jab, but it still stung like hell.
“Would you have?” he asked softly. “Told me no?”
She didn’t answer, but the tightness in her jaw called her bluff.
“After you left, I held out hope that I was wrong. Even prayed about it. When Will called Wednesday to tell me it was over, I disconnected and promptly threw up. Partially from relief, mostly because it meant my time with you was done.”
“And that made you throw up?”
“Because I don’t want it to be.”
“Then stay.” She turned to face him. “Don’t go back with him. Take a stand against Will and start doing whatyouwant to do.”
“It’s not that simple, Delaney.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. If only there was an easy way to make her understand. “And Will isn’t the bad guy here. He’s my friend and my business partner. If it hadn’t been for his idea to rent this place, I might have had to sell my half of the company and take up two-bit jobs working out of my apartment for the foreseeable future because nobody was gonna hire a guy the internet hated. We make our decisions together.”
“But it’s worked. You, living here and still working. Why do you keep insisting that you have go back?”
“But that’s just it—it hasn’t worked. Not well, anyway. With business picking back up these last few weeks, the programming team has floundered without me there to lead them. Will is excellent at what he does, but programming is not his forte. Our last video conference call was the ugliest we’ve ever had, the staff stressed and frustrated by the lack of leadership. I caused all of that, and now it’s time I return and fix it.”
She threw her arms out. “So go out east for a few days, fix it, and then come back to Bourbon Falls!”
“Delaney,” he said softly. Tears filled her eyes. She turned away, his strong, confident woman refusing to look weak in front of him. “Please try to understand. I have to do this.”
She stared at the ground for a long moment, and it damn near killed him not to pull her into his chest. But to do that might give her hope that he’d changed his mind. A hope he wasn’t able to fulfill. Her shoulders rose and fell on a long, slow breath, then her chin rose high once more.
“Good luck with your company,” she said. “I hope you get out east and are able to pick up right where you left off.”
With that, she climbed into her truck and turned the engine over. The driver’s side window had been left down, and the bittersweet chorus of Kenny Chesney’s “Knowing You” tumbled out.
“Good-bye, Isaac.”
Her voice broke on his name, giving his heart a painful squeeze.
“Don’t go yet. Just stay, so we can talk through this.”
“Can’t.”
She shook her head, a single tear slipping down her cheek as the window rolled closed. Delaney Brooks turned her giant pickup around, drove down his driveway…
And out of his life.
Chapter Eighteen
Del took thelong way home from Isaac’s that night, needing time to cry it out with her country music station. Because that’s what she did when her heart was heavy—she drove and she cried. Best to get it out of her system when no one else was looking. Goodness knew, she didn’t need Mia and the others worrying about her.
Damn Isaac and his unswerving sense of responsibility. But had she really thought he would choose differently?
