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“You’re a changemaker,” I whispered, squeezing her hand. “You’ve changed me in so many ways since you arrived.”
“Tell me about her,” she said, leaning her head back on the couch.
“About who?”
“The woman who broke your heart.”
“Nah,” I said with a shake of my head. “No need to bring up ghosts long buried.”
“Except I don’t think she’s buried. I still feel her between us whenever the conversation turns to emotions.”
I laughed and the harshness of the sound made Star lift his head from his bed for a moment. “Just like that, she brings out the psychology.”
“Not at all,” she insisted. “I don’t need a degree in psychology to see that whatever happened between you two profoundly changed you. You wear that like a cloak.”
“It doesn’t matter, Hazel,” I insisted. “I’m not asking you about your past relationships, am I?”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “If you did, I’d be honest with you. The man I dated for two years was supposed to be the man I married. We were perfect together, on paper.”
“On paper?” If she wanted to tell me what happened with her past relationship, I’d encourage that to keep from talking about Norah.
“We checked all the boxes for the perfect couple,” she explained. “But we weren’t. Daniel had some serious character flaws I saw but ignored.”
“Character flaws,” I said with half a smile. “Most people refer to those as red flags.”
“Maybe,” she agreed. “I took into consideration that to me they were character flaws, but to someone else, they wouldn’t be, if that makes sense.”
“Meaning you weren’t compatible because he had beliefs you couldn’t respect.”
“That’s exactly what I meant. Though, I don’t know too many women who are okay with a man who steps out on a relationship unless it’s an open one.”
I grimaced at the thought that someone stepped out on Hazel Cane. “If he thought he would find someone better than you, Hazel, he wasn’t worth your time. There is no one better than you.”
“Thank you, Irving,” she said with a smile. “That makes me feel like I’m a decent human being, which is all I ever wanted to be in this world. Cheating was my hardline, though, so I had to walk away. It’s been two years, and I know I’m better for it. I was living under a false truth that kept me from exploring the things I had looked forward to doing.”
“Like what?” I asked, glad to be moving on past her need to know about my last relationship.
“I’ll tell you, right after I assure you that I haven’t forgotten your avoidance in answering my first question. We’ll get back to that.”
A tight smile was all I could muster at that, and she winked.
“One of the things I wanted to do was take the skills I learned in Florida and apply them in different parts of the country. I wanted to see if people’s experiences differed by region or if we shared global human experiences regardless of where we reside.”
“That’s why you’re in Bells Pass?”
“Bells Pass is where I ended up, I guess?”
“You tell me,” I said with a brow raised.
“When I left Florida, I worked my way up through the states,” she explained. “I set up volunteer opportunities around the country. I wanted a goal and place to be so as not to get distracted in one state or by one organization.”
“How did Bells Pass come to be then?” I asked with curiosity. “I always just assumed you left Florida and came straight here.”
“Yes, and no. I was back in Florida and looking for something career-wise that I couldn’t define. When I saw the listing, the opportunity to build a program from the ground up intrigued me. It felt like what I was looking for, so I decided to apply.”
“And the rest is history. Do you miss Florida?”
“I miss my parents, but not Florida as a whole. Down there, you were alone while surrounded by people. Here, you’re surrounded by people who care and you never feel alone. I was looking for that in my life, but I never dreamed I’d have to travel the full length of the country to find it.”
