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But she's gone. She does stop by the front counter to pay for her meal.
Xavier takes his plate and moves across the table from me, glaring. He arranges Alice's and RJ's plates like he's planning to eat their food too.
I glare right back. "Why are you mad at me?"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Xavier
Istuff a big bite of pancake into my mouth because I'm too angry to speak.
Cherry puts her laptop back in her bag. "It's not like you handled that very well." She cuts a tiny bite of pancake and puts it in her mouth, chewing slowly. "Was it really necessary to throw food on RJ?"
I'm still so furious I know I'm going to say the wrong thing, so I take a long swallow of orange juice. I set the glass down hard and juice splashes over the rim. "Why did you let him talk to you that way?" I say through gritted teeth.
"I didn'tlethim do anything." Her words are defiant, but she's curling in on herself. "And the things he said were harsh, but he's not wrong. The Cherry he almost married didn't have these skills, and I honestly wasn't even very responsible. I still believed that men only want women who are dumb and fun. So that's who I was for him."
Her words do nothing to calm me down. "And that's the woman he almost married? Did he ever really know you at all? Because I've only known you for a few days and I can see you're smart, driven, and capable. If he couldn't see that, maybe he never really saw you."
Pain and fear flash across her face and I want to take back every word I've said. I knew I'd fuck this up.
"If that's true." She lifts her chin, a haughty air overtaking her. "Then I just need him to see who I am now, to see how much I've changed. He loved me once. He can love me again."
I slap my palms on the table, because it's better than going after RJ and beating the shit out of him for not being nearly good enough for this woman. "Why the hell do you want a man you have to convince to love you? How could you possibly ever think a guy like him is the right man for you?"
"Right." She sniffs, her eyes glassy. "Because a man who's responsible, has a good job, and wants a family couldn't possibly be the kind of man for me."
"Not if he's James, the spineless asshole." I'm yelling and heads are turning, but I don't care. "You've either got terrible taste in men or you're deluding yourself if you still want that man."
She pushes her plate away, her hands in fists on the table. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Xavier. Don't you trust your sister enough to believe she's seen something good in RJ?"
"This isn't about her." I'll be pissed about Alice later. This is about Cherry. "What the hell does that man have that's made you love him even after he dumped you over a prison phone call and has treated you like dirt since you stepped into this town?"
"You don't—"
"I mean, explain it to me, because I honestly want to understand what a woman like you could possibly see in a man like that."
"A woman like me?"
"Yes, Cherry." I hate that her first instinct is to assume I'm insultingher. "A beautiful, smart, fun, capable woman like you." I lean across the table and lower my voice. "What the hell do you see in him that I'm missing? Because you aren't stupid, Cherry, and only a stupid woman could truly love that man."
"I'm not in love with him." She leans forward and answers me in the same low voice. "And if you ever repeat that, I'll cut out your tongue while you sleep."
I straighten. "You aren't in love with him? Why the hell are you trying to win him back?"
She cuts her pancakes into even rows, like she's hoping I'll forget my question. Too bad for her. I'm not letting this go. If she wants my help, I'm going to have to understand why she's pursuing the twerp.
With a sigh, she lays down her fork and knife and meets my gaze. "When RJ dumped me, it broke my heart. I was so deeply in love with him." She looks away like she's trying to remember. "At least, I must have been, because I cried for days after he dumped me. It was the kind of pain I never want to experience again."
I'm really trying to understand her, but I don't.
"Have you ever had your heart broken? Like when Murphy and Liam got together?"
"No. And, for the last time, I'm not in love with Murphy or Liam."
She waves away my words. I don't know how to bridge this divide between us, so I say nothing.
Overhead, a tearjerker of a Christmas carol plays, something about orphans and loss. I've always felt those sorts of carols are manipulative, meant to force you into empathy whether or not you want to go there.
