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“Why didn’t you warn me?”
Although they were still a mile away from Phoebe’s, Brant pulled to the side of the road, presumably so he could give her his undivided attention. “Because I couldn’t believe he’d really be that big an asshole. I’ve known him my whole life. I guess I was hoping he was only bluffing to get back at me for being with you.”
Scarcely able to breathe, she pressed a hand to her chest and returned her gaze to Paul’s missed calls.
Paul Pacheco 6:33 a.m.
Paul Pacheco 6:35 a.m.
Paul Pacheco 6:41 a.m.
And the list went on...
Clearing his throat, Brant shifted so he could face her more directly. “Hey,” he said. When she didn’t respond, he added, “Talulah?”
“What?” she asked mechanically.
“Are you okay?” He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away.
“No, I’m not okay.” Talulah felt completely numb. “I have seventeen stitches in my arm. My relationship with my partner is in jeopardy. My business could be in jeopardy. My sister and parents are embarrassed and disappointed in me, even though I came here for them. And any hope I had that Averil would one day forgive me is gone. As if that isn’t enough, I also have to face the entire Gerhart family at the funeral tomorrow.” Squeezing her eyes closed, she let her head fall back on the seat. “What have I done?” she said with a groan.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Brant said.
Visions of Paul pleading with her to get serious with him, telling her how much she meant to him and how happy he’d make her played in her mind. What was she going to say to him now? How would he react to this? He couldn’t claim she’d been cheating on him; she’d made it clear they weren’t even unofficially together. But until she left Seattle, their relationship had been moving in the direction he wanted. Sleeping with Paul had made him confident they’d finally turned a corner.
She’d only been gone a week, and she’d already slept with someone else when it’d taken himyearsto get her into bed.
That wasn’t going to be easy to explain.
“I feel terrible,” Brant said. “Will you please say something?”
She opened her eyes. “I’m not blaming you,” she said dully. “It’s not as if you forced me into the shower that night.”
“But I did make the first move.”
“We thought it would be an isolated incident, nothing anyone would ever have to know about.” She frowned as she stared off into the distance, across the acres of farmland heading toward the mountains. “Neither one of us thought it would turn out like this.”
He leaned forward, trying to get her to look at him, but it was partly his striking blue eyes that’d gotten her into trouble in the first place. “What are you going to tell him?”
“The truth, I guess. I wasn’t going to volunteer our involvement. I was going to leave it here in Coyote Canyon, along with everything else I’ve left behind. But now that he knows, I can’t lie to him.”
She could feel Brant’s gaze on her face even though she wouldn’t meet it. “Have you ever seen him angry?” he asked.
“A few times. But only at his brother, whom he’s fought with since childhood, or vendors who didn’t bring what they promised, or an employee who left us high and dry. Never at me. At least...not really.” She’d never done anything to make him mad, and he’d been hoping to win her over, which meant she’d probably never seen his worst side.
“How does he behave when he gets angry?”
“He’ll yell and then he’ll withdraw. As far as I know. Like I said, his anger has always been directed at someone else.”
“Maybe you should call him while I’m with you.”
“That’s aterribleidea.”
“I want to be here, in case he treats you badly.”
“You wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway,” she pointed out. “It’d only make him angrier if you tried.”
“I get that, but... Damn. I don’t know. Isn’t thereanythingI can do to make things easier?”
