Dropping the phone in my purse, I murmured, “Yeah, right,” and looked at the Inn. It was modest in amenities and, no, didn’t serve anything other than breakfast, but it was high on charm. The owners were good people. I knew them. This was my turf.
“Nope,” I said. “Not hungry. Not me.”
13
“Are you hungry?”
It was Edward’s voice, of course. After seeing his number on my cell, I vowed not to answer, but it was a losing battle. By the third vibration, a progression of older, darker emotions had given way to the image of tears in his eyes, and I just couldn’t … not.
Still, I was wary. I held the phone to my ear, waiting for him to say more.
“Mackenzie?”
Quietly, I said, “There’s no one by that name here.” Propping the phone between shoulder and ear in a private show of nonchalance, I capped a bottle of foundation and returned it to its shelf.
“Maggie,” he said solemnly. “I’m just not used to that.”
“Fair’s fair. I’m not used to hearing your voice.”
“Have you had lunch?”
I sealed a tube of mascara and returned that to its place. “I promised Joyce I’d cover for her at the desk. She has a doctor’s appointment at two.”
“It’s only one now. Have you eaten?”
Collecting brushes, I slid them into disinfecting solution. “I’ve been with clients since eleven. The last one just left. But you know that.” He was my boss. My schedule had to be right there on his screen.
“No. I don’t. I decided not to spy.”
I sputtered a dry laugh. “Isn’t it a little late? You already have my address and phone number, and, okay, maybe you got that from our lawyer or from Liam, but I’m betting you’ve also been through my file. And if you pulled up the Spa schedule to compare today’s bookings to a typical Monday before the scandal—which I’m sure you did, because that’s the kind of info you’d want—my schedule is already on a screen in your mind. You have a photographic memory, Edward. Don’t forget, I know you.”
“You’re the only one who does,” he said without correcting the name. “That’s why I’m calling. I have lunch here on my desk—Caesar salad for you, tuna sandwich for me.”
Caesar salad for you, tuna sandwich for me. I tried to picture it, but all I could see was the risk. “You had your assistant bring lunch for two to your office, and you didn’t think it would attract attention?”
“I got these myself at Rasher and Yolk. I didn’t realize they were open ’til two,” he said, sounding pleased, “but don’t worry, they don’t know who I am. My office is on the second floor of the Inn, so no one at the front desk will see. My assistant is gone for the afternoon, there’s no one else around, and if someone knocks on the door, you can hide in the bathroom.”
That distracted me. “You have your own bathroom?”
“It came with the office. You’ve never been up here? You have to see it. I actually could use your advice on the, um”—he cleared his throat—“décor.”
Pulling the lidded trash bin from under my makeup counter, I swept in used mascara wands, Q-tips, and sponges. These things were more real to my life than this voice from the past. “Oh, Edward.” I sighed. “What’s the point?”
“Eating lunch. You haven’t eaten, I know you haven’t, and you’re right, I did see you had a free hour, but I didn’t go looking for it, I swear I didn’t. It just kind of popped up.”
I might have laughed again, now for old times’ sake, because Edward could be sweet when he was earnest. But I honestly, truly, completely wasn’t in the market for heartache. “What’s the point of our being together?”
“You said you didn’t know the man I’ve become. Here’s your chance.”
“Chance to relive a past?”
“Chance to live a future.”
“I can’t keep the past in the past, when it comes to you.”
“Well, you sure as hell won’t ever move on, if you don’t get over that.”
I should have been angry. But he was right. My therapist had said something similar. And it was common sense. The more I let the present unfold, the more the past would find its place. I just hadn’t expected Edward to be in the picture. If he was staying in Devon, I couldn’t ignore him. I couldn’t fear seeing him everywhere I went. I had to face him.
And yeah, I was a little curious about that bathroom.