that they have exhausted the full selection of driftwood-based paraphernalia.”
He smiled, enjoying this more animated version of her that wasn’t simply glaring daggers at him. “Your store is a lot more than driftwood paraphernalia. I mean, granted, scented candles and ceramic woodland animals aren’t exactly to my taste, but I imagine it appeals to a lot of people.”
“It gives me an excuse to buy endless seasonal decorations for the shop. And I can constantly refresh them.”
He shook his head. “To each his own.”
“Well, I was mostly raised by my brother. It isn’t like I ever had anything pretty in my house.” Her tone was light, but he could tell that the moment she said that, she regretted it. That she was irritated with herself for saying anything to him that wasn’t hostile.
“What happened to your mother?” She had referenced being without her a few times now, and he was curious. It wasn’t fair, the way that all of the shitty things in life seemed to happen in concentrated doses right above certain people. But, it seemed to be the way life worked.
“She left. She took that big fat payoff from your dad and she left.”
Her words settled hard in the room. “How long after?”
“About a year,” she responded, her tone flat. “Honestly, I guess it wasn’t very appealing to take care of a daughter who was in and out of different reconstructive surgeries.”
“She left you? She left you when you were going through all that?” Pressure built in his chest, rage, hot and completely inappropriate roaring inside of him. He had caused this, he had no right to be angry about the fallout. He had left—how could he be angry about what she’d been subjected to when he’d never made a move to protect her?
He had never had the right.
He didn’t have the right now. But that wasn’t what this was about. This was just about giving her something. But he hadn’t fully realized everything that he owed her. Just how impossible it would be to make a dent in this mess.
“She was never going to win an award for being the world’s greatest mother, Gage,” Rebecca continued. “Really, she thought of us as a burden most of the time before the accident. But after that? Yeah, after that any maternal instinct really seemed to go out the window.” She looked away from him, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the back wall. “Hell, if I could have escaped my body I would have. Too damn bad I was stuck with it. But, feeling that way, it makes it difficult to be all that angry. Who wants to deal with that? Nobody.” She looked back at him, her dark eyes glittering. “I was a burden before, but I was a damaged burden after that.”
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“Bullshit,” he repeated, harder, louder.
“Right. Because you know. Because you would have treated someone in your life differently? Because you really would have been there for your family.”
He gritted his teeth, her words hitting their target. They broke through his skin, burning beneath the muscle, painful in their accuracy. “I wouldn’t have left a child alone in a hospital.”
“But you did,” she said. “You left me. You damaged me and then you left me. You left me in a state my own mother didn’t want to deal with.” She stood, her voice rising as she did. “You know everybody feels sorry for me. Just desperately sad for everything I might have been. I could have been beautiful, at least that’s what I’ve been told. But I’m not.”
“That’s not true,” he said, his voice rough. And as soon as he said that, he realized that she was beautiful. She really was.
Her long, dark hair was perfect for a man to wrap around his hand so he could draw her forward. Her lips were full and dusky. Captivating.
And, looking at her like she was a woman was a step too far. He had done enough. He didn’t need to be a perverted asshat on top of it.
“That’s all you have to say?” She took a step toward him, challenge lighting her dark eyes. “You wanted to share secrets. So, you show me your horrible family finances, and I show you what my scars really mean to me. Or is that a little bit too real for you? Did you want to come back and lift the downtrodden, artfully damaged princess from the muck you left her in? Has it been terribly confronting for you to come back and