he looked around, the blue shirt bringing out the turquoise hue of his eyes. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.” Her eyes roamed over him. The way he sat so carefully. “Does it hurt much?”
“Only when I sneeze.”
“That’s good.” She scratched an imaginary itch on her nose.
His steady gaze waited for more, and when it didn’t come, he settled deeper into the chair. The subtle movement said, I can wait.
Okay, she could fake her way through this. She started with a fake smile. “How’s the therapy going?”
“No nightmares so far.” He rapped his knuckles a couple of times on the table. “Ironic, isn’t it? I finally let go of Dunk, then you step in to haunt my dreams.”
She tried to think of a snappy comeback, but her brain kept misfiring. She shifted uncomfortably and smoothed at a wrinkle she’d missed.
“Is that the way you generally dress at home?” He handed her an escape.
“No, I have a party.” She clenched her teeth to stop her mouth from adding “in a couple of hours.”
“Then I’ll get to the point.” He leaned forward like he was going to put his elbows on his knees, and then straightened and leaned back again. “You quit coming to see me, and you won’t answer any of my calls. Obviously, you’re finished with me. But I need to hear you say it...and I’d like to leave knowing why.” The hurt emanating from those blue-green eyes spoke of more than just physical injury. They pierced her heart.
Her brain scrambled for a lie or even a half-truth that would satisfy his curiosity and squelch his desire to know more. Something, anything that would allow him to walk out of there and never look back. But also something that wouldn’t make him hate her. No matter what she’d thought earlier, she couldn’t bear him hating her.
“I...I...” she stammered, but the ocean of his eyes caught her thoughts in an eddy, swirling them around to the same point again and again, getting her nowhere. She was drowning in those eyes. Taking a deep breath, she changed her mind and plunged into the truth. “I think it’s best if we don’t get back into a relationship. I...I don’t deserve you.”
“What?” His eyes and words alike echoed disbelief.
“Your mom’s a good woman. She deserves men in her life like you, your brothers...your dad. I don’t. I’m not like her.”
Even with several feet separating them, Summer could see the tightening of Rick’s jaw in his thin face. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s not crazy.” Summer raised her chin. It quivered, and she lowered it again. “The day after you got shot, Mom and Dad went home for a while. While they were home, the guy called with the offer from the state, which was terrible by the way. It got me to thinking again about how much I wanted the camp, and if I could find a way to counter that offer. But more than that, it got me to thinking how much I wanted to be there again with you. I was being selfish, just like you said. I wasn’t thinking of Mom and Dad after all they’ve done for me. Just thinking of me, me, me and my happiness.” A heaviness centered in her chest at the admission.
Hope softened the edges around Rick’s eyes—a hope she couldn’t let grow. It would be cruel, and despite what her mother said, that was one thing she wasn’t. She continued her story. “Your mom and I were standing in the hallway, watching your room. We saw the commotion. Everybody running toward it. That’s when your heart had st-stopped.” Her voice was shaking now, and the tears fell freely, but she pressed on. “Your mom had been talking about deserving a place in your life. It hit me then—the ripple effect you talked about. The one I caused. My marketing idea, like you said, had a purely selfish motive. I just wanted the publicity of that newspaper article. The same article that Howie’s dad saw, which gave him the idea to get Howie, which then got you shot.” She’d been forming circles with her hands. She let them fall into her lap with a shrug. “Selfish acts hurt people, and I’d graduated from fairy princess to queen of selfish. My actions are undeserving of a hero like you.”
Rick leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees, studying the ground intently. “So what kind of woman deserves a man like me?” He raised his eyes to lock with