Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls #1) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,97

her eardrums.

He doesn’t love her anymore, she reminded herself fiercely. He doesn’t love her anymore.

“Ain’t no need to be jealous now.” Ethel patted her hand in an almost comforting way. “He ain’t hot for her anymore. Besides, just between you and me, his mama might be pulling for him and her to get back together, but I ain’t never thought that Lisa was after him for anything but the fame. Why, the minute his ball career was done, you could practically see the light dying in her eyes. She wasn’t nearly as taken with him after that. He worshipped the ground she walked on and after years of saying she loved him, she tossed him aside just like the rest of the town did.”

Ethel made a sound of disgust. “Why Gina can’t never see that, I don’t know. She thinks Lisa walks on water, and she ain’t ever gave up hope that the two of them will get back together. Just because she married her high school sweetheart don’t mean that everyone will.”

Kira didn’t want to look at Connor dancing with Lisa, but she couldn’t help it. She glanced at them again, her stomach tightening. Even from here, she could see how upset Connor was. His face was red, and he was staring at Lisa with a combination of anger and hurt.

She jumped to her feet. She had no idea what was wrong, but she wasn’t about to sit here and watch Lisa upset the man she loved. She didn’t care if it made her look like a jealous shrew, she was breaking up their damn dance.

Before she could move, Connor tore away from Lisa. His face still red and his shoulders hunched, he walked away from Lisa and straight toward Kira.

Chapter Twenty-One

“You look really good, Connor,” Lisa said.

“Thanks.” He glanced across the dance floor to the table where Kira was sitting. Ethel was sitting with her and he groaned inwardly. Ethel was the biggest gossip in town, who knew what the hell she was telling Kira.

“Hey? You still with me?” Lisa touched his face and he jerked his head back.

“Don’t, Lisa.”

“I can’t touch you now?” Hurt was written across her face. “We were together for years, Connor.”

“And now we’re not,” he said.

“We’re still friends.”

“Since when?” His tone was blunt, but she gave him a soft smile.

“I’ve missed you, Connor.”

“Why?”

She sighed. “What do you mean, why? Look, I know things didn’t end well between us, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in the last year. We used to be good together, didn’t we?”

He shrugged, his gaze returning to Kira. They’d been here long enough. After this dance, he’d take her back to the hotel room and try and give her an acceptable answer for why he hadn’t told her he was engaged to Lisa.

The truth would be better.

“Kira seems really nice.” Lisa squeezed his shoulder.

“She is,” he said. “She’s amazing.”

“How did you meet?”

“She’s a client.”

“How is dentistry treating you?” Lisa asked.

He sighed. “Do you actually care? You hate that I’m a dentist.”

“I don’t hate it,” she insisted. “I was young, and I was stupid and disappointed.”

“You were disappointed? It was my dream that ended,” Connor said.

“Both of our dreams ended,” she snapped. She took a deep breath, arranging her face into a calm mask again. “Look, what’s done is done, okay? We both made some mistakes that we regret. But that doesn’t mean that how we felt – feel – for each other is over.”

“What are you talking about?” Connor said.

“Us,” Lisa said. “I’m talking about us.”

“There is no us. You ended it two years ago when you couldn’t stand the thought of being a dentist’s wife.”

“Can you blame me?” she said. “I thought you were going to be a famous baseball player. I thought we were going to leave this stupid town and we were going to make something of ourselves. And then the accident happened, and everything changed. You changed.”

“Well, sorry that I couldn’t be all sunshine and happiness after my career was destroyed,” Connor said.

“Look, I don’t want to fight, okay?” Lisa said. “I’m sorry for what I said and did, I really am. I know it isn’t an excuse, but I was young and immature, and really sad.”

He could see the tears in her eyes, and familiar guilt inched from his belly and into his chest. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Lisa.”

“I know you didn’t,” she said. “I forgive you for that, Connor, I do. I miss you a lot. In the last