a hesitant smile. You know, all my best memories are here with you. It’s strange coming back to find out that you hate me.
I still remember her telling me ten years ago that I couldn’t provide the life she wanted. I never thought she was the type of woman that would gut me with her words and walk away while I bled. I never thought she would quit on me until it happened. Yeah, I was in pain, but I didn’t hate her. I felt angry and betrayed, but I could never hate her because I loved her.
Nothing is working out as I expected. When I left, I thought I had all the answers.
Our conversation the day she tore my heart in two had been her telling me what she wanted in life. Were those the answers she’d thought she had that she was no longer sure of? Was she coyly trying to tell me she wanted another go at us? I rolled my eyes. That would never happen.
I’m not the same person I was when I left.
She was right about that. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what changed, but something about her had because she was different. Just as pretty, but wounded in some way. The light in her eyes had dimmed. Her confidence was gone. Kandra Sullivan had left an inferno and came back a puff of smoke. All the spark in her personality was gone, or was it merely waiting for the right moment to ignite?
Why had she asked me if I had a problem with Benji? Was she fishing to see if I was jealous, just like she’d done when she wanted me to say she was beautiful?
Someone pounded on the door, and I pulled it open, looking around for Quinn, but he was nowhere in sight. Ryan, a member of the crew, walked inside.
I walked out and thought about Kandra and our conversation some more.
When the calls stopped coming in, I didn’t mind because I thought I had Anthony.
Anthony ... the guy was a dick. A Harvey Weinstein of the modeling world who probably had a casting couch in every room of his office. He talked her out of taking photographs and instead being in them so he could control her career. He dumped her, and I was sure the jackass knew the hit to her self-esteem would send her running home. If he didn’t, then he never really knew Kandra.
Quinn’s arm slipped around my shoulders. “How did it go last night?”
I shrugged him off, but Ethan stepped up to my right, pinning me between them. “Still single? Are we able to go to the bar, or did you get us booted?”
“Did you kill anyone or smash any faces?” Bayden’s voice chimed in from behind, and when I swung around to face him, Miranda studied me with suspicion.
“He’s kidding.” I didn’t need the sheriff looking at me like I had something to hide. “Nobody got killed or maimed. It was all very civil.” I stepped onto the dirt, heading back to work, but my brothers stood still. “Don’t you have work to do?” I asked as I pivoted to face them.
Quinn shrugged. “Fifteen-minute break?”
“Aren’t you going to tell us what happened?” Ethan crossed his arms the way our dad did when he was waiting for an answer, and I wanted to deck him.
“She told me what happened since she left, and then she went back to work, and I went home.” It had all been so innocent, but I doubted my brothers would believe me. “I’m done talking about it, so stop asking.”
“He’s sensitive, which means something happened.” Quinn rubbed his hands together while his eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Nothing happened.” And nothing would happen because I had to be on guard with her. I realized something last night; despite her being gone all those years, nothing had changed; Kandra still had my heart. She managed to make me feel something, and it didn’t matter that those emotions were anger and betrayal.
All the pseudo-relationships I’d been in since her were so topical I’d never felt any loss or sadness when they ended. Maybe that was because I never let anyone in after her. Somehow, her coming back to Cross Creek made it feel like she never left. That hole in my heart was now plugged, even though the pain seeped through.
I sounded stupid and sappy and sentimental. Kandra coming back didn’t change anything that happened before. She had left me because I wasn’t enough, and it broke