Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,128
day,” Veronica offered.
“Got it.” He nodded and opened the door. “If you want someone to take you back to Morgantown early, speak to Tucker. He’ll get you down there.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Veronica asked.
He paused to look back at her. “Honestly? Right now, I don’t know what the heck I want. I get that I invaded your privacy, and I’m sorry as hell about it, but I still hate you for not being honest with me.” He sighed. “It feels like you’re using this as an excuse not to be straight, and that doesn’t make me feel good about anything.”
“That’s not fair,” Veronica whispered.
“Maybe it isn’t, but it’s how I feel, and I can’t help that any more than you can help getting mad at me for reading your texts.”
He abruptly stopped speaking, stepped back, and threw the door open to let some guests come in. After exchanging pleasantries, he looked over at Veronica.
“I’ll check in on you later, okay? I’ve got to help get the groom ready to leave before HW gets up to his tricks.” He hesitated, his voice rough. “The apartment keys are in my pocket if you want them, or just ask Mano for the spare set in the gas station safe.”
Still clutching her coat, she watched him leave, her heart thumping hard as she tried to work out what to do next. He’d read the text and drawn all the wrong conclusions from it—which, considering what Leon had said, wasn’t exactly hard.
Should she leave? Was there any point in staying when she’d already made him doubt they had a future together? He might not believe her even if she did try to explain. Jason never had. Maybe she’d been stupid to think that any man would ever trust her.
“You okay, Veronica?”
She looked over to the door to find Tucker observing her.
“Ted said you might need to leave early because you weren’t feeling too good.” He paused. “I’ve got a fleet of vehicles going back and forth between here and the hotel so if you want to go, it won’t be a problem.”
“Thanks.” Veronica let out a shaky breath. “I think maybe I should go. Ted’s not very . . . happy with me right now.”
“I kind of got that,” Tucker said tactfully. “If I can just say something in his defense, he’s a good guy, and he doesn’t get mad easily. If you can bear to stay and talk this out, he’ll definitely listen to you.”
“I know.” She offered him a smile. “He’s not the problem, it’s me. And I can’t give him the answers he needs right now.”
Chapter Eight
“She said to tell you that she was sorry, and that it was all on her, and that you weren’t to worry about anything,” Tucker said and then hesitated. “But she looked like she was about to burst into tears, and I don’t think she really wanted to leave.”
Ted nodded slowly as he tried to deal with the fact that Veronica had left the wedding. The reception had finished and the evening party with a band and a free bar had commenced, leaving everyone, except him, full of food and happy to dance the night away.
“It wasn’t all on her.”
Tucker grimaced. “It rarely is.”
“I read a text on her phone and got mad about it, forgetting that she’d dealt with an abusive ex who controlled her life, and that she might not take what I did too well.”
“Unfortunate.”
“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. She asked me to be patient and wait until she could explain everything to me, and I wanted more.” Ted shook his head. “So damn stupid!”
“You’re in love with her—you get to be stupid.” Tucker gently punched his arm. “Now, all you have to do is think of a way to fix this.”
Ted looked over at the dance floor where the happy couple was swaying gently to some romantic song. “I can’t go after her right now. I have duties.”
“Like those two would even notice you’d gone,” Tucker scoffed. “If they ask where you are, and they won’t, I’ll tell them you had to pull someone’s truck out of a snowbank, and you’ll be back when you can.”
“But—”
Tucker punched him again, this time harder, and shoved him toward the door. “Don’t even go there. Veronica needs you, and that’s more important than anything.”
* * *
Veronica let herself into the apartment and gently closed the door behind her. She hadn’t taken Ted’s keys and had borrowed the spare set from Mano,