him. He was some kind of asshole if he didn’t understand how badly she’d wanted to believe him. How hard it had been for her every time the agency had told her he was cheating on her—betraying her trust. It had taken everything she had, but she’d believed in him; she’d believed in them. But no matter how much you wanted to believe in someone, that belief shriveled and died in the face of cold hard proof.
She scrambled out of the car when the driver stopped in the square in front of the Boathouse restaurant. The driver came around to get her bag from the trunk and she followed him, hoping that Ryan would just leave.
Of course, he didn’t. He came and gave the guy a tip and then met her gaze. He looked … angry? What the hell right did he have to be angry at her? She looked into his eyes a moment longer and realized … it wasn’t anger she saw in them. It was pain. Her heart battered against her ribcage. What did that mean? No! It didn’t matter. She couldn’t allow it to matter.
Instead, she forced herself to give him a bright, fake smile. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”
He opened his mouth, and her heart hammered as she wondered what he was going to say. But he didn’t. He closed his mouth and nodded and then turned and walked away.
The driver smiled at her. “I’ll bring this up to the lodge for you.”
“Thanks.” She headed for the steps that led up to the reception. When she reached the top, she turned and looked back. For some reason, she wanted one last look at Ryan, but he was gone.
~ ~ ~
Ryan glanced over at the deck of the restaurant as he crossed the square. He could use a drink right about now. No. He’d no doubt run into people if he went in there. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone. He had a bottle of whiskey and a back porch waiting for him at the house.
His mood lifted a little when he reached his front gate. Leanne had been shocked when he’d told her that he’d bought a place. Why wouldn’t she be? And why was he even thinking about her? He’d had enough of her in the last few hours to last him a lifetime. He opened the front door and let himself in.
He went straight to the drinks cabinet in the dining room and poured himself a strong one. Then he let himself out onto the back porch and sat down on the sofa looking out at the lake. He took a slug and then leaned his head back to look up at the stars. Why had Dan done that to him? No. He didn’t need to ask. He knew why. Dan was hoping that they’d be able to get along. He let out a short laugh. Knowing Dan, he might even be hoping that they’d get back together. No way was that happening!
He tensed when his phone rang. Whoever it was, he didn’t want to talk to them. He made a face when the ringing stopped and a few moments later it beeped with a voicemail. He was tempted to ignore that, too, but he couldn’t. He took the phone out of his back pocket. It was Dan.
“Hi, Ryan. Can you call me?”
Great. Why couldn’t he have said what he wanted so that Ryan could decide whether there was any need to call him back? He smiled grudgingly as he hit the call button. He knew the answer. Dan was too smart to do that.
“Hi.” Dan answered on the second ring. “Are you back here?”
“Yep.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Yep.”
“You two didn’t figure things out, then?”
“Nope.”
“Are you going to give me anything other than one-word answers?”
Ryan smiled through pursed lips. “Nope.”
He could hear the smile in Dan’s voice. “Not even a two-word answer?”
He had to laugh. “Okay, fuck you, Dan!”
“Fair enough. That’s not as bad as I feared. And it was four whole words.”
“Are you happy now then? Can I hang up?”
“No. Want to let me buy you dinner as an apology?”
“Nope.”
“Come on. We’re going over to the Boathouse. Manny’s going to be there.”
“And Leanne?”
“I haven’t called her yet.”
Ryan had to laugh. “What, I’m the lesser of two evils at this point?”
Dan laughed with him. “How about you’re more likely to be forgiving and she’s more likely to string me up by the balls.”
“Yeah. That sounds about right.”
“So, will you