Fight Like You've Never Lost (Summer Lake #14) - S.J. McCoy Page 0,78
face.”
“And you still don’t believe him?”
“You know I saw him with her.”
Laura nodded. “Yeah.”
“How am I supposed to believe—especially after all the texts from her saying that he was going to leave me for her—that him kissing her wasn’t him cheating on me. He says he can prove that he didn’t, but how, Laura? I’d love to know how.” Her hand was shaking too much to risk trying to put mascara on.
“I don’t know, Lee. I really don’t. But that whole world he used to work in was weird. Maybe there’s some weird explanation?”
She shrugged. “Like what? If you saw Smoke kissing someone else, do you think there’s any weird explanation that would make you believe it wasn’t him cheating on you?”
Laura held her gaze for a long moment before looking away. “No. I don’t think so.”
“See.” She forced herself to smile. “So, while I will admit that kissing him out there had me all hot and bothered again, I still have to insist that nothing’s changed.”
“He kissed you?”
She had to smile. “Yeah. And if I could do purely physical, I’d want a hate fuck out of this whole situation, too. But I can’t. Not with him. I never could.”
“So, how did you leave it?”
“That it’s best if we just stay out of each other’s way.”
“And Donovan? I wish you’d told us about him this morning.”
“Sorry. I should have, but Smoke and I were finally getting along, and I knew he wouldn’t approve.”
Laura laughed. “You’re right about that.”
Leanne shrugged. “Ryan said he was going to prove to me that I was wrong not to believe him. I told him we should stay out of each other’s way unless he can.”
“And in the meantime, you’re going to let him think you’re with Donovan?”
“I don’t think it matters. If I were, I wouldn’t have kissed him out there and he knows it.”
“Are you sure? I think Smoke was right that they’re the same kind of animal. Ryan was always jealous and possessive. You don’t want to cause trouble for Donovan.”
“It won’t.” She turned back to the mirror and fixed her makeup now that she was a bit calmer.
“Ready?” Laura asked when she was done.
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
Chapter Twenty
Ryan stopped into the bakery on his way into work on Monday morning. He wasn’t delaying getting there, not really. He needed more caffeine that was all.
“Hey, Ryan!” April greeted him with a warm smile. “How are you doing?”
“Good, thanks. How about you?”
“Yeah. Great, thanks. What can I get you? The usual?”
“Please.” He stopped in here often enough that she knew he needed a caffeine hit, a big, regular, black coffee, nothing sweet or fancy.
She set it on the counter in front of him. “There you go.”
“Thanks.”
She was giving off a weird vibe. It seemed she had something to say but didn’t have the nerve. He smiled. She was a sweetheart. He didn’t want her to think that she had to be careful what she said to him.
“What is it?”
She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m not sure I should say.”
“We won’t know till you try. Go ahead. I don’t bite.”
“Okay. Well, it’s just, you know I like Leanne. She was so kind to me; she helped me a lot with my divorce.”
Damn. That was the last thing he’d expected. He’d come in here to delay seeing her. Not to hear about her yet again. “Yeah.”
She shrugged. “I know you two have a lot of history …”
He nodded, wondering where she was going.
“I just hope that the two of you can work it out.” She gave him an embarrassed smile. “That’s all.”
“Thanks.”
The door opened behind him and he turned, relieved at the interruption. At least, he was relieved until he saw who it was. Donovan. He nodded curtly, and Donovan nodded back.
“See ya, April.” He let himself out. He didn’t need a showdown at eight o’clock in the bakery. What he needed to do was get his head together. He could have gone to Leanne at any point since Saturday night and proved to her that he wasn’t a liar. He would have, too. He wanted to, but the one thing he hadn’t figured out in their conversation out on the deck was how important Donovan was to her. If she needed time, he’d give it to her. What he didn’t want to do was finally tell her the truth only to have her turn to another guy to help her figure it out.
He wanted to run the guy off. But that might only make things worse,