was going to take all the strength she possessed simply to get through the evening.
She would do it.
She had no other choice.
Chapter Twenty
Even when the walls of his boardinghouse room closed in around Keenan, he couldn’t summon the energy to leave. The past three days had been hell. He’d gone to work and come home. That was the best he could manage to do. Now it was the weekend and he didn’t have to go anywhere.
He hadn’t heard from Steve. The logical conclusion was that his conversation with Mrs. Van Ness had gone as expected. Keenan was out. Steve just hadn’t decided how to break the news to him.
Keenan had once thought flying was his whole world. He’d been wrong. Mitzi was his world.
Though he’d been physically alone in that motel room in Nebraska, Mitzi had still been with him. He’d known when he returned to Jackson Hole, she’d be waiting.
Not anymore.
He’d made the right choice. She deserved better than a mutt without a pot to pee in. A nobody. Though she hadn’t personally stomped on his heart, it had ended up bruised and battered all the same.
A knock sounded, followed quickly by another, more forceful one. Keenan frowned. He wasn’t expecting anyone.
He opened the door and found his sister standing in the hall, a garment bag slung over her arm.
Betsy brushed past him, not waiting for an invitation. “I don’t have much time. Ryan is down in the car with Nate. When I picked up Ry’s tuxedo, the clerk mentioned you hadn’t gotten yours yet, so I had her give it to me.”
Pushing newspaper pages aside, she laid the tux carefully on the bed then turned to face him.
“You look horrible.” Her brows pulled together in concern. “Have you been eating?”
“I’ve been eating just fine.” Keenan saw no need to tell her his appetite had vanished. “Sorry you went to the trouble to deliver the tux. Since I’m not going tonight, I don’t need it.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no reason for me to be there.”
He thought about mentioning Cassidy had asked him to go with her, but decided that didn’t matter.
Though she said she was short of time, Betsy suddenly didn’t appear in any hurry to leave.
“Kate mentioned you and Mitzi aren’t together.” His sister put a hand on his arm. “What happened, Keenan? I thought things were good.”
Keenan wished he could find out how Mitzi was holding up. The hurt he’d seen in her eyes, the knowledge that he’d put the pain there, haunted him. “Mitzi got it in her head she loved me. Have you ever heard anything so crazy?”
“Let’s make sure I got this straight.” Betsy brought a finger to her lips. “Mitzi confessed she loved you and you rabbited.”
“I did not rabbit. What kind of word is that, anyway?”
“Obviously you did, or you and Mitzi would be on your way to living happily ever after right now, instead of you being holed up in this tiny room looking like death warmed over. Give me the deets.”
“Deets? Sheesh, Bets, what are you, fifteen?”
His sister stared at him. “You might as well spill your guts. I’m not leaving until you do.”
Keenan strode to the small window that overlooked Main Street. He knew all too well his little sister’s stubborn streak. “It’s not rocket science. Mitzi wanted more. I wanted to stay friends. That’s all. Now, will you leave?”
“Bull. Pure bull.” Betsy crossed the room to him. “I’ll tell you how it really went down. You love Mitzi but decided she deserves someone better than you.”
He gave an unsteady laugh and kept his focus out the window and away from Betsy’s discerning gaze. “She does deserve better.”
“Did you know I turned Ryan down the first time he asked me to marry him?”
Keenan turned. Blinked. His sister loved Ryan, had always loved Ryan. He couldn’t imagine her turning down his proposal.
“I told myself his future would be hurt by me being involved in his life. I didn’t feel I was worth loving.” Tears sprang into Betsy’s eyes. She quickly blinked them back. “Mom did a number on you and me, Keenan. The only way I was able to push her permanently from my head was to realize I deserved to be happy. Being happy is the best revenge.”
Betsy wrapped her arms around him, rested her head against his shoulder. “Don’t let her hurt you anymore. You’re a wonderful man. You’ll make a fabulous husband. If you love Mitzi, tell her the truth then let her decide. You know you can make