the
only
acknowledgement he gave that he understood and he was sorry but I knew he understood and he was sorry. A man like Hank probably didn’t apologize a lot and I’d already got one straight out from him that night.
I looked back out the window.
“I’m glad we got that straightened out,” I said to the window and I was. It would be good to have a clean break, leave things settled and good rather than ugly and bad.
His hand gave mine a little tug and I looked back at him.
“We’l go back to where we left it. We’l have to deal with Flynn when they find him, but you and I can go on from here.”
I shook my head.
“No, my friend Annette is bringing my stuff to Denver as we speak and as soon as I get it and my car, I’m going.”
“Sunshine –”
“No, Hank. There’s no going back. I’m not mad at you for thinking I’m an idiot, because, wel , I am an idiot, I’m just not an idiot about that. It’s that… I have to get my life sorted out and that’s going to take awhile. You should… move on.” His eyes flashed dangerously.
“Move on?” he said the words slowly.
I nodded.
“Yeah, it’s nice that we’l end on a good note and not a misunderstanding,” I told him.
“Roxie, we’re not ending.”
“Yes, we are. You’re a good guy…” I stopped and realized that was just it. He was a good guy. I was a nut, my realized that was just it. He was a good guy. I was a nut, my house had been trashed, my ex-lover was wanted in four states and stil at large, God knew where, and the thing we were both skirting around was that I was tainted. He knew it. I knew it. Even if he knew I didn’t love Bil y anymore, the fact that Hank would even think that let me know al I needed to know about what he thought of me.
“It’s over,” I finished.
“Sorry, wasn’t it you that I was f**king an hour ago?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
I scowled at him.
“It isn’t over,” he said.
My brows drew together. “It is. I’m leaving tomorrow.” He watched me for a second, then let go of my hand, pul ed his wal et out of his back pocket, threw some bil s on the table and got up, shoving his wal et back in his pocket.
He pul ed me out of the booth and, holding my hand, guided me to the door with a chin lift to our waitress before we went through it.
Once we got outside, he dropped my hand and put his arm around my shoulders and pul ed me into his side.
Wel . He was taking my ending things real y wel .
Although I knew I should be relieved, it kinda pissed me off.
At the 4Runner, he opened my door for me and I turned to him, deciding to keep things on a positive bent and be polite.
“Thank you for understanding.”
He looked down at me. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse me?”