eight in the morning California time works for you on the twenty-sixth. She said if the answer is yes to just text the word yes to the number she called from. If the answer is no, then she said there’d be no interview.”
Her voice was cool and steady, but her clenched jaw and glassy eyes said everything she couldn’t. That he was the one who hurt her.
“Dani,” he started, not reaching for the phone but for her hand. Her cheek. Some part of her that he could touch to let her know it wasn’t what she thought, even though it was pretty much exactly what she thought.
She brandished the phone at him.
“Take it,” she said. So he did, slipping it into his pocket. “I asked you if our relationship was a temporary thing for you, and you said no,” she added.
“It’s not,” he said. “I hadn’t even gotten the interview yet when I told you that, and I meant it. But when you get a call from one of the biggest offices in local government because even after you messed up, they still think you’re the man for the job, you schedule the interview. Just to see.”
She swiped at a tear under her eye, but her expression wasn’t one of pain or sadness anymore. It was fury.
“Is that why you showed up at the sheriff’s office yesterday talking about all you were going to do to fix up our department? Was that going to be your parting gift?” She blew out a breath but didn’t give him any room to protest or explain. “I asked you about our relationship two nights ago. When did you get the call?”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
“Dani,” he said carefully. “You have to understand that I didn’t come here looking for a reason to stay. But when you walked into my office earlier in the week and then showed up on my property Thursday night, I thought that maybe the universe or whoever’s in charge was starting to see things differently for me. Because it sent me you.”
“When, Peyton?” she asked again, arms crossed over her chest. “When did you agree to the interview?”
He blew out a breath. “Right after you left Thursday night.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. Then she spun on her heel and marched toward the front door, stopping to yank his down vest out of the closet.
“You need to go,” she said, holding out the vest.
He turned toward Miranda and Jorge, his eyes pleading with theirs. Jorge shrugged, and Miranda just shook her head.
“So that’s it?” he said, striding toward her. “I don’t get to explain how hard it was to come back here without them? Or how you are the only one who made it bearable? I don’t get a second to be confused about what I want or whether or not this thing between us is forever when it started less than a week ago? I lost my job when I missed a meeting with a fund-raiser because I ran late making preparations for my own parents’ cremation—a meeting that cost the board tens of thousands of dollars. I thought I tanked my career, Dani. So when I got the call…I felt like I’d have to be an idiot to say no.”
She was still holding the vest, a tear leaking out the corner of each eye.
She closed the distance between them, pressing the garment to his chest.
“I’m sorry, Peyton. I’m so sorry for what happened to your parents and how hard the last year has been for you. But you’re obviously not ready to make promises to me or to this town, and I don’t fault you for that. I just—I can’t get left again. It’ll hurt too much if we let ourselves get any more attached, so let’s just forget this week ever happened, okay?”
She let go of the vest so that he had to grab it before it dropped to the floor, so that he wouldn’t be able to reach for her before she reached for the door and held it open for him.
“Just like that?” he asked. “After fifteen years?”
She sniffled and squared her shoulders. “For fifteen years a part of me pined and wondered, and now I have my answer. At least we both have closure now, right?”
He leaned down and kissed her warm, tear-streaked cheek.
“I’ve meant every word I’ve said to you the past few days,” he whispered. “Don’t put more weight on what I didn’t say.”
He stepped over the threshold and