mother. She could take me back to court and try to change our arrangement.”
But she thought he was being dramatic and ridiculous.
“Why don’t you just move back in with her? It would make things so much easier and save you a whole lot of money. I can’t keep doing this Sean. I’m done.” Her voice broke a little, betraying her emotions. She was close to tears.
He put his almost empty coffee mug in the sink and tried to wrap his arms around her. But she slithered out of his grasp, folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. She was afraid if he touched her, she’d cave or burst into tears.
Sean ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he paced around the room before stopping in front of her.
“What are you talking about? I thought we had a great time last night. I know I did.”
“I had a wonderful time. Which is why I’m so upset right now.”
“You were the one that said you didn’t want to get serious,” he reminded her.
“I said I wanted to keep things light, at first. I meant while you were married. But, you told me you were getting divorced.”
“I am. It’s just complicated. There’s too much at stake to rush.”
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t want you to rush.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. He chose to ignore it and tried what had always worked in the past with her.
“I’m crazy about you, Kristen. I hate when we argue. I’ll make this up to you, I promise. Let’s go out tomorrow night instead. It’s going to be packed everywhere tonight, anyway. Tomorrow we’ll have the place to ourselves. It will be more romantic. What do you say?” His eyes met hers and the smile that used to make her melt didn’t have the same effect anymore. But she was done fighting with him. She just wanted him to go.
“I don’t know. I need to get back to work.”
He took that as a win and grinned. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
As soon as he left, and the housewas empty, Kristen let the tears come. She didn’t cry for long though. She was more angry than sad, and she was done crying over him.
Chapter 7
No one was in the mood to celebrate on New Year’s Eve. Lisa and Brian had usually just gone out for a quiet dinner or to an occasional house party. But since he’d passed, she hadn’t done much of anything. It was just another night to her.
But this year, she sensed that the girls weren’t in the mood to do much either, and her natural inclination was to try to lift their spirits. She’d invited them over and planned to put in an early order for takeout at their favorite Chinese restaurant. She figured they could stay in and watch movies and maybe if they were still awake, they could watch the ball drop. She thought it would be her, Abby, and Kate, but when Kristen called to let them know Sean cancelled their plans at the last minute, Lisa insisted that she join them as well.
She was also a bit nervous as the clock approached three in the afternoon. Her first guest, Rhett Byrne was due to arrive any moment. He was going to be staying in ACK, the largest room, and she fussed around in the morning making sure it was perfect for him. She put extra blue-gray towels in the bathroom, set several bottles of water on the nightstand and a box of chocolate covered cranberries for a snack. They were made at the local chocolate shop and were a great taste of the island, fresh cranberries wrapped in silky dark chocolate.
She left a local newspaper on the table by the window and gave the bedspread a final smoothing. She also left a note welcoming him and leaving the number to her cell phone in case he needed anything at any time. She was curious about why he wanted to stay for a whole month. It was an odd time to take such a long vacation.
Kate had told her to Google him, to find out more about him, and she’d meant to do that, but hadn’t gotten around to it until this morning. It had felt a bit intrusive, but finally her curiosity had gotten the best of her. From what she saw in the quick search she did, he owned several restaurants, one in New York City and two in Boston, as well as one in Palm