it felt wrong to accept all of these gifts and condolences on a relationship that, Jade now knew, had fizzled out years ago. She and Dave had been together only out of habit and not out of any real affection for each other.
Oh, she knew that she would always consider him a friend, but she hadn’t truly felt anything deeper than mild affection for a long time now.
She’d never admit any of this to Angelo though. He’d been telling her this for weeks now and she’d used Dave as a buffer against falling into his arms.
As she answered the door for about the fiftieth time that afternoon, she wondered if that was why she had reacted so strongly to Angelo’s touch and his kisses. She preferred to think that she was made of much sterner stuff and if she were in love with a man, no other male would tempt her.
But she also knew that she hadn’t really been put to the test. She’d been with Dave for so long, no one had even come….
There he was. The man himself creating a huge shadow over her doorway. “What are you doing here?” she asked with resignation. “Did you come here to gloat? To tell me that you’ve told me this all along?” She leaned against the wooden doorway, her cheek trying to absorb the coolness of anything since she knew her body was heating up just at the sight of Angelo looking so delicious in khaki slacks and a white, button down shirt rolled up on his forearms. She stared at that piece of skin, her fingers remembering what it felt like, all those muscles and that fascinating skin.
She tore her eyes away from Angelo and took a deep breath, bracing herself for his words.
“Want an escape from the chocolate onslaught?” he asked.
Jade had to laugh because her house definitely smelled like a chocolate factory. “I would love it,” she said and stepped out of the house, pulling her door closed behind her.
“Don’t you need to lock up?” he asked as she moved outside.
“Lock up?” she asked, confused as she looked up at him, her eyes squinting in the bright sunshine.
He tilted his head slightly behind her. “Your door. Don’t you need to lock your door?”
Jade laughed and shook her head. “Not here. That’s for you city folk,” she teased him. “Believe it or not, there’s very little crime here. I only lock my door when I go out of town.”
They walked down the sidewalk, enjoying the abnormally cool summer day. The humidity had dissipated the previous night after storms had roared through, leaving everything smelling fresh and clean, if wet. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees so it was only a sweltering eighty-five degrees today.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been over at the house today,” she said, but wondered why she was apologizing. She had been avoiding the man for the past week, “I haven’t been able to get away from the doorbell today. It seems that everyone in the area heard about Dave’s betrayal and thought to bring over something to help me get through the pain of our breakup.”
Angelo looked down at her beautiful face, noting the sparkle in her blue eyes and the lack of tear stains or even redness around her eyes. “You don’t look too upset by the knowledge that Dave was seeing Molly.”
Jade smirked. “Let’s call it what it is, okay? Dave was messing around with Molly behind my back. He wasn’t dating her, he wasn’t sweetly courting her. He was…”
“I know,” he said and put a hand to her shoulder. “But even still, you’re not angry about his betrayal as much as you’re furious with him doing it behind your back. Am I right?”
She trembled slightly with his heavy hand but shook her head. “No. I’m not hurt. Unfortunately.”
“Well, it’s hard to be angry when you’ve done the same to him.”
Jade started to contradict him, but she closed her mouth, knowing that he was simply stating the truth. Although her unfaithfulness hadn’t been to the same degree. “Yes,” she sighed.
She was staring down at the sidewalk, unaware of where they were going as they talked. It was nice to discuss something other than Dave’s betrayal, especially since she felt like a coward for doing the same thing to him and not saying anything last night. Of course, she hadn’t had sex with Angelo at a party, and in the woods, no less! “Why in the world would he have sex outside!” she