“She didn’t go into details,” she gently reassured him. Because from the tautness of his voice, it seemed as if he needed to be reassured. “It seemed more like she wanted me to know she had information about you that I didn’t have.” She hesitated but couldn’t hold back the question that had been plaguing her for hours. “Why didn’t you mention it, Declan?”
“It’s not important.”
The abrupt, almost-harsh reply echoed in the silence that fell between them, mocking his adamance.
“Your mom might not have moved to town yet during my last relationship, so you may not have heard about it. But it was the topic of conversation three years ago, for months.” She inhaled a deep breath, bile pitching in her stomach at the thought of talking about Patrick and the disastrous, public ending of their relationship. But if she wanted Declan to trust her with his story, maybe she had to take that first step.
“Patrick Grey was a resident at the hospital in the next town over but lived here. We met at the annual motorcycle rally, and I fell hard, fast. Handsome, smart, and yeah, he was going to be a doctor. Not bad, right?”
She gave a soft, self-deprecating laugh. Because, yes, bad. If only she hadn’t allowed those things to blind her to his other, not-so-favorable traits.
“We were together for a year and a half. And him being a resident, we didn’t have a ton of time together. But I loved and enjoyed every minute when we were. So much that when he started criticizing my dinner or breakfast choices, or offering his opinion on what I wore, I didn’t see his comments as negative. Just that he was concerned with my health or wanted me to look my very best. But when he started using what he called ‘reward systems’—lose five pounds and he would agree to take me to the bar around his work friends—then I couldn’t deny what I’d been ignoring.”
“Remi,” Declan breathed. “You don’t have to tell me this.”
“I’d like to say that I broke up with him,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken, becauseyes, she did need to get this out. She hadn’t spoken about it since it happened. It was time to purge herself of this festering wound. “But I can’t. One Saturday morning, I walked into Sunnyside Grille to meet my sisters for breakfast since Patrick had to work a double shift. Or so he’d texted me. But that wasn’t true. Because when I entered, there he was. Sitting in one of the booths near the door, sharing the Sunnyside Up Special with a slender, gorgeous brunette. Well, that’s not true. They weren’t sharing it because they were too busy kissing.”
She swallowed hard, still seeing Patrick, the man she’d imagined building a life with, giving another woman what he should’ve only offered her. Three years had dulled that pain to a twinge.
“When he saw me, he didn’t even apologize. Instead, he blamed me for sending him to another woman. He wasn’t original. The usual. If I’d only taken care of myself, lost the weight, hadn’t been so fat and lazy. In front of everyone in that diner. He didn’t give a damn about humiliating me in front of my family, the people I’d grown up with. And I was so stunned, so hurt, I stood there and took it. Grace, the owner, came over and ordered him out. Told him to never bring his ass in there. And Cole and Wolf Dennisonescortedhim to the sidewalk.” A faint smile curved her lips, and it went to show how she’d healed, because there was a time she’d never believed she could feel any humor with the memory. “But the damage had already been done. People get dumped all the time. But mine had been devastating, humiliatingandpublic.”
“What happened to the asshole?” he snapped.
She blinked. “Um, I don’t know. I don’t care. Last I heard, he found a position in a hospital out of state.”
“That just means it’s going to take me more time to track him down.”
“What?” She laughed. “Declan, stop playing.”
“Who’s playing?” he growled. “And next time I’m in town, I’m treating Cole and Wolf to beers.”
“That’s...sweet.” She smiled, and warmth radiated in her chest. “Thank you.”
“You’re perfect, Remi. I hope you know that. And fuck him if he was too much of a narcissistic, insecure bastard to realize it. Or I bet he did realize it. But to make himself feel better about himself, he tried to make you smaller. And I’m not talking about the size of your gorgeous ass or hips—which you fucking better not touch. I hope you know any real man would see the beautiful, sexy, brilliant woman you are and not ask you to change a damn thing. Hell, he would have to up his game to be worthy of you.”
Her lips popped open. Thank God they were on the phone because she would’ve hated for him to glimpse the tears stinging her eyes or the heat streaming into her face. If he looked at her now, he would see her feelings for him. She didn’t have to cross her bedroom to the mirror over the dresser and know that the need, the hunger, the... No, she backed away from labelingthatemotion. But she knew those emotions would greet her in her reflection.
“Remi?” he murmured. “Sweetheart?”
Her fingers fluttered to the base of her throat, and she closed her eyes.
“I’m here. And thank you. I... Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. But I’m only speaking the truth.” He sighed. “I get why you shared that with me. Thank you for trusting me. I know it wasn’t easy.” He paused, and several moments passed where his breath echoed in her ear. “Ava and I started dating in college. People said we were a ‘golden couple,’ whatever that means. I guess I can see it now. Similar goals—both financial majors, wanted to be entrepreneurs, desired a certain lifestyle, had the same ideals about the family we desired. She was beautiful, driven, ambitious, and I admired all of that about her. So after we graduated, we married.”
A hard silence ricocheted down the line, deafening in its heaviness.
“I love my parents, especially my mother. But their marriage... It wasn’t healthy. My father wasn’t physically abusive, but emotionally, verbally? He cut her down with words, by withholding affection if she didn’t have his dinner on the table on time or if she disappointed him in any small way. And my mother’s identity was so entangled with his that when he died, she crumbled, didn’t know who she was, how to carry on from one day to the next. That’s why when she sold the house and moved here, I dropped everything and made it happen. She needed to escape anything that had to do with my father so she couldfinallydiscover herself apart from him. I think that was one of the things that attracted me to Ava. She had her own identity, her own goals. But I didn’t count on that tearing us apart.”
Questions pinged against her skull, but she remained quiet, letting him tell his story at his own pace. Yet her whole body ached with the need to wrap around him, hold him.
Protect him.
She shook her head, as if the motion could dislodge the silly idea. Declan didn’t need her protection. Didn’t needher.
“We both entered graduate school and took jobs in our fields. While my career seemed to rise fast, hers didn’t go as smoothly. And listen, I’m a white man in a field that is set up for me to succeed. So I understood her frustration. I knew there were certain advantages for me that weren’t there for her. But she turned bitter, and she took that bitterness out on the one person who unconditionally loved and supported her—me.”
Remi almost asked him to stop because what was coming... It had turned him off relationships all these years later. So it must’ve scarred him.
