Chapter Five
The Remnants
Two years ago
Iran mythumb over the screen of my phone, staring at the last text Jordan sent me.
Good-bye, Tanya.
He’d sent me the text three days ago, which was the night before he left for New York.
I hadn’t responded. Just like I hadn’t responded to the other two text messages he sent me after the wickedly cold weekend he’d spent at my townhouse six weeks ago. The weekend I realized I was in love with him.
That Sunday, as I kissed him good-bye at my front door, I’d said, “I think it’s best if we end this now. You’ll be busy preparing for the move and I have a big case coming up.”
His hand still cupped my cheek as he looked down at me. In my bare feet, I stood three inches shorter than Jordan.
“That’s probably a good idea,” he agreed.
The nonchalance of his response, the ease with which he accepted my suggestion…it stung.
It also reinforced my belief that it was better to sever our connection now. If I kept seeing him, the pain would only get worse. It was going to be difficult enough to get over the heartbreak. The sooner I got started, the better.
Which was exactly the situation I’d been trying to avoid.
At least listening to Tessa’s break-up experiences had given me some idea of how to ease the pain.
Jordan had kissed me one last time and left. He’d texted me twice after that, both were work related.
I managed to suppress the hurt and the disappointment until he sent that final text.
That night, the dam broke. I found myself calling Tessa, tears making it difficult for me find her name on my contact list. She’d talked to me until I calmed down and then she insisted that I eat some ice cream, drink some wine, and go to bed.
Not surprisingly it hadn’t helped as much as I would have liked, but I did it anyway.
Tessa promised me that it would get easier, that the heartbreak would lessen. I hoped she was right.
Tonight, however, I wallowed. As I stared at the screen on my phone, touching the last words Jordan sent to me, I knew I would never allow myself to fall in love again. Hell, I hadn’t meant to fall in love with Jordan Hawke in the first place. I’d done everything I could to avoid it.
Love always ended in suffering.
But not for me.
Because I would never allow this to happen to me again.
