“Yes, ma’am.”
“How’s Thursday?”
“Long time away.”
She laughed again. The sound suckered him deep in the gut, right in the place that used to ache after his daddy died.
If he wasn’t careful, she would do him good.
She cupped his cheek and grinned a sweet little grin that made him think of peaches and pool parties. “Two tests Thursday.”
“Two?”
“Work and school. But I’ll be out of class early.” She pressed one more kiss to his lips. “Hope you and Louisa have a nice day.”
He snorted.
“Not easy being the baby sister. Especially when you have so much to live up to.” She said it lightly, but the way her eyes flicked down, he didn’t know if she was talking about Louisa or herself. She nodded toward the hotel. “I have some business I need to finish up in there.”
“Want help?”
“No.”
“Had to ask.”
“And I had to say no.”
“Make sure you get all those no’s out before you come over Thursday night.”
Her saucy grin promised all he’d be hearing out of that mouth would be yeses.
Now if he could figure out how to handle having the perfect woman.
Anna knockedon the door of room 416 in The Harrington. After a minute, Neil opened it and blinked bloodshot eyes at her. He was still in his white linen mess dress shirt and whatever liquor he’d steeped himself in last night.
He stood straighter and winced. “Hey.” His voice was froggy. “Wanna come in?”
She’d seen him drunk enough to know the next step. He wasn’t a mean drunk.
He was a sorry drunk.
And she was about to make him wish a hangover was all he had. “You have ten minutes to get yourself cleaned up and meet me downstairs. After that, I’m leaving.” Because she wouldn’t have this conversation with him unless he was sober.
Or at least not getting drunker.
Nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds later, he sat down beside her in the lobby, leaving a respectable distance between them. His eyes were still rimmed in brandy-overload and his movements were jerky, but he’d shaved and put on a shirt andpants that barely carried the scent of his pity party. “Hi,” he said.
Anna sat as tall as she could without standing up. “You divorced me,” she said without preamble. “You insulted me in front of our friends, you broke my heart, and then you left me here. You don’t get back into my life. Not yesterday, not today, notever.”
His left cheek twitched like it always had when he was agitated. “I made a mistake.”
“And now I’ve made a life.Withoutyou. You don’t get a second chance, Neil.”
“I just—” His head dipped to his knees. “I’m lost, Anna. I haven’t been on time for anything since I left. I can’t find stuff. I don’t know when I should book tickets to go home and see my parents for the holidays. I just don’t know.”
She’d been down too many times the last few months to take pleasure in kicking him. Seeing him broken was like staring back at herself right after he left, and she felt for him.
But he’d walked away from her. As they said down here, she could fix broke, but she couldn’t fix stupid. “Welcome to adulthood.”
