His throat thickened, but some of the weight he’d been carrying tonight lifted. She hadn’t slammed the door on him. That had to be a sign that things would be okay.
Thirty minutes later, he sat on her living room couch. She, however, sat across from him in a chair instead of next to him.
Not a good sign, but first things first. “I’m sorry.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You apologized already.”
Except it didn’t appear to do much good. “I’m doing it again because Iamsorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me they were coming?” The pain in her voice matched the hurt in her eyes.
Elias leaned forward as if that would bridge the distance between them. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants. “You mentioned asking other skaters to perform to help with ticket sales. I thought Drew must be one of them, and he wanted to surprise you.”
“I hate surprises.”
He startled. That wasn’t true. “You let me surprise you with dinner.”
“Dinner is one kind of surprise.” Her expression was neutral, but her voice trembled. “Having my ex-partner and boyfriend show up with his latest partner-now-fiancée to skate in the ice show I’ve been asked to help run is another.”
Elias let out the breath he’d been holding. He dragged his hand through his hair. “I had no idea.”
“Obviously.” Her tone, however, wasn’t snarky. She leaned forward. “I suppose you also didn’t know that while I was recovering from an injury that he caused announced he had found a new partner before telling me. Or that he spread lies about me, ones that kept getting worse the more success I had without him. And he’s the one who got me fired from the ice show.”
Elias’s face paled. “I swear. I had no idea any of that happened.”
Tasha eyed him warily. “Aren’t lawyers good at research?”
“I searched to make sure he was legit.” Elias wouldn’t make excuses for himself. “I meant to follow up, but something came up, and I forgot to continue.”
“He said you agreed we needed a headliner.”
“You’re the one who said other skaters might help ticket sales. The guy told me he wanted to help. What he said made sense.”
“If Drew and Savannah were here to help boost ticket sales, why weren’t they added to the flyers or social media posts? Keeping them as a surprise makes no sense if more sales was the goal.”
Tasha was right. “It’s not an excuse. But I thought he knew you better than me.”
“Neither of you know me at all.”
Elias flinched as if he’d been sucker punched. “That’s not true.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. “Ifit were, you’d understand Drew Maddox is the last person I’d ever want to see.”
“You never told me what happened.”
“Might have to work on your cross-examination skills, counselor, because you never asked.”
She was slipping away, but Elias didn’t want to let her go. “I’ve apologized. Let me make this right.”
“There’s nothing for you to do.”
He sucked in a breath.
“This thing between us was always going to end,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “We’re just ending early.”
Elias felt as if he were falling. He gripped the sofa cushion for support. “You don’t leave until the thirty-first. Let’s hang out until—”
“I can’t.” Her voice cracked, and her mask slipped, leaving hurt-filled eyes and a sad face.
