“No. I came back to see if you would listen to me. Maybe give me a second chance.”
“At what?”
He arched one eyebrow at her. “At us.”
She shook her head. “You want to get married again?”
He shrugged. And her heart fell. He wasn’t here for her. He was here to bring closure to his past. And if she was honestwith herself, she’d already let Jay use her enough for this lifetime.
“No thanks.”
She honestly believed that Jay was a warrior. A man more at home with his unit on a mission. Having been a soldier his entire adult life he had no idea how to share himself with others.
“I asked around, you’re still single.”
“I own my own business, which takes up a lot of my time,” she said, not sure how she felt about him asking about her.
“Granted.”
“What do you want me to say, Jay?”
“That you’ll give us a second chance.”
“But you’re making no promises? I’m not an idiot,” she said.
“I know that. Neither am I. And I’ll tell you this, I’ve never been able to forget you, Aly. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you. I know I hurt you and don’t really deserve a second chance, but I’m asking you to give me one.”
He was sincere; she could read that easily enough in his eyes. But she didn’t want to trust him again. For some reason she’d fallen for him—the quiet loner with the easy charm instead of the outgoing athletic guys she usually hung out with.
“I’m sorry. But I don’t think I should be here. You enjoy the dessert and have a great life, Jay.”
She grabbed her purse and started to walk away and he followed her again, this time when he grabbed her arm he wouldn’t let her shake him off.
“No, don’t leave. I’m sorry. I’m not handling this right, but I don’t know what else to do. I need to figure out things that have nothing to dowith the Corps.”
“I don’t see how that affects me,” she said. She tried not to let it bother her that he thought about her.
“I guess I want you to give me a second chance, not to leave you again but to love you.”
“I don’t think I can do that, Jay,” she said. “You broke my heart and didn’t have the guts to stay and tell me you were leaving.”
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am for that,” he said. “But I can show you that I’ve changed.”
“Have you?” she asked. Because so far she wasn’t seeing any big differences.
He started to nod, but then stopped. “I hope so. But I really don’t know. I’ve been on back-to-back deployments so I haven’t had a chance even to breathe since the last time I saw you.”
She tugged her arm from his grip and stood staring at him in the fading light. She could use some closure herself. Maybe then she’d be able to really move on from Jay.
For too long he’d been the reason she’d stayed single, afraid to risk herself again. He’d changed her from the girl who’d always said yes to life to someone who’d started living in the shadows. That was it, she thought as she stood staring at him in the fading twilight.
She’d given him her heart after a whirlwind courtship and gotten burned and now...now she wanted a chance to reclaim her heart and her faith in men. Because her short marriage was the reason why she was too afraid to let anyone in.
Maybe this would heal her.
“If I give you this chance, it might not work out for you,” she said. “I’m not sure I can ever trust you again.”
“I understand. It’s my mission to make you trust me,” he said.
