“We’ll miss you at the center,” she said.I’llmiss you. Hell, she was even going to miss him on Sunday night when she returned toherhome—Downtown Vancouver—where she was born and raised. But this wasn’t something she’d address right now.No thinking. Just fun, remember?She sipped her sparkling water. “So why’d you choose to come to Canada in the first place?”
Shane’s smile faltered, and he gave a little shrug. “Stuff happened.”
“Like what?”
Slowly, he wiped his mouth with his napkin, and Krista had that same sinking feeling she’d had last night, when he’d told her his ex had called off their wedding.
“I’m sorry. Don’t answer that,” she said quickly, fearing she’d put her foot in something again.
But was that really the case? Shane didn’t do love and romance and serious relationships...did he?
Shane took a big bite of his burger, but Krista could only nibble on another piece of lettuce. What had she been like, this woman who Shane had almost married? How long had they been together?
And what had gone wrong?
“Yesterday, you said your wedding had been called off,” she ventured. “How long ago was that?”
“Last summer.”
“So that’s when you decided to transfer your studies to UBC?”
“Yes.”
But hold up—if Shane hadn’t been bothered by his failed engagement, why move countries? She stared at her plate, the food on it not tasting as good as it did a few minutes ago.
“You wanna know what happened, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m curious.” Krista shrugged. “But only if you want to share.”
“Not really, but here goes.” Shane leaned back, and a hardness she’d not seen since that morning in Banff clouded his eyes. “Fiona and I had been together for eight years when I proposed.”
Eight years!
But that was most of his adult life!
“I knew she’d say yes,” he continued, “because we’d talked about getting married a few times before. We always knew it would be on the cards. We had that kind of relationship.”
A random dart of jealousy speared Krista’s heart. Love Sucks Shane had been part of a solid, steady couple—a We—for almost a decade?
Suddenly, he became a stranger again. And the fact that she barely even liked him three days ago taunted her, poking her off balance.You may know his body, but you still don’t know him.
“We announced our engagement and had a big party,” Shane said, sarcasm dripping off his words. “Everyone was just so delighted for the very happy couple.”
“You weren’t happy?” Krista asked. Maybe their relationship hadn’t been working for him? Maybe he’d changed his mind and he’d no longer wanted to be with this Fiona?
“I was extremely happy. Life couldn’t have been better.”
Oh.
“I was in love with a woman who loved me back. What more could I ever want?”
But his tone was bitter, and her heart panged at the hurt and vulnerability in his eyes. “So what went wrong?”
“She had an affair. Actually, no. ‘Affair’ isn’t the right word, and neither is cheating. Because both imply a quick fling, a casual hookup. And there’d been nothing casual about her relationship with this other guy.”
“How long had she been seeing him?”
“Two years.”
