Chapter 23
On Mondays, Krista’sshift at the aquatics center started at twelve p.m., but she called her manager to request a personal day, too fatigued to risk running into Shane. Ryan had texted her, asking if she wanted to meet for coffee before their shift, but she’d messaged him back, telling him she was going to spend the day at home.
>Are you skipping work because of what I did with Zoey? Are you OK? I feel terrible enough as it is.
She told him her personal day had nothing to do with him, but she didn’t have the energy to write any comforting words to make him feel any lessterrible. Truth was, she wanted to be left alone to sort out the tangle in her mind, and she couldn’t do that at work. Not when all her co-workers now thought she was dating Ryan. And definitely not when she’d spend the whole time looking over her shoulder for Shane.
>How about dinner Friday night? Or bowling?
Krista sighed at Ryan’s latest message. God, she wished he’d go away.
And that made her feel awful.
Ryan was sweet and kind and gentle...but his attention now grated on her nerves.
Too much, too late.
Now, that conviction she’d once had that she and Ryan should be together seemed like it had come from a different person entirely. How could she change her mind so rapidly?
And it wasn’t just her mind either. The change of heart, of mind, ran through every cell of her body. It cast a different light on every memory, desire, and daydream she’d ever had about every man she’d ever met and was ever likely to meet—not just Ryan.
Bottom line—Shane,the jerk, had ruined every relationship she was ever going to have. Because how could any man compete against him and that Rocky Mountain heat they’d generated?
And that, Kool Krista, is why you should never act on your feelings ever again. Just hard facts and cold truths from now on.
Like bags dumped on a service station forecourt.
Didn’t that tell her plain and clear that Shane wasn’t interested.
Grabbing her travel bags off her bedroom floor, she sorted out her laundry and stuffed her shoes into her wardrobe. Then she set about tidying her room—and the rest of the apartment. Anything to keep from thinking. But by early afternoon, she’d grown bored of her own miserable company and texted her mom to say she’d go visit her at the coffee shop.
When Krista arrived half an hour later, the lunchtime rush had died down and there was only one person sitting at the corner table, reading a car magazine.Jonas. Mom’s latest boyfriend. The guy had become a part of the furniture. Didn’t he have a life of his own?
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, Krista.” Jonas’s smile was wide and warm. Crow’s feet crinkled the corners of his eyes, and the sunlight streaming through the window caught on the shaggy silver hair around his temples. “How were the Rockies?”
“Good. Thanks. Is Mom around?”
“Hi, sweetie!” Mom walked through from the kitchen at that same moment. “I was looking for more cake boxes out back, but looks like we’re out. Jonas, would you mind walking up to Patricia’s to get me a few?”
“Sure thing.”
“I’ll message her to tell her you’re on your way.”
Jonas got up and walked straight out.
Krista lifted one eyebrow. “What? Is he working for you now?”
“No, he just helps out, makes him feel useful while he waits for a new job.”
