“What are you doing here, Nick?” She sounded hard and unyielding. Good.
He gave her his boyish grin. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
She tilted her head, making no move to do so.
“Come on, Maddy. We need to talk—and you won’t take my calls.”
“Can you blame me?”
He had the grace to look sheepish. “No, I can’t. I don’t blame you at all, but I came all the way here. You might as well hear me out, right? I want to apologize, okay? I owe you that much, right?”
The man made a good point. Still, her sisters weren’t here, and she didn’t want him in the house. “Go on around to the back deck. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Thank you.” He turned to go, that familiar gait making all this feel very real.
She needed a minute to collect herself. She couldn’t even define the emotions coursing through her. Her insides were going haywire, her heart beating against her ribs, and her breaths struggling to keep up. It seemed surreal that he was here, at her grandmother’s cottage.
She made her way to the back of the house, resisting the urge to improve her appearance. All the words she’d mentally spewed at him after his betrayal rose in her mind. How good would it feel to hurt him as he’d hurt her?
But the check in her spirit reminded her that retaliation wasn’t right. And those fiery feelings were no longer there anyway. So she breathed a prayer for wisdom and forced herself to pour him a glass of iced tea. She added one for herself just so she’d have something to do with her hands.
Leaving Pippy inside, she slipped out the door. He’d seated himself in one of the aqua chairs and she wished, uncharitably, that the paint was still wet.
“Thanks,” he said as he took the glass. “What a great place. How come you never brought me out here?”
She sat in the chair next to him, glad it was a good few feet away, because she suddenly wanted to smack him. “I asked you several times. You said we were too busy.”
“Well...” He slanted her a grin. “I’m sorry we didn’t. We probably could’ve used the break from work.”
“And my grandmother could’ve used the visit.” She was cross with herself for not coming without him.
“Of course.”
He turned in his chair, and her gaze fell to his squared-off knees, then down to his immaculate brown shoes. He was fussy about his shoes, shining them nearly every time he put them on.
“Listen, Maddy...” The smile was gone, replaced by a hangdog look. “I know I owe you a big apology. What I did was wrong.”
“Which part, Nick? You not only betrayed me with Evangeline, you stabbed me in the back professionally. You knew I was counting on that promotion, and you deliberately took it from me.”
“I know.” He gave a nod. “That was... pretty despicable of me. All of it.”
“Did you ever care about me, Nick? Or was I only a pawn the whole time?”
His eyes widened. “No, absolutely not. Is that what you’ve been thinking? Maddy, of course I cared about you. I hope you believe that. When we started dating you were so... refreshing. And we had so much in common. I loved hanging out with you. I never thought I even had a chance at that promotion.
“Then a few months ago Evangeline...” He gave her a sheepish look. “She kind of hit on me one night after work—and I rebuffed her. I did, at first... But she wouldn’t give up. Then she told me she was considering me for the promotion, and I just got so caught up in it all. You know how ambitious I am—and you’re just as bad, Maddy...”
His pointed look left no doubt that he was thinking of her falsified résumé. Nice.
“I never told Evangeline about your résumé,” he added.
Well, give the man a gold star. Who knew if he was even telling the truth? Had Evangeline really come on to him or had it been the other way around? Maddy couldn’t imagine her former boss doing any such thing, but she’d probably never know. Nick knew she’d never ask Evangeline, so he could say anything he wanted.
Maddy didn’t even need to know the truth. She’d pretty much put this whole debacle behind her. Though clearly the forgiveness part was still a work-in-progress.
“Okay,” he said. “I can see you don’t quite trust me, and you have good reason not to. Can’t blame you. But it’s true. I never said an unkind word about you until that day you walked in. I knew how badly you wanted the promotion, but she wasn’t going to give it to you anyway. So why shouldn’t it go to me?”
“That’s not the impression I got from her when Joe announced his retirement. She told me I was first in line.”
