“I get you don’t understand, but this life suits me.”
“Where did you join? Where were you?”
“There’s a chapter in New Orleans. I didn’t go far, Maggie.”
“I wish I’d known that. I wish you’d have come back.”
“I couldn’t.”
“I needed you.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I should have been. I thought about you all the time.”
I stare straight ahead and try not to get emotional, strengthening my armor with the memory of how badly he’d hurt me when he’d walked out on me, and that’s what it had felt like at the time. Like he’d abandoned me. I took it personally. How could I not? He’d ripped my heart out. I lick my lips. “It didn’t matter. I left town not long after, and it was the best thing I ever did. So, it all worked out the way it was supposed to.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“I actually do.”
I feel his eyes staring at my profile. He may not be the same man I remember, but I’m not the same person, either. I’m tougher. I’ve had to be. I learned I could only count on myself, and that lesson has served me well. Needing people only gets you hurt.
We arrive back in Durango, and Keno turns down the alley.
We unload my bike in silence, and I park it under the fire escape.
Keno frowns. “Is that where you keep it?”
“For now. It’s usually in storage, but I’m going to be needing access to it to practice, so…”
He gets something out of the back of the truck. “Here. Use this.”
He passes me a chain and padlock with a key hanging out.
I take it. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. It’s no big deal.”
I secure the back wheel to the metal post then straighten. “Thanks for taking me up there.”
“I had fun,” he replies, coming to stand right in front of me. His hand lifts and brushes the hair from my cheek. “You’re probably gonna be sore tomorrow.”
I grin. “You, too.”
He flashes his teeth. “Probably so. You want to go again the day after?”
I laugh. “Sure.”
“Give me your phone.”
I pull it out, and he punches in a number. A second later his phone chimes.
“I’ll call you.”
“Okay.”
His eyes lift to the bar’s back door, and he bangs on it.
A moment later, the prospect opens the door.
