“Thanks, I will.” She settled onto the bench beside her. “Want some chocolate? Not to be rude, but you look like you could use it.”
“I’d love some and yes, I definitely need it.” She reached in the bag Val offered and pulled out a chocolate candy.
“It’s chocolate buttercream,” Val told her. “I’ve been looking at baby stuff and then I saw the shop and it was calling me.”
“These are my favorites. Thanks.”
“They’re mine too. Delicious.” They munched in silence for a bit and then Val said, “Want to talk about it?”
Clearly it was useless to deny she was upset. Connor was Val’s brother-in-law. Maybe she could offer some insight. “At the coffee shop I saw Connor with another woman. They looked very chummy.”
“Are you wondering if he’s dating someone?”
“Yes. You probably know we broke up.”
Val nodded. “Liam told me. Plus I’ve seen Connor. He’s been out to the ranch and he looks pretty miserable.”
Sierra snorted. “He looked happy enough with this woman.”
“I’m sorry. But if you want the truth, I don’t think he’s over you.”
“I didn’t think so either, but then I saw him with that woman. For all I know he’s been dating her and a bunch of others. I told him I needed time. I didn’t want to break up, I just needed some time after my ex left town. Connor didn’t see it that way. He told me to forget it.”
“Something tells me he’s regretting it.”
“Then what’s he doing out with another woman?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
“Assuming he’ll tell me. I didn’t realize how much I’d miss him.” She reached into Val’s bag of candy only to find there were only two left. She’d been mindlessly eating them as she talked. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. I ate half your candy. Let me buy you some more.”
Val laughed. “Don’t you dare. I was going to save half for when I got home but they’d never have made it that long. Which I knew even though I pretended I could resist them.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have eaten so much.”
“Do you feel any better?”
“Actually, I do.”
“Chocolate therapy works wonders,” Val said, nodding wisely. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“Yes. I’m going to ask him who that woman was and if he’s dating her or she’s just a friend. And then I don’t know what I’ll do. I guess it depends on what he tells me.”
But confronting Connor wasn’t so easy. Shouldn’t she be feeling relieved instead of miserable? She didn’t. She was totally miserable and didn’t think it was going to get better as long as she and Connor were broken up. She’d been upset with Connor partly because he’d been jealous of her ex-husband. But honesty made her admit he’d had reason to be. She should have cut Phil off the minute she realized she was never going back to him. Which had been almost as soon as he got to town.
Now she was feeling the bitter pangs of jealousy. Was he close to the woman she’d seen him with? Was she an old girlfriend or simply a friend? Was he already dating other women and if he was, how did she feel about it?
Jealous as hell, that’s how.
Her talk with Val and the chocolate therapy had helped. But only for a little while. And though she’d told Val she was going to ask him about the woman he’d been with, she wasn’t sure she should.
After pulling into the parking garage at the apartments, she started to go to her apartment. Instead she found herself climbing the stairs to Connor’s place. He wouldn’t come to her, she knew. So she’d go to him. And ask him who the hell was the woman he’d been hugging. Was it fair of her to be angry at him? No. But she didn’t care. She had to know.
If he wasn’t home she’d wait for him. She still had a key to his place. They’d never gotten around to returning each other’s keys. She knocked on his door, hoping like hell that he didn’t have a woman in there with him. If he did she’d probably lose it and try to rip out the woman’s hair.
What was wrong with her? She hadn’t reacted this badly when her ex-husband had cheated on her. She’d cried, of course. And been unhappy, even angry. But she hadn’t felt almost crazy like she did now.
She banged on his door. It took him a while but he answered, wearing jeans hanging low on his hips and nothing else. “Can I come in?”
