She grinned. “It was mutual. The new colt is so adorable. We haven’t named him yet.”
“Good luck with that. Have fun. And Sam, thanks.”
“Not sure I was much help but you’ll figure it out.”
One way or another, she had to.
*
Connor didn’t callSierra or stop by after work the following day. Since she’d more or less kicked him out the day before he figured it was up to her to get in touch with him. If she wanted to, that is. While they hadn’t broken up they weren’t exactly on the best of terms. He admitted he was worried she’d overdo it without anyone around to help her, but he had to let her make her own mistakes.
He was standing in his kitchen contemplating eating a frozen dinner when someone knocked on his door. He opened the door to Sierra. To say he was surprised was an understatement. As far as he knew she hadn’t been out of the apartment since he brought her home after the accident. But she somehow had managed to climb down her stairs and up his with her broken arm, bum leg, and one crutch.
“Come on in. Must be pretty important for you to be here.”
“It is.” She stepped inside and looked around. She had one crutch under her good arm, using it to put as little weight on her bad knee as possible. She limped to the couch and sat.
“I’d have come to you if you’d asked.” He shut the door and took her in. Clearly, she was still in pain but she looked pretty good considering.
“I know. But I needed to come to you.”
He sat beside her. “Why?”
“I love you, Connor.”
He didn’t speak, just looked at her. What brought that on? Did she mean it? If so, why tell him now?
“I have for a long time. Since before the first time you told me you loved me. But I couldn’t admit it.”
“Why?” He wasn’t sure he believed her, but he wanted to.
“I’ve been afraid. I didn’t want our relationship to wind up like my marriage. We were happy…and then we weren’t. I wanted to blame it all on him, on his having an affair, but I knew I had a part in it. I was scared. If I committed to you, told you I loved you, and we moved in together what would I do if that didn’t work either? What if it was my fault?”
“Usually it’s both people in a relationship that fails. I’m not so sure yours was mutual, however. In my book, he was the idiot. But why were you so certain you and I wouldn’t work out?”
“I wasn’t certain. That was the problem. I wanted to tell you how I felt, but every time I tried, I chickened out. Then I had the car accident. That really shook me. I had a lot of time to think while waiting for EMS. I was stuck in my car with nothing to do but hurt, think, and pray someone came to help.”
“That’s when you decided ‘Gee, I might as well move in with Connor. Ya never know what’s gonna happen.’”
She scowled at him. “No, that’s when I decided I needed to tell you the truth about my feelings and quit hiding from them because I was scared.”
“Sometimes I wish I’d never asked you to live with me.”
“Why? Have you changed your mind?”
“No, but I feel like I’m forcing you to decide. My way or the highway.”
“I don’t feel that way at all. I feel like I’ve finally come out of the box I put myself in after the divorce. Where I could have fun but anything serious was out of the question because what if I screwed it up?”
“You didn’t screw up your marriage. Your cheating husband did.”
“I wasn’t blameless.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“Do you believe me, Connor? That I love you and want to be with you?”
“I want to.” But he wasn’t sure. So he said, “We should wait until your arm is better before we do anything.”
