I haven’t spoken about it, but what if he did?
Would he?
Why?
He has nothing to gain…unless…what if he told people so that I’ll look stupid? It’s the perfect play, isn’t it? He tells everyone that I want to sleep with him, that I propositioned him and he refused.
Oh my God. I’m going tokillhim!
“Lark?” Jeremy calls my name, and I push down my roiling emotions.
“Sorry, you shocked me for a moment. I’m not with anyone.” It’s the truth. I’m not. I’m not dating anyone or even sleeping with them.
It was a kiss.
One…okay, two, kisses.
With the same guy, so really it should count as one, and he kissed me, as he so proclaimed.
I can’t be at fault for that. What was I going to do? Turn away?
“Really? Because there’s a photo of you from the other night with Tristan Stone that has people talking. I don’t ever hear gossip, but I overheard my assistant,” Jeremy explains. “They’re saying you left together.”
Oh, that’s what he’s talking about.
Crisis averted.
I shake my head with a breathy laugh. “No, I’m not with him. As for leaving with him, yes, he drove me home because Jimmy ended up having to take Mary Lou and Suzanne. It was really that innocent.” I glance at the photo on his phone, a little horrified because, from the angle, we’re both staring at each other, and it’s intense. I clear my throat and do my best to minimize the photo. “And that wasn’t even a dance, really. It was a barn dance, where you go around the room, dance with everyone, you know?”
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know, because Jeremy never went to the Beast or really anywhere that wasn’t dinner or a movie. He doesn’t drink, and even when I tried to get him to come dancing with me, he wasn’t interested.
He liked to keep things simple and reliable. Same restaurant. Same type of movie. Same…everything (if you know what I mean).
As for the dance Tristan cut in on, that wasn’t a dance, and I’ll stand on that until the day I die. It was, like, ten seconds.
“I know we’re broken up,” Jeremy says quickly. “But I miss you.” I start to speak, wanting to stop this before it goes too far, but he steps forward, raising his hand. “I miss you and I want you back, Lark. I love you.”
Oh, God.
My chest feels heavy as he says those three words.
Because since we broke up, I haven’t thought about him or missed him. I don’t know that I ever even loved him to begin with. Surely, if I did, I would’ve been heartbroken, right? I would’ve cried, pored over old photos, looked through text messages, and not kissed another man.
I don’t think I loved Jeremy. I loved that Jeremy was safe.
He wasn’t going to spin me on my head, make me question my life choices, and wonder whether I was going to end up hurt.
Things with him just existed, and I was completely okay with that.
But I’m not now.
I’m not able to go back to that, and he shouldn’t want that either.
“You and I didn’t work.”
“We did.”
I let out a deep breath through my nose. “We didn’t. We both know that. Things between us were never what the other wanted,” I remind him of what I said during our breakup. “You want a wife who is going to want to go to office parties, come work for your family’s company, or not work at all. I want to train horses until the day I die. I love this farm, I’m working to sa—” I cut myself off from finishing that word. No one knows about the status of our farm thanks to Ryan’s investment. I sigh heavily. “I just think that this is still for the best.”
