Page 35 of Return to Cheshire Bay
“But yesterday, you brought them up.” Hurtcoursed through my veins. Things had been going so well too.
He held his head in his hands. “Yeah, andfor that, I’m beyond sorry. I wasn’t bringing the past up to hurtyou.” The tiny fray on the edge of his shorts grew as he tugged andpulled on a few of the loose threads. “It was me trying toverbalize my thoughts, and I screwed up by leading off and usingthat as an example. I wanted to tell you how we’re the same, eventhough we’re different.” His breathing increased as the cloudsbreezed by. “But my feelings muddled everything up, and I got soconfused.”
“You’ve mentioned that.” I recrossed my legsand rubbed my belly as I leaned back. The chair was no longercomfortable, and I needed to stand and stretch.
“Thing is I…” He shifted in his seat andreached for my hand. “I have feelings for you, but you keep sayingyou’re not here for a long time, so it’s been hard for me to moveforward, to not push us forward together.”
Yes, that would make things confusing. “I’msorry.”
“And after this afternoon, it got methinking if I could handle it. You, the baby, and you know,more.”
My heart pounded with every word and breathhe took, my eyes searching his as the bonfire behind himblurred.
“And I do want it all, but I know I can’t.You’re leaving soon, and I’ve struggled with holding back myfeelings because you’ve made me crave it all. You and the baby,even though I know it’s not possible as I can’t live in the cityagain.” Ripples of electricity bolted up my legs when hisfingertips grazed my knee.
“It makes me happy to hear you say that.”More tears slipped from their holds. “I can’t either.”
“What?”
I smeared dampness across my cheeks.
“When I was in the city, I was like Beth, orI had to be since I hung out with her and thought she was asuperstar as I channeled that energy and personality into mybusiness. But when she landed, and was acting well, like herself,it came across to me like she was being a total bitch.” I loweredmy voice, even though I didn’t need to, I was pretty sure Beth wasupstairs thinking the same about me, or at least, telling Archie asmuch. “I knew something changed. I no longer wanted to be thatperson. When my life fell apart, it was actually a blessing indisguise, I just didn’t see it until today.” I twisted in my chairto look him deep in the eyes. “Even though this town hates me…”
“They don’t hate you.”
I tipped my head from side to side,occasionally watching my island friends. The laughter had dieddown, and there was no more singing and guitar playing.
“Yeah, they do, but that’s okay. I know Ican live with it, or at least learn to try. It’s a reminder of whoI was. And me remembering that isn’t a terrible thing because it’llkeep it from ever happening again.” I uncrossed my legs and scootedcloser. “Eric, I really like you. I love being around you, and Iwant to stay here with you. I have no intentions of goinghome.”
“The hell you aren’t!”
The hairs on the back of my neck sprung toattention, and my breath lodged in the back of my throat.
Parker.
ChapterFourteen
Out of the shadows, my former boyfriendshowed himself.
“Parker, what the hell are you doing here?”I jumped to my feet, but not as fast as Eric, who stood in front ofme.
“Your ex, I take it?” He whispered out theside of his mouth.
“Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately? Really?” Parker movedcloser, but his features turned sinister in the mix of light andshadows. Enough to cause the hairs to remain standing.
“What are you doing here?” I swallowed downa lump of budding fear. Never in our entire relationship had I hadreason to feel threatened by him, but my whole body was on alertregardless. “How did you…”
“Find you?” He finished my question before Ihad a chance. “Easy. Beth has geo-tags on her pics.”
I shot a glance up to the top floor whereBeth was.
“She posted pictures to her IG account. Itwasn’t that hard to figure out, especially after hearing her talkto her secretary about flying to the island.”
Parker was a gifted IT guy, that’s how Iknew how to turn off geo-tagging. He’d taught me on our seconddate.
“What do you want?”