Chapter 8 #2
Liz scanned the hallway and bolted for the stairs.
A tiny piece of her yammered that she should probably stay behind and make sure Carson was okay, but that piece was overwhelmingly outvoted by the pieces that bellowed to get the hell out of Dodge while she still could.
Before she ended up stuck in a room with Carson.
Or having to bare her soul to him. Or kiss him.
A shiver squirmed its way through her, electrifying parts of her womanhood that had been dormant for entirely too long. She sucked in a breath. Not because she liked it—she definitely did not like the warm, tingling sensation—but because she was horrified.
Horrified that there were parts of her that weren’t totally repulsed by Carson. Horrified that if they had been trapped in a room together, she might have chosen sharing a lip-lock with him in an attempt to get out. Horrified that she was still thinking about kissing him.
Dammit!
Wanting to put as much space between her, Carson, and whatever the hell it was they witnessed, she tripped down the stairs and rushed through the lobby, her steps keeping time with the “Nope, nope, nope” of her brain.
Ignoring Maya’s “Are you okay?” Liz burst out the front door and gulped in the refreshing air of the great outdoors.
Sure, it may have smelled a bit farm-y, but it was a hell of a lot better than the inside of that inn.
Maya emerged from the inn, a look of concern on her face. “Liz? What’s wrong?”
Liz sucked in yet another bracing breath, working to shove down any lingering misgivings, and shook her head. “Nothing.”
Maya’s eyebrows furrowed together like a giant caterpillar. “You sure? You look like you’ve seen a—” She gasped, her expression morphing into something much more dangerous. Something like hope. Or glee.
“Nope!” Liz slapped her hand over Maya’s mouth before she said anything else. She knew exactly what her friend was about to say. Just like she knew that was definitely not the explanation for what she’d seen.
Eyes wide, Maya spoke behind the hand still trying to keep the words from materializing. “You saw him, didn’t you?”
Considering her options, Liz decided to go on the offensive. Dropping her hand, she crossed her arms and leveled her best you’re in trouble glare at Maya. “Yes, I did. Thank you for letting me know he was staying here at the inn.”
Confusion rippled across Maya’s features. “What? Who? The Major?”
Liz scoffed. “No. Carson. Thanks for the heads up on that. How could you not tell me? I thought we were friends.” The traitorous pieces that found him still attractive felt bad for throwing Maya under the bus like that, but those pieces would just have to suck it.
Because this was war. Kill or be killed.
And Liz had no intention of surrendering without a fight. “You’re dead to me, by the way.”
Maya’s jaw dropped. “Rude.”
“Not as rude as not telling one of your best friends that someone she never wanted to think about ever again was staying under her roof.”
Maya winced.
Aha! She did know! Liz glared at her friend and strode down the front steps to stand on the lawn.
Hopefully that would be far enough away to prevent what was definitely not the Misty Meadow Inn’s matchmaking ghost from making another appearance.
Although Maya said he appeared in her carriage house at the end of the lane.
Shit. Would she ever be able to set foot on the inn’s property again?
“Oh, there you are!” Both Liz’s and Maya’s attention turned to Clem, who stood just outside the closed front door of the inn. If Liz wasn’t mistaken, her look of innocence had a bit too much smug satisfaction lurking in it.
Dammit! Liz knew Maya’s aunt was an uber-meddler. She’d just never been on the receiving end. “Was this your doing?” Liz jutted a finger at the inn for emphasis.
“Was what my doing?” Clem looked around as if trying to find whatever it was Liz was pointing at.
“That.” She jabbed her finger again, this time in the general direction of Carson’s room. “Him.”
“Him, who, dear?”
Oh, yeah. There was way too much sparkle in her eyes for Clem to not know who she was talking about. “You know who.”
Clem shrugged, descending the steps. “Well, yes and no. The Major goes wherever he wants, whenever he wants. I certainly can’t control him. One can never be sure when it comes to soul mates. I mean, we can’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. So really, this was your doing.”
“What?” Liz screeched. She didn’t even know where to begin to unpack that list of incomprehensible gibberish. “My doing?” Liz echoed. “How is any of this my doing? You’re the ones harboring a known fugitive under your roof.”
“We are?” Clem’s eyes rounded in shock. “Who? What’d they do?”
“Yes, you are. She knows very well what he did.” Liz jabbed her finger again, this time at Maya.
Maya shifted under her gaze, her eyes darting up to the inn’s second floor before they locked onto Liz.
Her spine straightened. “If you must know, his name wasn’t in the register.
His uncle booked the room. It wasn’t until I met him last night that I put two and two together.
But by that point I was more focused on trying to figure out how to help an injured guest than on alerting you. ”
Shit. That sounded totally plausible.
“Excuse me if I forgot to let you know that your ex was staying under our roof.”
“Soul mate,” Clem corrected.
“Not helping,” Maya hissed.
“Not trying to,” Clem muttered back in a sing-song voice.
“We are not soul mates,” Liz growled. “Nor did we see the Major. If we saw anything, it was because you seriously need to get your carbon monoxide testing done.”
“We tested four months ago,” Clem countered.
“Well, do it again!” Liz yelled. “And you should get it checked for mold, too. I’ve read stories about toxic mold making people hallucinate!”
Maya looked affronted. “We don’t have toxic mold.”
“Well, maybe there’s something in the food. Or the coffee.” Something else that would explain what happened. Because she definitely had not met the Major while in Carson’s room.
Clem studied her again, her expression eventually turning from confusion to one of understanding. “Ah. You’re scared. I get it.”
“What? I’m not scared.” Not of Clem, anyway.
Clem moved closer to Liz, her expression a mixture of empathy and wistfulness as she laid a hand on her arm. “You had something once. With him. But you’ve walled yourself off. Because that’s easier to do than to open yourself up again.”
Liz wanted to snort in disbelief. Tell her she was full of it. That she was wrong. But she wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
Moving her hand to Liz’s cheek, Clem tilted her head and gazed directly into Liz’s soul. “I wish I could make you see. Make it easy for you. But I can’t. We can’t. But if you make the journey, I promise the destination will be well worth the effort.”
Liz blinked. Tried to decipher the words Clem was saying. Tried to swallow past the lump of emotions that suddenly lodged itself in her throat. Tried not to think about what Clem’s words meant.
Because she and Carson didn’t belong together. They belonged far apart.
It was the only way she’d be able to keep herself from shattering to pieces again.
The only way to keep her heart safe.
Without another word, she stalked to her car, got in, and sped away. Home. Where she would be able to bury herself in her work. Data never lied. It told you exactly what it was. True, sometimes you had to figure out how the pieces fit together, but that was part of the charm. Part of the intrigue.
If there was one thing Liz needed right now, it was a boatload of intrigue. Lucky for her, there were files for her to dive into. Even though said data was linked to the whole reason she was in this mess in the first place, the sooner she got to the bottom of it, the sooner he would leave.
And the sooner she could forget about him. Again.