Chapter Seven #2
She met his gaze. “I was married for a long time. Most of my life. He died a couple of years ago, and it’s taken me until now …
” She could elaborate, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to.
“It’s taken me until now to decide what I want to do next.
And it turns out that what I most want to do is start afresh somewhere I don’t know a soul.
And perhaps more importantly, where no one knows me. ”
He held her gaze for a long moment. “I get that.”
“Do you?”
“Where no one knows you, you don’t have to conform to anybody’s expectations of who you’re supposed to be. Right?”
“Exactly.” She was a little surprised that he understood so well. She wouldn’t have expected a man like Blane to conform to anyone’s expectations.
“Why Crete?”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s somewhere I’ve gone on holiday over the years.
My friend Meg—the one who was supposed to be here with me this weekend—and I go there whenever we can manage a girls’ trip.
So I know the village, if not many of the people.
And the house is lovely. Although it needs some work, and …
” She smiled. “There’s a garden. Well, at the moment it’s more of a patch of dirt. But I’ll make it a garden.”
“Is that your thing, then? Gardening?”
“It hasn’t been. At least, not officially.
” She smiled and reached for her wine. “It used to be but…” There was no need to tell him the sad history of how she’d lost track of so many of her own dreams while she was busy supporting Simon’s.
“Anyway, what about you?” she asked. “You said you’re from Montana. Is that home?”
“It is again now. Hadn’t been for years, but we moved back there not long ago.”
She tried to keep her expression neutral at the we. She couldn’t help glancing at his left hand when a horrible thought struck her. For all she knew, he could be married, and she’d never once thought to check for a ring.
Of course, he caught her looking and gave her a stern look.
“When I say we, I mean me and the guys. My partners. Cash, who you heard on the phone, and Mav, the other one. We own a security company. Set it up together after we retired from the Navy. We had our base in Colorado for years, but the guys wanted to move back home and be closer to their families, so we did.”
“And you? Do you have family?”
His smile transformed his features. “I do. A younger sister. Brooke. It’s good to be able to see more of her these days.” He glanced around the bar, watching as one of the few remaining couples left before turning back to her. “I still work away a lot, though.”
He fell silent long enough that she had to wonder if he was done. She didn’t want him to be. “So. Is this the part where you tell me nothing about yourself again?”
“Figured that was the arrangement.”
“It was. I’m renegotiating.”
He turned his glass a slow quarter turn on the bar, buying himself a second.
“You’re stalling.”
“I am.” He took a sip. “Not real good at this part.”
“What part is that?”
He looked at her. “The part where I sit down with a woman and she wants to know things.”
Bea went quiet for a moment. She could let him off the hook, but—and perhaps she was fooling herself—she had the feeling he wouldn’t mind opening up. He simply didn’t know how.
“You know, we don’t have to make it a thing. We could pretend it isn’t one.”
“Pretend it isn’t?”
“Mm. Like the dancing.” She lifted her wine.
“You’re not telling me about yourself. You’re simply sitting at a bar, saying words, and I happen to be here to overhear them.
No pressure at all. You could be talking to the whiskey.
” She gripped her glass a little tighter, suddenly unsure whether he’d think she was too pushy or simply crazy.
The idea had sounded right in her head, but …
She let herself breathe again when he nodded.
“Whiskey’s an old friend of mine. Don’t mind hanging out with it sometimes.”
She settled back on her stool. “Well, go on then, whiskey. He’s from Montana. That much I’ve dragged out of him. And most of his friends are cowboys, which I still don’t quite believe.”
“Believe it.”
“Real ones? Hats and horses and cattle?”
“Hats and horses and cattle.”
“And you? Are you a cowboy under all the—” She gestured at him again. “—security?”
He considered it. “Grew up on a ranch. Left it a long time ago. Still know which end of a horse is which.”
“That’s the most you’ve told me about yourself in one go all weekend.”
“Yeah. Well.” He turned the glass again.
“Must be the whiskey.” He smiled. “You’d like my friends.
They’re good guys. A whole bunch of us grew up together in the valley.
That’s why Cash and Mav wanted to go back.
All the other guys were already there. Most of them have settled down now.
Married, kids, all of that. Some of them even have grandkids. ”
“I hadn’t imagined you as one of a big gang of friends.”
He shrugged. “Probably because you’ve already got me figured out. I’m the same way there as I have been here. I stand in the corner, out of the way, keeping an eye out for them. They live their lives; I stand watch.”
She desperately wanted to ask why, but she knew he wouldn’t thank her for it. And probably wouldn’t answer.
Instead, she waited, and he went on. “I spend a lot of time training my teams.”
“You’re the boss, then?”
“I’m in charge of training. Making sure they’re up to the job, that they can keep the clients safe, and themselves.”
“And you’ve never been married?”
“No.” He gave her a look. “I can see where you’re going, Bea. You think I must be lonely.”
She made a noncommittal noise. The thought had occurred to her.
“I don’t feel like I’m on the outside. Or alone. It suits me the way things are. I come and go. Travel a lot for work. Make sure everybody’s okay, and …” He rolled the glass between his hands. “Nobody’s waiting on me. Nobody expects me home. Can’t let anyone down that way.”
“Oh, Blane. I don’t think you have it in you to let anyone down.”
He looked away, watching the bartender wipe down the bar. When he turned back to her, she could see that he’d closed the subject.
“I don’t think you have it in you to let people down either. But I’d guess there’s a story about your marriage.”
“Oof.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I want to say that’s a bit much, but it’s fair. I put you on the spot.”
He looked so uncomfortable that she knew he’d only done it to take the attention off himself.
“Honestly, I think I was probably the biggest letdown in his life. He wasn’t some terrible tyrant,” she added quickly when Blane’s eyebrows knitted together.
“He was always very reasonable. There was usually a perfectly good reason that things should be done his way. And honestly, over the years, I think I even stopped asking myself what my way might have been.”
She lifted one shoulder. “That’s partly what Crete is for. Simon would never have moved there. It’s the first big life decision I’ve made entirely for myself since I was eighteen.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“We met at university.”
“Damn.”
“Exactly.” She smiled. “But all that’s behind me now. Once I land on Tuesday afternoon, my house, my garden, my life will all be my own.”
For a man who was mostly very still, Blane somehow became even stiller. Even the air around him seemed to stop. “Tuesday?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not leaving tomorrow?”
“No. Why?” She stared at him. “Oh! When are you leaving?”
The smile that spread across his face was a sight to behold. “Not tomorrow. I don’t know what Cash is playing at, but I do know I’m here until at least Tuesday.”
She laughed and clapped her hands together. “Well, how about that? Perhaps that’s why the goodbye wouldn’t stick. Because it didn’t have to be one.”
He nodded, still smiling. “I thought it had to be.”
“Me too! We were rather dramatic about it, weren’t we?”
“Speak for yourself.”
“You gave my taxi driver a hundred pounds, Blane.”
“That was a safety issue.”
“Okay, Mr. Wilder. Whatever you say.” She smiled at him. “I, for one, will admit that I was very sad.”
~ ~ ~
Blane took his time processing it. He’d assumed she was leaving in the morning.
He’d kick his own ass for that later; he knew better than to make assumptions.
He’d also assumed he would be leaving, and he should have known better than that too.
Now, out of nowhere, he’d been handed another day.
A gift he had no intention of wasting. He met her gaze, determined not to make any more false assumptions. “Do you have plans tomorrow?”
She beamed. “Not a one. Well, if anything, I need to get rid of my old suitcase. I should see if I can find a way to …” She caught herself halfway into the ramble and gave him a sheepish smile. “No. No plans.”
“Breakfast, then?”
“I’d like that.”
“Seven-thirty?”
“Seven-thirty.”
The bartender was stacking chairs now; they were the last two customers in the place.
Bea looked around. “We should go.”
“We should.”
They rode the elevator back up to the twelfth floor together. When the doors opened, she touched his arm the way she did and smiled up at him. “I’m so pleased we get to say see you tomorrow this time.” She reached up and kissed his cheek again.
And this time, he managed to turn his head and brush his lips over her cheek before she stepped away. “See you tomorrow, Bea.”
He stood and watched her walk down the hallway, waiting until she’d unlocked her door and turned to wave.
As he waved back, Blane could just imagine what Cash would have to say if he could see the smile on his face right now.
He didn’t care. Earlier tonight, he’d said goodbye to her believing it was the last time he’d ever see her.
Tomorrow, he got to say hello again. And that was something worth smiling about.