Heat of the Moment (10 page)

“Wow, that's harsh.” He leaned back against the car and tilted his head, as if looking at her from a different angle would change the picture. No such luck for either of them. “Would you have gone to San Francisco with him if he'd asked?”

She wanted to say yes, but the look in his eyes stopped her and made her really think about it. Would she have followed David to San Francisco? She'd followed him to Boston, but that was with the understanding that they'd return to Harmony. Boston was two hours away from home, not on the other side of the country. “I honestly don't know. I've never wanted to live anywhere but right here.”

“I would think that if you really loved this guy, you'd follow him anywhere.”

“We spent the last twelve years planning our life together and David never even floated the idea of a move to San Francisco or anyplace else for that matter.”

He didn't argue, he just continued staring.

“If I used your logic, I could say that if he really loved me, he would never leave me for a job on the west coast.”

“You're right. Which begs the question: why are you wasting your time crying over a man who obviously doesn't love you? At least not anymore.”

Ouch, that hurt. Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them away. “He might not have loved me, but I loved him.” It came out on a sob, and his frown deepened.

“Not enough to follow him to San Francisco,” he said softly. His eyes stared into hers as if he was willing her to agree.

She wasn't feeling very agreeable at the moment. “I might have if he'd asked. Instead, he waited until I left for work to pack his belongings and move out of our apartment without a word about it to me. If I hadn't lost my job and come home early, I would have received nothing more than the email he'd planned to send from the airport. He said he wanted to avoid the drama.”

He stepped closer and crossed his arms, his gaze pinning her in place. “Look, you don't know me from Adam, but if you ask me, I think the jerk did you a favor.”

“You think he did me favor?”

“Yeah. He's obviously a coward. No real man would spend over a decade with a beautiful woman like you—even with your penchant for tears—and leave you with no warning, no apology, and without so much as a goodbye. You should thank him for keeping you from wasting any more of your life on him. He probably saved you years of misery, not to mention the cost of a good divorce attorney. In his own cowardly way, he did the right thing. He set you free to be happy.”

She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts, his words pinballed their way around her mind, hitting more buttons than she would have thought possible. “You know, I doubt I would have ever come to that conclusion on my own but you might be right.” She stared at the tall, blond, obnoxiously gorgeous man wondering who the hell he was. “If I'm lucky, maybe I'll feel that way in a few years. Right now, I'm having a difficult time working up any real gratitude.”

“It won't take years, believe me.”

“Who are you?” That seemed to surprise him. She couldn't fathom why.

“Excuse me?”

“It's suddenly occurred to me that I've just spilled my guts to a total stranger and I don't even know your name.”

“I'm Jack.” He held out his hand in a manner so businesslike, it was odd considering where they were and the fact that he was dressed like a construction worker.

“Jack.” His warm, work-roughened hand engulfed her smaller, smooth, frozen one. “It's nice to meet you. I'm Kendall.”

Robin Kaye
is a Golden Heart Award–winning author of the contemporary romance series the Bad Boys of Red Hook, including
Back to You
,
You're the One
, and
Had to Be You
. Her books have been translated in ten languages.