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As the waitress walked off, he blinked. “I forgot about that. You always were so careful on the road. More than the average person.”
As she relaxed with the praise, her ego deflated as he added, “Driving like you were eighty-three instead of twenty-three. I swear it was a miracle you got to work in less than eight hours.”
Kara gritted her teeth. “I didn’t come here to be insulted, Jace.”
He leaned back against the wall. “Why did you come here?”
She glanced around. Satisfied no one was watching them, Kara dug the last reminder of their relationship out of her purse. “To give you this.”
Jace’s jaw dropped at sight of the diamond ring on the table. He took it, the light from the little lamp at the table winking in the stone. Emotion clogged her throat as she remembered the day he’d proposed at the beach, on one knee, the lacy waves swirling at their feet.
“What the hell...”
“I never did return it to you, obviously.” She struggled for a reason why, and settled on the truth. “I really didn’t want to see you again. But I figure you could use it now.”
“Use it? You know something I don’t? Am I getting married to someone else?”
The thought of him marrying someone else made her heart lurch. Kara had always envisioned their wedding day—Jace standing at the altar, looking resplendent in a silk tuxedo and a wide smile as she swept down the aisle toward him, clad in her mother’s wedding dress.
The dream died, but still haunted her once in a while. When it did, she usually threw herself even more into work.
“No. Your life is your business. I thought...I just thought...” Kara bit her lip and finally looked at his face. “It cost a lot of money and you can pawn it.”
He stared at her for a full moment and then began to laugh. “You think I need money. Because I’m working in a garage.”
“You had an amazing job on the ground floor with a well-known investment firm, Jace. You could have fast-tracked to real financial success... You were never the outlaw biker type. What happened?”
He scowled, his expression turning stormy beneath the well-trimmed beard. “Stop. Stop it. My past is my past. I have my reasons for what I’m doing and they’re none of your business.”
Jace reached out, took her hand. His fingers were calloused, but warm, and the touch sent an anticipatory shiver down her spine. Just like in the past, when he’d hold her hand and she’d gone warm inside from the contact.
Gently, he turned over her palm and placed the ring into it, and closed her fingers.
“When I gave you the engagement ring, I told you it was yours. Keep it.”
Jace sat back, his expression inscrutable.
The transformation was too great to ignore, but he’d made it clear she had no right to ask questions. Kara placed the ring back into her purse. “I apologize if I insulted you. You’re right. It is your life and I have no part in it anymore. I just...”
“You just what, Kara? You didn’t come here merely to drop off an engagement ring. Why are...”
The arrival of their drinks cut him off. Jace nodded his thanks at the waitress, raised his bottle.
“To the past and what we had once.”
Kara didn’t lift her glass. “I can’t toast that, Jace. It’s too painful.”
“And you want to be here, with me, because you like pain? You could have called and told me over the phone, Kara, instead of ripping the scab off the wound.”
His anger was justified. Kara wrapped her hands around her glass. “No. I didn’t intend to insult you. I never wanted... Please believe me, I just thought you should have it back...”
So much for good intentions. After priding herself on being good at reading people, she’d totally underestimated him. This. What they’d had between us.
Kara’s voice broke. “I’m sorry, Jace. I’m sorry for what happened with us and if I hurt you.”
Anger faded from his expression. “It’s not your fault.”
“It takes two to break up, Jace. It wasn’t you. Or me. It was both of us.”
