Page 117 of Finding Forever

He opened the old refrigerator in the corner of the garage, took out two bottles, and passed one across before unfolding a couple of battered chairs.

Dave sat and twisted off the cap. For a while, Hank didn’t ask any more questions, and Dave appreciated that. He took a drink and watched the sprinkler send another arc of water across the lawn. The steady hiss filled the silence between them.

Eventually, Hank rested his bottle against his knee. “Did you see it coming?”

“Not even a little.” That was the part Dave still couldn’t quite get his head around. The night of Kayla’s wedding, Beth had told him she’d missed him even though they’d spent most of the day in the same place. Later, beside the lake, she’d kissed him as if being together was the easiest decision she’d made all day.

By Sunday afternoon, she was telling him they couldn’t see each other anymore. “She called and asked me to come over,” Dave said. “I knew something was wrong as soon as I heard her voice.”

Hank waited before asking, “Did she tell you what changed?”

“Rosalind, her sister-in-law, said something about not being able to love another man if Peter, her husband, died. She said she’d feel as though she was betraying him.”

Hank frowned. “She said that to Beth?”

“She wasn’t trying to hurt her. Beth made that clear.”

“Intentions don’t always help much after the words are out.”

“No.” Dave turned the bottle between his hands. “Beth started questioning what it meant that she had feelings for me. Whether it was somehow disloyal to Jessie.”

“And what did you tell her?”

“That I still love Carol.”

Hank’s gaze sharpened.

Dave stared down at the label on his beer. “I told her remembering Carol doesn’t stop me caring about her. One doesn’t cancel out the other.”

“How did Beth take that?”

“Not well enough to change her mind.”

Hank gave a slow nod.

There had been a moment in Beth’s living room when Dave had wanted to argue with her. He’d wanted to tell her Rosalind’s marriage wasn’t hers, that nobody else got to decide what loving Jessie should look like now.

He’d wanted to keep talking until Beth believed him. Instead, he’d left. Because that was what she’d asked him to do.

Dave took another drink. “She told me she loves me.”

Hank stopped with his bottle halfway to his mouth. “She did?”

“Yeah.”

“And then she ended the relationship?”

“Pretty much.”

Hank lowered his beer. “That’s brutal.”

Dave gave a humorless laugh. “Thanks.”

Hank studied Dave’s expression. “What did you say?”

Dave looked out at the yard again. “I told her I love her, too.”

Hank was quiet for a moment. “And you still walked out?”