Page 82
He pulled back, planting soft kisses on her lips before wrapping her up in a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head.
She glanced at their hotel up the block. “Do you want me to send you some money for the room?”
“Nah, sweetheart, I got it.”
She hesitated, then took a step back. “You know, I am curious. How did you afford this trip?”
He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, I have it under control.”
Jess bristled. “I don’t like that answer. You promised no secrets.”
Kevin lifted his brows, then put his hands on his hips. “Okay well, if you must know, I put it on my credit card.”
She felt the world slow around her at the sounds of those three very, very familiar words. My credit card. Suddenly everything around her was spinning—the hot dog cart and the dog walker with ten different leashes and the yellow cabs. Her body tilted to the side. She felt like she was going to faint.
“Whoa whoa whoa,” Kevin said. He grabbed her elbow and held her steady. “Jess, breathe. In and out.”
She did. In and out. In and out. But the dizziness didn’t go away, the crushing feeling in her chest tightening.
He squeezed her elbow. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
“Do you have the money? Can you afford this right now, or are you going into debt?”
Kevin puckered his lips, then frowned.
She scoffed, stepping out of his reach. “You broke both of your promises to me. You said no more debt.”
“Jess, it isn’t that much! I will be able to pay it off in a few months.”
“A few months?” She was reeling. Was this really happening all over again?
“I don’t understand why you’re upset about how I handle my money.”
“He did this all the time,” she admitted in a rush. “All the time. He didn’t worry about money or savings and charged his card, never worried about where the money would come from or who would pay. Never thought about how much I was struggling to keep up with it all.”
“I am not Charlie. And it’s not fair for you to compare me to him.”
“But it is fair for me to consider all of this if I’m going to get involved with someone,” she spat, the sound of her voice causing tourists to turn their heads. “I can’t be with someone who is financially irresponsible again.”
“Irresponsible?”
“You know what, I’m not hungry,” she said in a huff. She turned and started up the street toward their hotel. “Let’s get our bags and go home.”
“You can’t walk away from this conversation, Jess. We need to talk this out.”
She flicked her hand. “No need, I already made my decision.”
They didn’t look at each other for the remainder of the day, from the train ride back to Connecticut and the car ride to Haverport. He didn’t even say goodbye as he got out of the car when she dropped him at his apartment, the slam of the door the only sound shared between them.
Chapter Eighteen
“Are you going to tell me what happened between the two of you, or are you planning on moping the rest of the shift?”
Jess flicked Calvin off, bending over the ice cream cake in front of her with a bag of sky-blue frosting. “I’m not moping.”
“You’re certainly moodier than usual, and that’s saying something,” he quipped, taking a seat at the desk as he counted out the stack of bills in front of him. “I’m assuming based on how he’s acting that whatever happened was bad.”
She stiffened, the bag of frosting in her hands hovering over the last dollop she just made. “How’s he acting?”
