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“Mark, he wasn’t hitting on me,” Laura tried to explain.
“Really? Why did he kiss you?”
“On the forehead,” Laura said. Like a brother.
“What were you two talking about?”
Now that was a tough question to answer. Laura glanced at Edward, worried, but that split second was enough for Mark to jump to all the wrong conclusions. “Right.” Mark turned to leave, and Laura popped up, grabbing his elbow. He whirled.
“Leave me alone,” he growled.
“There’s no flirting,” Edward said. “We were just talking. I swear.”
“Don’t swear to me. You were always a liar.” Mark put his hands on his head and spun around, as if the enormity of the situation was just too much for him to speak. “I never should’ve let you back in my life. Never.”
“Man, calm down,” Edward said. “You really have no idea what you’re talking about here—”
“I know what I saw.” Mark turned to Laura. “Is this why you didn’t want to come sail around the world with me? Because it would take you too far from him?”
“No,” Laura sputtered. How could he think that? “Of course not.”
“How long has this been going on?” Mark demanded, and now Laura realized there was no talking to him. He’d gone to an irrational place. A place of deep hurt and betrayal.
“There’s nothing going on,” she said, trying to be calm.
“Really? So he just decided to help rebuild the Timothy just because?”
“Yes, actually,” Edward said, staring at his brother evenly. But there was no convincing Mark of that.
“Mark, just sit down, and we can talk,” Laura began.
Mark shook his head.
“Mark—”
“I thought you were different, Laura. You’re just like Elle.”
“How can you say that to me?” Laura couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could Mark be so ready to give up on her, on them?
“You’re making a mistake,” Edward told him.
That was enough to drive him out of the hospital. Laura watched as he stalked out the sliding doors and into the parking lot. In that instant, her whole world changed.
She and her baby deserved someone who didn’t spook so easily, someone who didn’t automatically believe the worst about her.
That was the worst truth to bear.
“Are you going to go after him?” Edward asked.
Laura shook her head.
“If he’d walk out on me just like that, then I don’t want him staying around just for a baby.” Her voice sounded cold and hard even in her own ears. But she had a baby to think about now. If Mark wasn’t ready or capable of rising to the occasion, then she’d have to do this alone.
* * *
MARK SPENT THE night on the Timothy, beneath decks. The gentle list of the boat should’ve been calming, but instead, he lay awake on his bunk, staring at the ceiling, the very ceiling that Laura and he had painted just weeks ago. And now here he was alone. He couldn’t help but think about how crazy it was that in such a short time he’d fallen head over heels in love with her enough that she could hurt him this badly.
Why didn’t she fight him off? That’s what he wanted to know. Why didn’t she fight harder? Why did she give up on him so easily? Why did she allow Edward so close to her? Especially when she knew how he’d hurt Mark in the past. She knew his history and yet, she still did this.
That’s what really hurt. He’d finally opened himself up to someone after over a year of heartbreak and grief, and this is how he was repaid. Maybe being vulnerable in the first place had been a mistake. Why had he seen fit to trust a perfect stranger?
Because she was kind and loving and she cared.
At least, that’s what he’d thought. Now, he wasn’t so sure. He knew when a woman tried to hide something, and Laura was hiding something all right. Her affection for Edward.
He was going to focus on his plan. Get on his boat, sail around the world. None of that had changed. Yet the idea of doing it without Laura made him feel hollow inside. This wasn’t grief—it was something even more devastating. His heart was broken.
The irony was he didn’t think after Elle and Timothy that his heart could ever be broken again. Yet here he was, feeling like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.
In his mind, he just kept coming back to the guilty look on Laura’s face. He could read her like a book, and she had been lying to him.
That was the part that he couldn’t stand.
How much of it had been a lie? He could run himself in circles wondering. He’d never know. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, but tomorrow, he had a change of clothes on the boat, and he’d figure out something. Maybe he’d hide out for a day or two and then go back to get stuff from his condo? Maybe Laura would come here and they’d talk.
