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What she wouldn’t give to have that kind of steady and ordinary and special back.
Maybe she was cursed after doing what she did to Max. He was the one person she never wanted to cause pain, and she’d done it in spades.
Maybe she deserved this kind of loss and pain.
She wiped at the fresh tears. “I was just...” She didn’t know how to describe the remorse and grief she carried.
She’d hurt Max.
Two men she’d been seeing had their lives cut short. For what? Why?
Mr. Wilde sighed. “I remember you and Max and how really happy you were together.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Yeah. But I killed that happiness.”
He cocked his head. “I don’t believe you meant to.”
“Doesn’t matter. I did it.”
Mr. Wilde pressed his lips tight. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you how sorry I am about your friend.”
She hadn’t been in any condition to talk to anyone last night or today. “Thank you. I miss him.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and held back more tears.
“Had you been together long?”
She shook her head, but stilled because it made her ache even more. “Not really. We went on a dozen or so dates over the last six weeks.” The memory of them almost made her smile. “It was new. He was becoming more of a friend than a coworker. I thought we were getting closer. I hoped things...” She let that go, because what she’d hoped was that she’d eventually feel for Marcus the way she’d felt when she was with Max.
And last night she’d realized her heart still belonged to him, and that wasn’t fair to Marcus.
And wasn’t that pathetic and stupid. She was nevergoing to have with anyone else what she had with Max. You just didn’t find that every day, or even once in a lifetime for some. She’d had it and destroyed it.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.” Guilt swamped the sadness soaking her insides. She couldn’t believe his last moments were spent getting dumped by her, even if he had taken it well. And then he tried to save her life.
She pressed her fingers to her aching forehead and tried not to fall into another fit of tears.
“For what it’s worth, Max couldn’t get out of here and down to the hospital fast enough last night to see you.”
Yeah. She hadn’t expected that at all. “I don’t know why he’d do that.”
“Because he cares.”
A short burst of sardonic laughter escaped her. “He’s just a good guy, who did something nice for someone he used to know, even though he, rightfully so, doesn’t like me anymore.”
Mr. Wilde held her gaze for a long moment. “I think you’re wrong about that.”
“He told me himself, he just needed to see that I was okay. I am. So we’re right back to where we landed after the breakup.”
Mr. Wilde glanced out the window at the barn where Max had gone. “People say a lot of things. But their actions... That shows you exactly what you need to know.”
Maybe he had a point. But Max’s actions last night didn’t change their reality today.
Mr. Wilde went on. “I don’t know exactly whathappened between you two, but I know the kind of feelings he had for you back then... They don’t just go away.”
“Trust me. Whatever he felt for me once upon a time, a long, long time ago, those feelings are dead, burned, and buried now.”
She and Max certainly hadn’t gotten the happy-ever-after fairy-tale ending they thought they’d live.
Her life was shaping up to be some kind of tragic drama.
