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His gaze sharpened.
“Leave it alone. The last thing I want to do is make things worse between us.”
Max opened his mouth to say something, but clamped it shut when her phone rang.
She looked at caller ID and frowned. “It’s Mrs. Perry.” She braced herself and answered. “Hello.”
Mrs. Perry jumped right in. “What you did today, what you said about Marcus, he’d have appreciated it so much. That was an amazing speech. You reminded everyone who Marcus was and what he stood for. You reminded them and me how much he cared about everyone. I don’t know how you’re keeping it all together and are still able to show your heart to me, to them, to everyone.”
“I cared about your son. I’m sorry he’s gone and that being with me instigated his death.”
Mrs. Perry squashed that notion. “You had no idea you were in jeopardy. Officer Wilde told me you even tried to stop that man.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“But like Marcus, you tried.”
She didn’t want Mrs. Perry trying to make her feel better. Not today. Not when this was about Marcus. “Thank you for the kind words. You will be in my thoughts tomorrow as you lay your son to rest. I’ll be thinking of him, you, and your whole family. Take care, Mrs. Perry.”
“You, too, dear. Stay safe.”
They ended the call.
Kenna felt drained.
“I think we should talk,” Max announced.
She put her elbows on her knees, her head in herhands, sighed, then looked up at Max again. “I’ll tell the agent on duty today that you want me to go. I’m sure they can have me out of here in no time.”
Max stood, planted his hands on the desk, and leaned forward. “Damnit, Kenna, I’m talking about us.”
She stood and matched his pose. “There is no us. Why? Because of me. I did this. I not only broke our relationship, I set fire to it on my way out, destroying any chance we might be even friends again. I know you hate me. I know you don’t want me here. I know that every time you look at me, you want me gone. So excuse me, if after all that and what’s happening now, I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll make this easier on both of us and go.” She held back the tears until she cleared the office door and headed out of the barn.
Max yelled from behind her, “She’s not leaving.”
She guessed he was talking to the agent on her tail. Still, she threw up her hands and let them drop as the tears fell and she ran for the house.
Nothing in her life was easy anymore.
Her life had been upended, and she still felt like she was in a freefall and taking Max down with her.
Chapter Fourteen
Max slammed the office door, took the seat at the desk, and tried to wrap his head around what Kenna said. He expected her to put the blame for the breakup on him. Instead, she’d taken responsibility for it.
Why would she do that?
What the hell changed?
Did she regret the breakup, like he did?
He slammed his fist on the desktop. He couldn’t believe how badly he handled things with her. She’d been a wreck after speaking to the students and getting that call from Marcus’s mother, her eyes haunted, sad, and bloodshot from crying. She’d looked so fragile he’d wanted to take her in his arms and hold her.
But he couldn’t do that because they weren’t together anymore.
He’d done nothing but make things worse. For her. And between them.
He was starting to wonder if he’d put the whole blame on her all this time, but he was actually part of the problem, too.
