Page 53 of Long Hard Fall

“That,” she stabbed her finger toward Cash’s taillights, “is a man who respects me and treats me like a damn adult. Something I’ve been missing for the last three years.”

Ellis’s hand dropped. “Have you— Have you slept with him?”

“News flash!” He flinched, giving her a small spark of satisfaction. “None of your business. I was single when I got here and I regret nothing of what I’ve done since I’ve been here.”

“Abigail…” Ellis sounded crestfallen. He swallowed and nodded. “I understand. Your brother’s death was hard on everyone and you’re still struggling. I…” A myriad of expressions ran across his face—pain, despair, determination. “You know what? It’s my fault, too, but this is just a bump in the road. I’ll try harder to understand now. Come on, let’s go inside and talk.”

She almost—almost—experienced a modicum of guilt over hurting him. But if he hadn’t been so wrapped up in knowing what was best for her, they could’ve had this talk years ago. “I’m going inside to pack. Then I’m checking out.” She wasn’t going to squat in a hotel room with her ex and expect Cash to hear her out.

She palmed her key card and stormed into the hotel. Ellis trotted behind her to keep up.

“I’ll help you carry your things, Abigail, and I can follow you back to Green Bay tonight.”

Ellis thought she was checking out to go home with him?

Rounding on him, she kept her voice down to keep from disturbing guests and making a scene. “You don’t understand. I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m checking out, then finding Cash to explain what just happened. You and I?” She waggled her finger between them. “We’re done.”

She resumed her mission. Four more doors until her room.

He was on her heels. “I understand perfectly. You’re angry with me and you don’t think clearly when you’re emotional.”

She fisted her hands but kept walking. The nerve of that man. It was always her, never him.

When she stopped in front of her room, he put a hand on the door. She turned her glare on him, but he kept talking. “I was wrong to stay behind and not come up here with you. I just…there was a thing at work, and being away for two weeks—my vacation time being used up for—”

Her irritation rose another notch. “And you blamed me instead of telling me how you really felt.”

“I didn’t see how important it was to you at the time.”

She unlocked her door and slammed into the room. Silently, she gathered her toiletries, the clothing that had been hanging on the back of the chair. Ellis watched her. He was probably logging all the ways she’d been messy, storing the info away for future insinuations about how she wasn’t as competent as he wanted her to be, or as her parents wanted.

“Who is he?” he said. His quiet, serious tone stalled her packing efforts.

If Ellis wanted to talk to her like an adult, she’d tell it to him straight. “Cash Walker. He’s the guy who was with Perry when he died.”

Ellis’s throat worked before he got his words out. “You found him and then…then you two…”

She hadn’t meant it to play out this way—not like this, with him thinking she was unfaithful, or so weak that she fell into the arms of the first man that walked by. And, well, that kind of had happened, but only because that man had been Cash. She would make a point about why she was with him.

“No, he found me actually, when I got to town. We talked and one thing led to another. Then I found out he was the one they called Reno and we talked some more. For once, Ellis, I feel like someone understands me.”

Ellis peered at her before his face screwed up. “You slept with him right after you met him?”

She growled in frustration. That was all he’d heard out of what she’d said.

“Yes,” she snapped, banging her suitcase lid closed and zipping it. “And he’s never held it over my head to get me to act like his puppet. I’m checking out, so if you’re staying, you’ll have to check into your own room. I have six more days of vacation. Don’t worry about my belongings. I’ll swing by and pack my stuff when I get home.” It’ll be like I was never there. How true was that? She hadn’t painted even one wall in the place. The decor was all Ellis and anything of hers had been tucked away nice and neat. Their place together had no personality, just like her ex.

She yanked her luggage to the floor and rolled it with her as she strode out of the room with her head held high. That had felt good.

Cash nursed his beer and mindlessly flipped through channels until he found something that didn’t remind him of Abbi or everything else in his life that made him feel like shit. It was impossible. He landed on the Hallmark channel and at the sight of the doe-eyed heroine gazing at her quirky love interest, he sped past. HGTV reminded him of Abbi’s paint job and how nervous and proud she’d been. Football only brought back his fledgling years chasing girls and the echo of Mom’s words in his head. He flipped to a music station and groaned when the lyrics about lost love registered. Why the fuck did he have cable in the first place?

He flipped the TV off and took another drink, barely tasting it. Looking around, he had to think hanging at the bar would’ve been better than sitting in his basement, down with a broken heart. He had thought the bar would’ve brought back memories of his first night conversing with Abbi. And then he might’ve gotten hit on and he had no interest in a quickie with someone who was, at the most, a casual friend.

He’d wanted to be alone with his heartache. Rubbing his chest, he grimaced. Was the beer giving him heartburn, or was this what it felt like getting betrayed? How had Mom done it? He and Abbi had grown close fast, but Mom had been married. Her hopes and dreams of a bright future had been dashed when Dad had dropped his zipper around the wrong chick.

And what the hell was wrong with Dad? How could he do that to someone he loved? Cash certainly couldn’t love Abbi this soon after meeting her—he couldn’t be that naive—but he had no wish to bed someone else.

But he and Abbi had only been together a week. A short week. Maybe Cash wasn’t cut out for a relationship after all. If he’d buckled this quickly after all these years and then had picked a cheating girlfriend on top of it, maybe he was better off not changing his routine.

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