Page 6 of The Inn Dilemma

“There was.” My jaw clenches.

“Oh no. Not another open mouth, insert foot moment. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened? Anyone I know?” The question hangs in the air between us. When I don’t answer she breaks it up by punching her right fist into her left palm. “Need me to step in?”

At her attempt at being menacing, the hurt that still lingers from reminders of the breakup is replaced with humor. “Do you remember Claire, who graduated with me and Chris?”

A deep V forms between her brows. “Vaguely.”

“Well.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I ran into her in Denver one day and we got to talking. While I was away, she’d send me letters and care packages. When I’d come home, I’d take her out, and as time went on, it got a little more serious. As soon as I was called overseas, instead of putting our relationship on pause like a normal person, I proposed.”

Nova blinks at me in what I assume is surprise. “Oh?” Her throat bobs with a swallow. “So…” She leaves the response open for me to finish.

“Claire visited me every day when I was shipped to a hospital back here after the explosion, but a few days after I was discharged, she ended things. Said she changed her mind about being married to a SEAL. That she just got swept up in the romance of it. She said being apart was easier than she expected, and it made her realize her love for me wasn’t marriage-worthy. Looking back, I can see that what we had was a shallow, whirlwind romance and not true love.”

Nova rests her hand on mine, the silence that stretches between us comfortable.

“I don’t know what to say other than Claire is an idiot.” Nova squeezes my hand. “The right woman will come along and sweep you right off your feet.” She moves her other hand in an exaggerated sweeping gesture.

Raising my brow, I ask, “Isn’t it supposed to go the other way around?”

“Why can’t the woman do the feet sweeping?”

Before I can answer, there’s three knocks on the door in warning before Aunt Birdie swoops in. Whatever she was about to say appears to die on her lips as her eyes drop to Nova’s hand gripping mine. A slow smile spreads across her face. Nova quickly pulls her hand away as if she forgot she was touching me. Or maybe it was because she didn't want to give anyone the wrong impression.

“It looks like the two of you have already gotten reacquainted,” Aunt Birdie says, giving her brows a brief wiggle. The mischief in her expression gives me the sneaking suspicion that this whole scenario was set up to be a matchmaking scheme.

“Thanks for letting me know someone was living here.” I give her a deadpan look.

Aunt Birdie doesn’t look one bit sorry. “I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

“It was.” I look over at Nova, who sits up proudly with her shoulders pushed back.

“Well, I came here to drop off some towels, washcloths, and other odds and ends.” She sets down a large basket on the table next to the door. “I won’t keep you two any longer.” Aunt Birdie sends a wink my way, then whisks through the door and gently closes it behind her.

When I face Nova, she’s smiling after Aunt Birdie. “I missed her and her contagious joy.” There’s a look of longing in her eyes. “She helped me feel a little less awful about myself when she welcomed me back with open arms.”

“You shouldn’t feel awful about yourself at all.” I place a comforting hand on her knee. “People make mistakes. And with how you grew up, I can understand why you left. I just wish you didn’t cut everyone out of your life in the process.”

She hangs her head. “I know. You have no idea how much I regret taking off like I did. My goal wasn’t to hurt anyone, but that’s exactly what I did. And I didn’t even benefit from it. I made my situation worse.” She shivers.

“So Beau wasn’t the boyfriend you were hoping for?”

Nova scoffs. “Not at all. He put on a good show when we first met, acting as if he would love and cherish me like the heroes in the romance books I read. But that was a silly dream. Beau just wanted me for two things.”

All the breath halts in my lungs. Parts of me want to know what those two things are. But a bigger part of me dreads hearing her answer.An unexpected surge of jealousy washes through me. Instead of focusing on the inappropriate emotion, I shift our conversation.

“Well, you’re home now,” I say. “And you look quite different from the girl you were before you left.” I lift a strand of hair that came loose from her bun and let it fall back down. “The last time I saw you, you were a nineteen-year-old girl with short purple hair. Then, a few months later, your brother told me you moved to Paris with your French boyfriend.” The few times I got to speak to Christian while I was away, he mostly talked about business with only a few mentions of his rebelsister. He was clearly irritated by his sister’s spontaneity. Christian never explicitly told me, but I got the sneaking suspicion that he and his younger sister had a falling out before she left.

She gives me a gentle smile. “Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking with that purple hair.”

“It wasn’t awful, but I much prefer this honey blonde on you.” I didn’t mean to let those words out, and I feel the tips of my ears heat.

Nova bites her lip and looks away shyly. “I’d like to keep myself natural from now on.” She plays with the hem of her T-shirt. “And I’m trying to become the woman God created me to be.”

“From where I’m standing, you’re moving in the right direction.”

She looks up, her focus shifting between my good eye and my glass eye. “You don’t know me anymore, so I don’t think you can confidently tell me that, no matter how encouraging it is.”

“You’ve always been tenacious, never giving up until you achieve your goal.”

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