Page 91 of Breaking Emily's Rules
“I’m sorry, we’re doing it.”
He looked surprised, his eyebrow quirking again, but he didn’t say a word.
“You care about this town, and not just because your father did. You didn’t have to keep Winston, and life would have been easier if you didn’t. You could have walked away from the school and let it go to the highest bidder, but you wanted to save jobs. And you didn’t have to keep flying for Pilots and Paws, but you did.”
He looked at the ground, shaking his head. “Okay, that whole thing was—”
“Your father’s pet project. Flying adopted dogs to their new homes. It’s a good cause. And you’re a good man. Just like your father was.”
“The best thing you can say about me is that I’m loyal to the core to the few things I care about. But I won’t hesitate to make the tough choices when I get a chance to make them. The ones no one else wants to make.”
“That doesn’t make you a horrible person.”
“I’m not saying that I can’t put up a good front, and I may have fooled everyone here. But if I had been able to do the right thing with you, I wouldn’t be here right now. I would have had the strength to turn you down and stay away.”
“You go on believing that if it makes you feel better. But not long ago you told me you thought I was angry, and you were right. I didn’t think it was okay to feel that way for a long time so I kept it inside. Truthfully? I think you’re still grieving.”
“Look—”
“I know a little bit about losing a parent. I might have been a child when it happened, but I still thought there must have been something I could have done. For a while, I thought it was my fault. My fault she died because I hadn’t kept my room clean, hadn’t finished eating all my vegetables, hadn’t been a good enough little girl. I think deep down you think you could have done more for him. You’re hanging on to a guilt that’s eating you up.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Of course you don’t. Because we’re getting somewhere. I’m getting to the bottom of what makes you tick, and you don’t like it.” I stabbed a finger into his chest.
He stared me down then and even if I’d found new courage, that look in his eyes made me retreat. “Listen. We did what you wanted. And maybe now we’re finally out of each other’s systems.”
Ouch. “Out of my system? Is that what you think?”
“We’ve been dancing around each other since the first night we met. ‘Just the sex’ is what you said, if I remember right. And I’m guessing now we’re done.” He moved toward the front door.
“If that’s what you want, we’re done.”
“It isn’t about what I want. It’s about what has to be done. Always. You belong here in Fortune with your family. And I belong with mine.”
The air force, not his sister.
“Don’t bother saying goodbye when you go.”
For a moment, I thought I saw a flash of surprise or pain in his eyes. But then they shifted again back to the tired edginess I’d grown accustomed to recently. “If that’s what you want.”
“It’s about what needs to be done.” I shoved his words back at him.
“Yeah. And you’re a quick study.” He turned and walked out.
I stared at the door for a few minutes. Stone’s truck door slammed shut. Pookie was at my ankle, whimpering. Funny that I could hear anything at all with my heartbeat thudding in my ears. I understood hurt and loss. Even if my heart had been broken for the first time at eleven with the biggest loss of my life, I wasn’t sure why this moment honestly felt like the first time.
“It’s okay, Pookie.” I picked up my little dog and buried my face in her fur. “We’ll be all right. We always are.”
CHAPTER23
Stone
Nice, idiot, verynice.
He’d done it up right, practically twisting the knife in her back.We’re done. Effectively telling her she’d been nothing but a quick and satisfying lay. It was what she thought she wanted, so it had become easy to throw it back in her face. Even if he knew better. It wasn’t what she wanted. Not even what he wanted.
They’d both failed miserably at keeping it light. And he’d known from the moment she walked into his office that it wouldn’t be easy. Having understood that, he’d still plunged in head first.
