Page 10 of Below the Far Horizon
Yeah. That was exactly what she had done. It hadn’t been nice. But there wasn’t anything she could do to fix it now, other than apologize. “I’m sorry. You deserve so much better.”
“Do I deserve an explanation now?” he asked. His questionsurprised her. That had been more than a dozen years ago. Did he really want an explanation more than a decade later?
Maybe he was like her. Sometimes a person just needed closure.
“Claire.”
She didn’t say anything else. She figured she didn’t need to.
His brows drew down, like he didn’t understand. “I don’t get it.” He waited, and when she didn’t say anything else, he continued. “Claire liked me, but I never liked her. I was always very clear about that.”
“Claire accused me of stealing you. For the entire time you and I were together, Claire wouldn’t talk to me.”
“I remember that. You had no idea why, and I didn’t either.”
“She told me that I stole you from her. The only way that she would forgive me was for me to break up with you.”
“I see. So you did. Because Claire meant more to you than I did.”
“No!” she exclaimed. She couldn’t let him think that. That wasn’t right. And then she realized they would probably never see each other again. After all, it had been twelve whole years since they had graduated, and this was the first time she had seen him. He didn’t live in Raspberry Ridge. If he had, she would have heard about it. So she didn’t have to worry about seeing him again.
“I’m sorry I bothered you. Goodbye.”
She didn’t give him a chance to answer, but turned around and hurried away.
Five
She left again. Just like she had the first time.
Trevor sat on the bench, watching as Grace hurried around the bend and out of sight.
No explanation, no idea when they might see each other again, just a quick getaway, leaving him staring after her, wishing she would come back. He didn’t like that position; he’d spent too much time in it.
But she denied that her friend Claire had meant more to her than he had.
That made him feel good until he realized that it didn’t mean anything, because she’d broken up with him because of Claire. He hadn’t realized. He’d known Claire liked him. Known it before he and Grace got together, but Claire had never held any interest for him at all. And he highly suspected that she saw him as a conquest and hadn’t been madly in love with him.
He could be wrong, but he knew how he acted when he really loved someone, and Claire had given off more of a competition vibe to him anyway.
But he didn’t know anything about women. Other than they broke your heart and left without caring.
It wasn’t that he put every woman in that position, but that was what had happened to him with Grace anyway.
She’s still beautiful to him. Her long hair blowing in the wind, her eyes just as clear blue as they had always been, and while she didn’t have the stick straightness of her teenage years, she looked like she was athletic and healthy.
Still not interested in him. That was the conclusion he came to. That she hadn’t wanted him anymore and hadn’t figured out how to tell him. One would think he would get the memo and be okay with it. Realize that some things just weren’t meant to be. And Grace and him were one of those things.
He pushed off the bench, no longer interested in enjoying the beauty of the garden, although he did take one last glance at the tulips as he walked away from them. They were gorgeous, so pretty, and so faithful. Year after year, they came up and bloomed with dependability no matter what was going on around them. Whether the winter had been brutal or better than usual. Whether the spring was rainy or sunny or something in between. They were there. That’s what he had wanted. Someone who was going to be there for him, no matter what.
He didn’t know why he’d always been so stuck on Grace. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to be there for him. She couldn’t stick around long enough to have a conversation with him. Long enough for him to challenge her on her no, because she had thought more of Claire than she had Trevor. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have broken up with him.
And he would have left it at that, except with all her faults, there was one fault that Grace did not have. She was not a liar.
He left the garden and walked by the first house on the street, where Homer and Skyler lived with their four children. His mother had passed away the year before, and the whole town had taken it rather hard. Everyone had good memories of Mrs. Aiken, but Skyler, Homer’s wife, was a sweet lady who slid into the role of the heart of Raspberry Ridge with little effort.
“Nice day.” He nodded as he passed their porch, where Skyler sat with three other ladies, open Bibles on their knees. Bible study must have commenced since he had walked to the garden.
“It sure is,” Skyler said, smiling at him and nodding. The otherladies greeted him as well, and he figured they were doing Bible study while her kids were in school. Interesting the things he didn’t know, for as much time as he spent around town.
