Page 48 of Suddenly Single
By the time sleep overtook her, Jenny was happy and sated, both emotionally and physically.She’d reached across an invisible divide and had brought Edan to her side.She ought to have a tiara, one that indicated she was the queen of perception and understanding of others.A tiara with lots of diamonds, she thought sleepily as she began to drift away.
She was feeling quite content when she awoke the next morning.
The sun streamed in through the windows of Edan’s room, and Jenny smiled and rolled onto her back, stretching long…but the sheets were cool. She rolled onto her side.
Edan was not here.
She sat up and looked around.He was not in the bathroom, as the door was standing open and the light was off.She got up, found most of her clothes, and padded into his office in search of her sandals.
As she looked around, she heard Edan in the kitchen and walked in there, prepared to give him a big smoochy kiss.He was standing behind the kitchen island with a cup of tea in his hand, and he smiled when she came in.“Morning.”
But Jenny’s heart stopped beating.She knew instantly that something had changed.Chatty Cathy had disappeared, and stoic, quiet, Edan Mackenzie had returned.He was already dressed for the day in slacks and shirt and tie.And there were her sandals and her sweater, folded and stacked neatly on one of the kitchen chairs.
She was being sent on her way.Jenny couldn’t believe it—the magic of last night was dissipating like fog in sun, and she was being sent on her fucking way.She wasn’t sure what to do—she hadn’t imagined the connection between them.“Good morning,” she said, and slid her arms, loosy-goosy, across the kitchen island, playfully reaching for him.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead.Herforehead.
Jenny slowly rose up.Maybe she should have been angry, but she actually felt a little sorry for Edan that he couldn’t seem to get out of his own damn way.
Or was he a fox, like Lorenzo had warned her? Was he escaping what he saw were her clutches? But she’d felt such profound things last night, and dammit, so had he!
Her confusion turned to anger, but Jenny had her pride, and she wasn’t going to let him see her disappointment. Right now, the only thing she could think about was getting out of here without slinking.
“Tea?” he asked.
“No thank you.No time for that,” she said cheerfully.“I’ve got a lot to do today.” She grabbed her sandals and slid them on, then picked up her sweater.“Looks like a great day. Not a cloud in the sky!” She walked around the kitchen island and rose up and kissed him on the cheek.“Thanks for last night.That’s just what the doctor ordered—fantastic sex.”
Edan looked down at his teacup and Jenny had the sense he was suddenly searching for words.Maybe he’d expended his weekly allotment last night.Maybe he was truly at a loss.And maybe he was like every other guy who was in it just for the sex—he didn’t know how to tell her that’s all it had been.See? This was precisely why a woman needed non-negotiables! Just one other thing her friends were right about.
“Hey, don’t look serious,” she said, truly furious now.“Not everything is soserious.” She smiled, patted his cheek, and made herself walk to the kitchen door and out onto the terrace.She had to force herself not to run like she wanted, because she could feel his eyes on her.But what she really wanted was to flee to some distant corner of the earth and nurse her wounds.
Fourteen
So much for going with the flow.
Jenny returned at a clip to room 215, showered, and changed her clothes.Her confusion and disappointment had burgeoned into raw anger.With herself, with Edan, with the fact that she always believed things would be different and they rarely were.When would she learn?
She grabbed a hat, some shades, her jacket and her yoga mat, and went outside.
All right. He was a jerk in a long line of them.If only she could convince herself it had been only a roll in the hay for him.She couldn’t.No matter how she tried to rationalize it, last night had meant something to him, she was certain, but he was an ass and wouldn’t admit it, even to himself. Idiot.
That didn’t mean Jenny wasn’t going to buy this inn.She was.Edan had not dampened her enthusiasm for the inn.It was only growing. He could go back to Scotland to a woman who didn’t want him.And besides, Jenny really didn’t have time for Edan anyway. She had a lot to sort through and learn and do.She would chalk this up to what it apparently was—sex with a man who loved his ex and needed to release a pent-up need.And she had no one but herself to blame because she had started it with that kiss.So she would also chalk it up tofantasticsex and look forward.
She walked for a very long time before she felt calm enough to roll out her mat.She glanced at the pendant watch she wore—she’d been walking for two and a half hours.
Jenny went through her yoga practice, then sat cross-legged on her mat, her eyes closed, her hands together in prayer pose, and listened to the sound of nature around her. She prayed for understanding and compassion, and a smooth transition to this new life.
By the time she stood up and rolled up her mat, she was calmer and centered.She knew how this thing with Edan would end. She would be the bigger person, of course. She imagined herself knocking on his door with a basket of nutballs.She would calmly explain they were her parting gift. She would say she was happy to have made his acquaintance and a Realtor would soon be in touch. He would thank her and take her nutballs.
And then she imagined him falling on his knees and begging her to forgive him. Jenny starred in this version. She caressed his head and remind him that it was better this way, that he was so piteously desperate for a woman who had dumped him that she wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t get on with it and get out.
Oh, who was she kidding? There weren’t any nutballs left.
Jenny returned to the inn, her mind on the paperwork the Realtor said she’d need to proceed.
“Jenny!”
Vanessa’s voice startled her so completely that she jerked around and dropped her yoga mat, because Vanessa and Brooke were standing near the entrance.
