Page 56 of Suddenly Single
Edan growled, pushed Lorenzo away, and strode down the hall.
“You are welcome!” Lorenzo shouted after him.
Edan drove like a fiend to Black Springs. He was too late, he had to be too late, but he had to at least try.He pulled into the train station’s parking in record time, so fast that he almost collided with a bus.He leapt out and ran into the station, pausing to look at the board.A train to New York was due in ten minutes.
He raced down the train platform to find her.It was Sunday, so there were a lot of weekend travelers headed back to the city, crowding the platform. He hurried through, looking at every face.
Jenny wasn’t on the platform. His heart sank.She must have caught an earlier train.
He turned to walk back into the station, racking his brain for what to do next.He’d have to convince Vanessa or Brooke to put him in touch with her, that was what.He felt absolutely ill with regret.And ridiculously stupid.A bloody fool.Hope was slowly bleeding out of him when a conversation filtered into his consciousness.
“My favorite is peanut butter cups.Do you have those here? It’s amazing how hard it is to find good junk food at the place I was staying. They need a vending machine if you ask me.People want a little snack from time to time, you know what I mean? I had to beg for a sandwich there once.”
“Dollar fifty-four,” a male voice said.
“Personally, I prefer the dark chocolate peanut butter cups. They’re heart healthy, did you know that? Well, nothealthy,but, you know, healthier.”
Edan slowly turned, his heart beating so rapidly it felt as if it would leap out of his chest. Jenny was standing at a kiosk that sold magazines and candies.He didn’t know how he could have missed her—she had on wide-legged trousers that had been tie-dyed, a white T-shirt, and a red sun hat.And, of course, her yoga mat strapped to her back. There were several packages of snack foods on the counter before her and a couple of magazines.
“Jenny,” he croaked, but she didn’t hear him at first.“Jenny!”
She jerked around at her name, her eyes wide. “What are you…? How did you...?”
“I need to speak,” he said, sounding like someone who had just crawled out from under a rock.Which fit him, metaphorically.
“No.” She turned back to the counter.
“Please, lass.I need to speak. To you.”
She sighed. “Fine. Go ahead,” she said, and handed the pimply kid a bill.The kid made change, his attention on Edan. He handed it to Jenny then said, “Say it, dude.”
Edan froze.He glanced about.His heart was slamming against his chest.He couldn’t possibly say all that was in his hearthere, in front of everyone.He could hardly say it at all. But when he didn’t speak, Jenny shrugged, picked up the bag with her purchases, and started walking toward the platform.
“Jenny, wait.”
She stopped. She slowly turned around to face him.Edan couldn’t help noticing that several people had slowed to see what was going on, too.Jenny folded her arms, waiting.And she said nothing.At the most inopportune time, she said not a word.
A man strolled by. “Women,” he said with vitriol.
Yes, women.Edan couldn’t live without this one.He cleared his throat. “When I said I decided not to sell the inn, what I meant to say is that I want to be with you,” he blurted.
“That’sweird,” the kid said.
Jenny said nothing.
“I led with the wrong thing,” Edan said. “What I was trying to say is that I...I have these feelings,” he said, gesturing at his chest.“Strong feelings.I think that you and I would make a great team.”
“Oh, it’s ajobinterview,” the kid said.
Jenny reached into her bag and took out a candy bar and began to unwrap it.
Edan closed his eyes a moment.“Jenny... I have never met a woman like you, aye? You’ve opened my eyes to possibilities in my life I never saw before. I donna want you to go.”
She looked up from her candy bar, and still she said nothing.She was suddenly mute? Had she finally run out of words to utter? After the hundreds upon thousands of words she’d used this week,nowwas the time the well would run dry? Was she just going to stand there and let him twist at the end of his rope? “I…I donna know what to say—”
Jenny rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.
“Except that I want you to stay!” he called after her. “You are a light that appeared in my dismal existence! You opened the windows and let the air in! Do you want the full truth, then? Brace yourself, lass, for you may no’ care for it. But the full truth is that I am falling in love with you!”
