Page 73 of Under the Lights
After firing up the engine, Chase pointed the truck out of Stewart Mills and, after coming to a complete stop at the sign, hit the gas.
—
Chase was gone.
Kelly stared at her phone, reading the text for what felt like the hundredth time.Had to hit the road. Thanks for a great time, and I’ll never forget the frozen pizza.
He’d never forget the frozen pizza? She knew on a logical level he was trying to be funny but, on an emotional level, she wished she could reach through the phone, grab him by the throat and shake the hell out of him.
She was going to tell him she loved him.
When she’d seen him on the float, she’d been so afraid the intensity of her emotions would show and scare him off, she’d avoided looking directly at him. There would be time after the parade to talk. To really talk seriously about what was between them because, the more she thought about it, the more sure she was he felt the same for her.
Then she’d run into Hunter and Cody, who told her he’d said good-bye to them and that they were pretty sure they saw his truck leaving town.
She hadn’t wanted to believe it. She’d continued looking for him, sure that even if he was in the process of leaving, he was taking a long time to say good-bye and just hadn’t gotten to her yet. Then she’d crossed paths with her dad.
“Have you seen Chase?”
He’d given her that fatherly look that said he wanted to wrap her in a quilt and keep her safe from what was about to come. “He said he had to go. He said his good-byes before we even got off the float.”
“Oh.” She refused to believe it. “He must be looking for me. For a small town, it can be awfully hard to cross paths with a person at times.”
“Let him go, honey.” His face was somber, but she could see the love he had for her in his eyes. That didn’t mean she wanted to hear what he had to say. “That boy’s not capable of giving you what you deserve.”
“I don’t know aboutdeserve, but he’s capable of giving me what Iwant. Which is him.” She held up her hand to fend off whatever parental platitude he had lined up. “I’m going to take a walk around the square again.”
Ten minutes later, her phone had chimed.
Anger was the emotion that rose to the top. That’s what their relationship was worth to him? Not even a good-bye in person? Hell, it wasn’t even a decent text message. He’d basically cracked a bad joke while showing her that he had no respect at all for her or what they’d shared.
She tried to cling to the anger, to armor herself with it, but the tears kept rising up, and they were getting harder to blink back. She made her way to the covered bridge, which was blessedly empty as people were still milling around the parade route and the school, chatting and picking up stray candy off the ground.
Without thinking, she went to her spot and sat on the support beam as tears began streaming down her face. She’d give herself a few minutes, to release the pressure of this first wave of tears, and then she’d go back to the station. If she couldn’t pull herself together there, she’d tell the chief she was sick and go home to bed.
Reaching down behind her, she traced the outline of his initials and the heart she’d carved into the wood so many years before. If only she’d known that someday Chase Sanders would actually look her way and truly see her. And then he’d break her heart.
A tissue appeared in front of her face, and she looked up to see her mom. She had an entire travel packet of tissues in her hand, which was good because as soon as Kelly saw her face, the crying began in earnest. Her mom sat beside her and put her arm around her shoulders as they shook.
“He left,” she managed to say between sobs.
“I know, honey. He didn’t say good-bye?”
Kelly hit the screen on her phone and held it up to show her mom. After a few seconds of silence, her mom swore, which she almost never did.
“That little bastard. I never should have invited him to stay with us.”
The need to defend him rose up in Kelly, taking her by surprise. What happened was as much her fault as it was his, and it wasn’t fair to let people believe he’d callously broken her heart. He hadn’t known hehadher heart to break.
But then she thought of the text, and the words died before she could speak them. Screw him. He didn’t even have the balls to look her in the face and say good-bye.
The anger returned, which helped dry up the tears. The last thing she wanted was for anybody to see her crying on the covered bridge right after Chase left town. The sideways glances of speculation and pity would be too much to take.
“It’s his loss, sweetheart.” Her mom stroked her back, saying almost the same words she had when Kelly returned home after the divorce.
And just as she had then, Kelly tried to believe it washis loss, but she was the one who felt as if she’d lost. She’d allowed herself, despite her better judgment, to believe Chase might be the one she could make a life with, and now she was paying the price.
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