Page 43 of The Promise Of Rain

Now, he was a man hardened by life and the choices he’d made.

And perhaps by suffering due to the things over which he had no control.

Like others’ bad decisions.

The thought pierced my heart.Would he have enlisted if not for that night?What exactly had he seen and done over the past ten years?

I would never ask; I didn’t want the visual.

But he had come looking for me that night.

My stomach cramped.

What did he see?

And how would he feel if he knew the rest?

I turned my head to look out the window, my stomach quivering, teeth chattering.

What would he do if he knew the rest?

Would he leave?Find someone else to share his life with?Someone better suited to him?

I winced at the recollection of the one and only time I’d seen him with his wife; a woman who was everything I wasn’t.

Her sleek blond hair sat at a respectable shoulder length, and her make-up was natural and subdued.A fitted jacket topped a modest dress, both highlighting her slight frame.She looked like they’d just come from church.

They probably had.

That night, I soaked the pillows with my tears for the last time.Never again would I allow a man to hurt me the way he did.

I wasn’t my mother.

I pledged I’d never be my mother.Yet, here I was, flirting with disaster.Disgust twisted my mouth.I curled my fingers over the door handle.

And froze.

Get out of his truck, you fool!

He swung his large frame into the seat and closed his door.His eyes flicked to my hand then narrowed on my face.“All right?”

Lifting my chin, I returned my hand to my lap and faced him coolly.“I’m fine.”

Jaw ticking, he put the key in the ignition and brought the truck back to life.Adjusting the heat and flicking my seat warmer on, he grunted, “We need to talk.”

“We do not,” I retorted.

“You don’t even know what I want to talk about,” he countered.

I shook my head.“We don’thaveanything to talk about.”

Because talking?About us?Would only lead to lying.

He hitched his wrist over the steering wheel.“So, we’re leaving the past in the past?”

I nodded firmly and turned away, ignoring the weight of his stare.

“Good.”Palming the steering wheel to reverse out, he continued, “Then there’s nothing stopping us from moving forward.”