She couldn’t have feelings for the man who had been single-handedly responsible for the death of her sister. Her body had a better memory than that.
Her rattled nerves began to calm as she approached her car, but her relief turned to fear when she rummaged through her purse in search of her keys. They were nowhere to be found. She checked her pockets, looked through her bag, then began emptying the contents of her purse onto the hood of her car when she heard that smoky voice behind her.
“Looking for these?”
The sight of Travis dissolved her previous notion that anyone else had been responsible for that tingling sensation she’d felt in the store. It returned full-speed when she turned and saw him standing behind her, her keys dangling from one long finger.
“Where did you get those?”
“You left them at the counter.”
Relief, anger, and that pesky quiver in her gut mixed to create another cocktail of heated fluster. She reached out to grab the keys from his hand, but he snatched them out of her reach.
“Answer one question,” he said, twirling the keys on his finger before clutching them tightly in his hand.
“I’m not playing games with you. Just give me the keys.”
“I get the feeling you despise me. Why is that, Rachel?”
She tried to ignore the thoughtful narrowing of his eyes. He knew damn well why she hated him, and if he didn’t, he was too stupid to warrant an answer.
“You know the answer to that question.”
A wisp of remorse crossed his expression. “Rachel, I’m sorry I never came around after Carrie’s death. You’re right. It was cruel of me to stay away. I should have been there for you.”
Her mouth dropped open. How he could possibly think she’d wanted him around after her sister’s death was simply incomprehensible. She’d heard that men were dense, but up until now, she’d never truly believed it.
“Trust me. You’re the last person I wanted to see then, and you’re the last person I want to see now.” She reached for his hand. “Give me my keys.”
He pulled them out of her reach. “You can’t say something like that and expect a man to walk away, sweetheart.”
She ignored the husky endearment and the way it made her heart skip a beat. Instead, she shot back, “Obviously, shattering a girl to the point of suicide means nothing to you.”
He took two steps back. Stumbled was more like it. She could tell he didn’t see that comment coming. Every feature on his handsome face hardened. His big shoulders stiffened, and he stared at her warily, as if she’d just uncovered a secret he’d hoped to keep buried forever.
Her lips curved into a satisfied smile. “Yes, I know what you did, so you can stop with the innocent act, give me my keys, and let me go home.”
“You think I drove her to suicide?” Utter disbelief lined his tone. “Considering she broke up with me, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
Now Rachel was the one left stupefied. “She broke up with you?” She had to laugh. “That may be what you told your friends, but I know exactly what you did to Carrie. It’s all written in her diary. All the promises you made, you were going to take her away, help her start a new life, and then you smashed all her hopes like it was nothing to you.”
The deadly look on his face told her she’d just shot and scored. Another sour chuckle emerged from her chest. “Yes, Travis. I read all about it. So you can stop playing dumb.”
“You know what, Rachel? Your story is so farfetched that—” He laughed humorlessly, not bothering to continue.
Since her keys now dangled limply in his hand, she took the opportunity to snatch them from his grasp. She’d intended to take them and flee. She was through reminiscing about the most painful period of her life with the man who was responsible for it all. Unfortunately, she noticed that the contents of her purse were still scattered over the hood of her car. She grabbed the black bag and began collecting her things.
“You’ve concocted quite a tale,” he remarked, his deep voice steady. “But did you ever stop to examine its merit? I never told Carrie I’d take her away. How could I? I was just a kid on my way to college. And she broke up with me two days after prom. We never had time to talk about what would happen after we graduated.”
“It’s in her diary. All the arrangements you were making to take Carrie and me away from here. Then the phone call telling her it was all off. That was the day she…”
She picked up her pace, shoving the last of the items in her purse. She didn’t want to have this conversation, and it was officially time to get out of this parking lot, away from this man, and away from this part of town forever.
She grabbed her purse then moved to unlock the door when Travis’s hand slapped against the door, holding it in place.