*
BY THE TIME Matt parked the car in her driveway and turned it off, Hailey had had just about enough of his attitude. When he pulled the keys out of the ignition, she held out her hand, saying nothing, until he dropped them into her palm. Then she pulled her clutch bag out of the door pocket.
“Thanks. It was ever so fun.” She opened her door and started to get out, but he grabbed her arm.
“Hailey, let’s talk about this.”
“Oh, now you want to talk to me? Really? You’ve been a jerk all night.”
“We could have just gone to the diner.” She jerked her arm away and got out of the car. He did the same, then faced off with her over the roof of the car. “You’re the one who pushed to go to a bistro.”
“I got up at the ass crack of dawn to watch the moose. I went four-wheeling with you. I’m sorry you weren’t willing to sit through one dinner in a nice restaurant for me.”
“It was dumb to get all dressed up and drive two hours for a meal.”
“I’ve met your family, so I know you weren’t raised by wolves.” Anger burned through her, further ruining what should have been a lovely night. “You’re perfectly capable of being an adult, including compromising like grown-ups do for each other.”
He pointed a finger at her, which made her want to break it. “I dated a woman just like you, once.”
“Excuse me?”
“I was good enough to sleep with and she loved how all of her friends told her how hot I was, but when things started to get real, she wanted a spiffed-up version of me. I embarrassed her.”
“I wasn’t embarrassed by you tonight, Matt. I was hurt. And I’m not carrying the baggage some other woman saddled you with.” He stared at her, his jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything. She tried not to think about how that woman must have made him feel. It had nothing to do with her. “Is that what’s happening here? Things are starting to get real?”
It took him forever to answer, every second feeling like a lifetime. “You’ve told me all along I’m not your type. Maybe I should have listened.”
“Don’t turn this all around on me. You’ve made it clear all along I’m not your type, either. And yet here we are.”
“Yeah. Here we are. With you pissed off because I didn’t like your fancy date.”
“No, I’m not pissed off that you didn’t like it. I’m pissed off that you couldn’t just enjoy being with me and let me enjoy a night out on the town, even if it wasn’t your favorite thing to do.” She backed away from the car, shaking her head. “I was right from the beginning. You’re definitely not the man for me.”
“No, I’m not. You’ve been waiting for some fairy tale prince in a fancy suit to come waltzing into Whitford and take you dancing in glass slippers. I’m no prince.”
“You’re not Prince Charming, that’s for damn sure.” She slammed her car door. “Prince Asshole, maybe.”
She started walking toward her house and, when she heard the driver’s door close, she hit the button to lock the car, but she didn’t look back.
“Hailey, wait.”
“Good night, Matt. Call me if you need me to take care of Bear. Other than that, you stay in your yard and I’ll stay in mine.”
She slammed her house door, too, just because she could. When her heels were kicked off, she walked through her house and up the stairs without turning on a light. Then she curled up in the middle of her bed, still too angry to cry.
Since the very first minute she’d laid eyes on Matt, she’d told herself he was all wrong for her. She’d known it then, and she should have listened to herself. And she definitely should have ignored her friends. And ignored him, with his big heart and sexy body and ability to touch her the way she’d craved being touched.
Her clutch was still in her hand and she pulled her phone out to pull up Tori’s number. No, I told YOU so.
A couple of minutes passed before she got a response. What happened? Do you want me to come over?
No. I’m going to bed. Just wanted you to know I was right.
I’m sorry.
She’d get over it—over him. It’s not as if she’d had big dreams of a wedding and babies and rocking chairs. They were having fun and she’d known eventually they’d stop having fun. She just hadn’t expected it to be so soon, or so painful.
The first tears filled her eyes as the anger dulled from a flare to a smoldering ember. She knew she should get up and start getting ready for bed, but the tears spilled over and kept on coming.
The daylight streaming through her window woke her up the next morning, which was good since she hadn’t turned on her alarm.