Ryan returned to Shawna’s house, whistling as he went up the walkway.
Boarding up the building had taken longer than expected. The teens had broken in the double doors, and the impact of the crash caused structural damage to one wall. He’d had to call one of his employees who lived nearby to help him.
He ran up the steps and took out his phone to call Shawna to let him in when he noted the plastic bag near the door. He picked it up and dialed her number.
“Hi, I’m outside. So are your groceries,” he added with amusement. “You’re too young to be this forgetful already.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Hearing the sullen tone of her voice, he became instantly alert. “What’s the matter?” he asked sharply.
“Nothing. I’m coming down to get you.”
Moments later, Shawna let him into the dark entryway. Seeing her shapely form outlined beneath the silk robe should have captured his attention and spiked his libido, but it didn’t. What caught his attention was her lack of response to his arrival and how she avoided looking at him.
“Thanks,” she said in a hoarse voice. She reached for the bag, still keeping her eyes averted and using her hair as a cover.
“What’s wrong?”
“I said nothing.”
Ryan flipped the switch on the wall. She squinted against the bright light and covered her face.
“Look at me.” He dropped the bag on the side table and took her chin in his hand. “You’ve been crying,” he said, noting her reddened eyes.
Shawna pulled away from him. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not. What happened between the time I left and now? I thought we were good.”
Backing away even more, she crossed her arms over her waist. Neither of them spoke as they looked at each other. Ryan didn’t know why she was behaving this way, but it pained him to watch her distance herself from him.
“This isn’t normal.”
He didn’t have to ask her to explain. She meant their relationship. “Says who?”
“I want normal.”
“No, you don’t. Normal is boring. This is way more exciting.”
She gave a humorless laugh. “You have an answer for everything.”
“I wish I did. Then I’d know what to say to put your mind at ease.” He moved to reach out to her, but she tightened her arms around herself.
She blinked rapidly and gazed up at the ceiling before looking at him again. “In Chicago, I suspected that you’d lied to me.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I suspected that you might be involved with someone.”
“How?”
“I just did. That first night at the restaurant, when I asked you if you had a girlfriend, I suspected you weren’t completely honest. I wondered if you were lying to me when you said your brother called the next morning, too. I could have asked you more questions, but I was afraid to know the answers.”
“I remember the look in your eyes when you saw me with Holly. You have no idea how much it killed me to know I caused that pain.” He ran his fingers through his hair. The hurt he’d caused her had lashed his conscience. “I thought we agreed to keep the past in the past. Six years ago doesn’t matter. We’re starting fresh, here, now. No distractions.”
It’s true they’d agreed to that, but the confrontation with Jerome had left her shaken and ashamed. She continued speaking as if he hadn’t said anything. “When I saw you with her, I felt so used. Like I was nothing to you,” she whispered.
“You weren’t nothing.”
“Being with you like that was the only time in my entire life that I had ever done anything remotely spontaneous. The one time I threw caution to the wind, I ended up on the wrong side of a love triangle.”