Grounded for Love: A Reunion Romance Novella (4 page)

She wanted to stomp to the front door, but snow collapsed around her feet as she walked, so she settled for simply staying upright.

Both Serena and Graham walked into the lobby and approached the desk.

“Hi, welcome to the Holiday Inn,” said a thin, middle-aged woman with short black hair. “Stranded at the airport?”

“Yes. My flight was cancelled.” Serena shook some snow from her hair.

“We have a room with a king-sized bed,” the woman said with a smile that made Serena want to strangle her.
What is wrong with these people?

“We are not together. At all,” Serena said quickly. “We cannot stay in the same room.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry. I assumed…”

“Do you have another room?” Graham asked.

She tapped on the keyboard. “Yes. Next door to this one.”

Serena groaned inwardly.

“I’ll take it,” Graham said.

Serena turned to him. “I don’t know why you had to follow me to this hotel. You know I don’t want to see you.”

“That is quite obvious.”

“Then why don’t you take a hint?”

“Because the reason
why
you don’t want to see me is not obvious.”

“Here is your key.” The woman handed the key card to Serena.

“Thank you,” she said as nicely as possible.

Seeing Graham had thrown her so off-balance, she wasn’t sure which way was up. Who thought she’d ever see him again? And be stuck at the same hotel with him? Fate probably was real and it was laughing it up at Serena’s expense.

“Why won’t you talk to me? Why did you desert me?” Graham’s eyes pleaded with hers, but, again, she was immune.

“That’s funny. Really funny, Graham.”

“See, I don’t understand any of this.” He grabbed her arm, and it sent an electric impulse up to her shoulder—definitely without her permission. How she’d ached for his touch for months after she left Boulder. After… the memory still made her heart hurt.

“I’m going up to my room. Have a nice life.”

“Serena, please.”

She kept walking toward the elevator, refusing to turn back. The last time she turned back, it changed her life forever, and she wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Serena entered the elevator and let the doors close behind her, a shroud of sadness enveloping her.

How did this ever happen?

Opening the door, Serena stepped inside the modestly decorated room in barely enough time to let the tears flow. She collapsed on the bed. Not only was she carrying the stress about her dad and his heart attack, but now seeing Graham had drudged up feelings she thought she’d buried. And he seemed so clueless as to what happened.
Really?
Talk about a typical man.

Yet he wasn’t typical. Not when they’d been together. Not when they talked about sharing a life. Having kids. Living in the house with the white picket fence. For a moment, she let herself linger there, wrapped in the memories and still aching for those things. They’d once shared a strong bond and a deep love. It had been good. Really good. But that was just a naïve college girl who believed her boyfriend. Trusted him.

Serena sat up and shook her head. She wasn’t that same foolish girl. She’d learned from her experience, and the last thing she wanted now was Graham confusing her, causing old feelings to resurface.
Hopefully I won’t see him again
. She refused to let that thought make her feel anything—especially not sad.

After a trip to the restroom to splash cool water on her face and finger-comb her hair, she decided to take a walk. Fresh air would clear her head.

Serena hurried through the lobby to avoid running into Graham just in case fate or bad luck or whatever was working overtime and he’d had the same idea. As soon as she exited the hotel, the crisp, cold air hit her cheeks, making her eyes water. She pulled her coat tighter and continued walking, the falling snow landing in her hair and on her eyelashes.

When she was a kid she loved big snowstorms. The best ones were when they’d cancel school, and she could spend the day sledding and playing in the snow. Her dad made the best snowmen. He’d dress them up with a cap and scarf and even stuff a carrot in for the nose.

Serena stuck her hand out and caught some snowflakes. She watched them melt against her warm skin. The snow-covered landscape seemed magical. Almost magical enough to forget who was inside the hotel.

“Mind if I join you?”

She jumped at his voice, her nerves sizzling. “Don’t you get the hint?” She said it without turning around.

“That was a rhetorical question, because I plan to stand here until you tell me what happened between us.”

Still facing away from him, Serena said, “Graham, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

He grabbed her arm and turned her to him. “No. That’s the thing, I can’t. All I know is you came over to my apartment and said goodbye. Then I never heard from you again. No explanation.”

Serena pulled her arm away and stepped back.

Graham pointed at her. “See, you’re acting like everyone knows what happened. Except
I
don’t. I have no idea why you walked out of my life.”

“You have no idea?” Either he was completely clueless or a liar. Probably both.

“No. Why did you leave me?” He stood there, snow gathering in his hair and on his still-broad shoulders.

“Why did I leave
you
?”

“Why do you keep repeating what I say? Is something wrong with your hearing?”

“No.” She narrowed her eyes. “Nothing is wrong with my hearing. Or with my seeing.”

“Your
seeing
?” His brows pulled together.

She turned and started walking away from him. This was pointless. It wouldn’t change anything. The past was the past and nothing could change what happened.

“Serena, tell me why you left. I’ve been wondering for three years.” He rushed up in front of her and stood in her path.

“You really want to know what happened?”

“I do.” How she’d wanted to hear those two words, but in an entirely different setting.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I saw the whole thing.”

“What whole thing?”

He looked genuinely confused, but she didn’t care. And, suddenly, she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Oh, never mind.”

“Come on. I deserve an explanation.”

“You
deserve
an explanation?” Her face heated. Who did he think he was?

“Yeah.”

Maybe Amy was right. Maybe it was time Serena finally gave Graham a piece of her mind.
That’s
what he really deserved. Then she’d have the closure she needed and could move on once and for all. “Yes, I came over to your apartment to say goodbye the night before I left for my job in San Francisco.”

“I remember. I’m with you so far.” He kept his gaze on her and she had to look away because it was too distracting.

Serena blew out a puff of breath. “I left your apartment and walked out to my car. On my way, I passed a woman with long dark hair.” He didn’t react. Not even a little bit. How dare he not even flinch.

“Okay.”

“Ringing any bells?”

He shrugged. “Should it?”

Unbelievable
. “I got in my car and realized I’d left the book I’d brought with me to your apartment. So I got out and started walking back to get it.”

“Yeah?”

Why was he acting like he had amnesia? Was he going to make her repeat the entire experience and feel the humiliation all over again? Like it was yesterday. Apparently, he was. “I got to the courtyard. You know, where your living room window faced.”

He nodded, still acting as if he had no idea.
What a snake
.

“I saw you,” she said.

“You saw me?”

Serena let out a loud sigh. “Wow, are you really going to make me say it? Like it wasn’t horrible enough when it happened?”

He kept looking at her, confusion still written on his face.

“I saw you kissing her.”

“
What?
”

“I caught you cheating on me when I hadn’t even been gone for five minutes. You were in her arms. Obviously, you’d been cheating on me the whole time and I was too stupid to notice.” She wanted to punch him with all the force of what had built up over the last three years.

He blinked. “You saw me kissing another woman?”

“Don’t even try to deny it.” She pointed at him.

“I’m not trying to deny it. I’m trying to remember it.”

“Classic. You don’t remember the woman you were cheating with? She was probably only one of many.” It felt good to get that out—like the steam she’d needed to finally release all the pent up anger, hurt, and betrayal. She’d given her heart to him and he’d trampled all over it. Then shredded it.

Graham looked as if he were concentrating.

“How can you pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Oh.”

“So you remember now?” She didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm.
What a jerk.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“And that’s why I
disappeared
, as you put it. I wasn’t about to hang around when you were cheating on me.”

He nodded.

“Don’t you have anything to say? You broke my heart. You destroyed all of our plans.”

“And you didn’t even give me the courtesy of telling me. Or trusting me,” he said in a soft, small voice laced with something.
Hurt?
No, that wasn’t it.
Shame for being caught?

“Why would I? I saw you kissing her. I’d barely left, and there you were with her. I thought our relationship mattered—that we loved each other, and we were going to make things work, even though I was moving to California for my job. Obviously, I was wrong. I saw with my own eyes how little I meant to you, so there was nothing to talk about.” All the feelings from that night erupted like a volcano and she fought to stop her emotions from sliding down her cheeks. He didn’t deserve to see it.

He glanced up at the sky. “Do you want an explanation now?”

How could he explain it? “I don’t know, Graham. Does it even matter? It won’t change anything.” He’d probably just lie to her anyway—because that’s what cheaters do, they lie.

“You’re right. And wrong.”

She studied him.

“That girl came barging into the apartment that night and kissed me. She said it was some sorority thing. A dare or something.”

“Uh huh.” That was the lamest excuse ever. At least he could’ve come up with something better than that after all this time. Of course, he didn’t expect to ever see her, and that was probably the best he could do on the spur of the moment.

“It’s true. Remember your old roommate and all the crazy stuff she had to do for her sorority? What was her name? Sarah?”

“You mean, Sierra. You never could remember her name.”
Do not smile. Remember this man cheated on you.

“This girl said she had to kiss thirty different guys within an hour that night for her sorority initiation or something.”

Serena massaged her temples. She refused to believe this story. She
couldn’t
believe this story.

“Later on I found out that she wanted to go out with me. I don’t know if she actually had to kiss that many guys or made it up so she could kiss me. It didn’t matter… Because
she
didn’t matter.”

“From what I could see—”

“What did you see?”

“I saw you in her arms. And it looked like you were enjoying it.”

“Did you see me push her back?”

“No.”

“You jumped to a conclusion, believed the worst, and ran away?”

“No… Yes.” Suddenly, her feelings were all twisted into knots. Her heartbeat pounded in her cheeks and her heart ached. Had she thrown their relationship away based on a lie? That wasn’t possible. She wasn’t wrong. She knew what she’d seen.

“You never even gave me a chance to explain. Instead, you ran away.”

“But I saw you kissing her.” She had to justify what she’d done—he’d been with another woman.

“And that’s all you needed?” His brown eyes didn’t hide the wound.

“Well…” Serena felt like she was an inch tall.

“After I pushed her away, I told her that you were my girlfriend. That I loved you, and I didn’t like stupid sorority pranks.”

As much as Serena wanted to believe he was lying and that he’d been the cheater she’d thought he was, all she had to do was look at him to know she’d been the cheater—she’d cheated them both by jumping to the wrong conclusion. Now she didn’t know what to say and wasn’t sure how she felt, except like someone had kicked her in the gut. With heavy hiking boots.

“If you would’ve talked to me and told me, maybe…”

“I was so angry and so hurt,” she said, hot tears brimming her eyes. “I didn’t want to talk to you.”

Graham shook his head. “I should’ve gone out to California. Made you talk to me and straightened this out years ago.”

After a few minutes, Serena said, “I should’ve trusted you.” Why had she believed the worst about him? Why hadn’t she even given him the benefit of a doubt? She’d been a fool. A huge fool.

“At least I know what happened now,” Graham said softly.

“Yeah.” Her imagination had run away with her and she’d ruined everything.
She’d
done it. Not him. This was her fault, and she had no one to blame but herself.