Trinity Falls (23 page)

“Apology accepted.” Ean halted his car beside the Stop sign. With the roads empty, he continued through the intersection.

“I'm serious, Ean. I'm very sorry.”

Ean's throat muscles flexed. “So am I, Megan. I'm sorry you didn't trust me.”

“It's not that I didn't trust you.” There was a muted rustle as Megan shifted in her passenger seat.

“So what was it?”
Don't look at her. Don't reach out to her. Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the steering wheel.

“I was afraid the partners would make you an offer you couldn't refuse.”

“Just as I said.” Ean's lips curved in bitter amusement. “You didn't trust me to keep my word.”

“Ean, I was—”

“But I didn't just give you my word. I gave you a rental contract, a lease agreement and membership in the local business association.” Ean clenched his teeth to stop his words. What good would they do? They'd gone over this before.

The car was silent for several minutes. Ean braked at another Stop sign, then breathed in relief as he steered his Lexus toward Megan's block.

“You're right to be angry.” Megan's words wobbled with emotion. “I should have believed you. I shouldn't have allowed my fear to confuse me.”

Ean tried to harden his heart against Megan's sorrow. He couldn't. But he couldn't dig his way out of his own hurt and disappointment, either. Ean parked his car in her driveway.

He wrenched the emergency brake into place before turning to face her. “I thought we were more than bed partners.”

“We were!”

“I told you I was thinking of a future with you. Did you think I was lying?”

“I was confused.” Her voice cracked. Her tears broke free.

Ean turned away before he started crying, too. He shoved his driver's-side door open and stepped out of the Lexus. He barely noticed the burst of cold air that wrapped around him as he circled his car.

He pulled open the passenger door and extended his free hand. “Come on.”

The feel of Megan's small, gloved hand in his made him want to hold on forever. Ean released her and stepped back as soon as she was steady on her feet. He fisted his hands to keep from tracing the tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

Megan swiped away her tears, then looked at him. “Please. Give me another chance, Ean.”

The entreaty in her wet chocolate eyes pierced his heart like an ice pick, over and over and over again.

Ean swallowed twice before attempting to speak. He opened his mouth, then swallowed again. “I can't keep proving myself to you.”

“You won't need to.”

How he wanted to believe her. “You're ready to trust me this time?”

“Yes.” Megan wiped more tears from her cheeks.

Ean ignored the cold and returned Megan's regard for a long, silent moment. It would be so easy to pull her into his arms and cover her mouth with his own. His body wanted to touch her, to taste her again. But his heart hadn't healed from the wound of her distrust.

He stuffed his gloved hands into his jacket pockets. “You've said that before.”

Megan blinked, long and slowly, then squared her shoulders. “I understand. It's my turn to prove myself to you. And I will.”

She walked past him to her front door. Ean watched her enter her home. She'd left the light on in her foyer as usual. He stared blindly at her house before getting back into his car.

Damn it! He'd taken her at her word when she'd said she believed he was home for good. She'd lied. Now she was claiming she could prove she trusted him. What could she possibly do to convince him that their relationship was more than just sex? Really, really great sex.

CHAPTER 36

“Good. You're here.” Ramona's pronouncement broke Megan's concentration.

Megan glanced up from her year-end accounting report to find her cousin striding into her office at Books & Bakery. It was Saturday morning, four days before New Year's Eve. She laid her pencil on her desk. “It's good to see you, too.” And she meant it. Girl talk was a powerful thing. It had healed a decaying family bond. It could probably forge a bridge to world peace.

Ramona settled into one of the dark blue visitor's chairs in front of her desk. “I've already spoken with Doreen, but I wanted to talk with you about this myself.”

A sliver of unease grew in her gut. “About what?”

Ramona crossed her legs, smoothing her purple velvet maxiskirt over her thigh. “I've decided to withdraw from the mayoral race.”

Megan's expression felt frozen. “What changed your mind about running?”

“I've thought about this a lot since Doreen announced her campaign.” Ramona wrapped her hands around the overstuffed arms of the guest chair. “I don't really enjoy being mayor. I never have. But Doreen has a passion for that kind of responsibility. So I've decided to withdraw my candidacy and endorse her campaign.”

Megan's eyebrows rose. “I'm sure she's thrilled to have your support.”

Ramona waved a dismissive hand. “She deserves it. I told her I wished her every happiness and great success. And I meant it.”

Remarkable. Megan examined her cousin's features and listened hard to her voice. She didn't detect even an ounce of regret in Ramona's expression or her tone.

“What are you going to do with all your spare time?”
Do I really want to know the answer?

Ramona's shoulders rose and fell in a movement that was almost theatrical. “Well, now that someone who actually wants to be mayor is running, I'm going to follow my own dream.”

“You're moving to New York.” Megan answered her own question.

“I haven't decided yet. I'd like to try a cosmopolitan city, but New York isn't the only big city out there.” Her cousin's eyes were bright with excitement.

Megan wished she could feel the same. “I've heard Philadelphia is nice.”

A faint blush filled Ramona's cheeks. “I've heard that, too.”

Megan coughed, trying to dislodge the lump building in her throat. “I've known this day was coming. Now that it's here, I don't feel prepared.”

“It's not as though I'm leaving next week or even next month.” Ramona offered her a smile that wasn't quite steady around the edges. “It'll take me a while to figure out where I'm going and what I'm going to do once I get there.”

“Why are you leaving?” Megan's voice faded at the end of her question.

“I need a bigger playground, Megan.” Ramona's response lacked conviction. “I need more excitement. I wasn't up for the challenge before, but my experiences over the past six years have given me more confidence. You've become more confident, too.”

Megan nodded, buying herself time to clear the burning mass from her throat. She looked away, blinking rapidly. She wouldn't cry. That would be too ridiculous. “I just feel as though, now that we're growing closer, you're moving away.”

“Something tells me you'll be too preoccupied to even miss me.” Ramona's voice was thick with amusement—and a hint of sorrow.

Megan couldn't hold back the tears. She swiped them angrily away. “I don't know about that. Ean and I haven't seen or even talked to each other since the night you announced the center's sale.”

“That was five days ago.”

“I know.”

“You didn't even speak on Christmas Day?” It was Ramona's turn to gape at Megan. “Why are you giving each other the silent treatment over such a small misunderstanding?”

“It's not that small. He doesn't think I trust him.” Megan pulled a tissue from the box on her desk and wiped her nose.

“Because you wanted to know why he was meeting with his former bosses?”

“And because I didn't want to move in with him.”

“Oh, Megan.” Ramona sighed. “Does this have anything to do with your fear that he's not going to stay in Trinity Falls?”

Megan nodded. “But now I really do believe that he's going to stay.”

“Then tell him.”

“I did. He didn't believe me.” Megan rubbed her forehead. “I have to figure out a way to show him that I believe him. But I don't know what to do.”

“It's going to have to be something pretty big. I mean, the man did just buy the town center for you.”

Megan blinked. “He didn't buy it for me. He bought it for the town.”

Ramona chuckled. “I'm pretty sure your involvement went a long way toward swaying his decision.”

Megan dropped her head into her hands. “If that's true, now I feel worse.”

“You'd better find a way to make it up to him soon. There's nothing worse than living with regret.”

“Trust me. I don't want to live with this feeling any longer than I have to.”

Megan slowed to an easy jog along the sidewalk three blocks from her home. She'd pushed herself during her New Year's Eve jog this Tuesday morning, adding an extra mile to her workout. The air was cool against her heated cheeks. Sweat dripped incongruously from her brow. She'd hoped the exercise would clear her thoughts and help her come up with a plan to win back Ean. But her mind had remained painfully blank.

Her gaze slid toward Doreen's house. Was Ean inside? Maybe she should cross the street and check. Doreen was probably awake. She wouldn't have to ring the bell. She could just knock....

“Megan McCloud, get out of the cold!” Ms. Helen's admonishment shot like a bullet from her porch.

Megan jumped a foot above the sidewalk. She pressed her hand to her chest and stumbled to a stop in front of the older woman's home. “Ms. Helen, you scared ten years off my life.”

“Good.” The older woman stood shivering in her doorway. “I hope I scared some sense into you, too. Now come inside before you freeze to death.”

Her muscles were still recovering from the surprise attack. Nevertheless, Megan hurried to obey Ms. Helen's order. She wasn't far from home, nor was she cold—thanks to her run. But the older woman was in maximum-fuss mode. Experience had taught Megan that Ms. Helen would continue to target her until Megan surrendered. She toed off her shoes before entering her neighbor's home.

“Good Lord, child. What would your grandparents think to see you out running in the cold?” Ms. Helen continued the chastisement as she let Megan into her foyer.

The room was warm and cheerful with the holiday spirit. Christmas greeting cards were suspended from a cord Ms. Helen had tied across the top of her windows. The air was fragrant with the scents of pine from the thick, natural Christmas tree and apples from a nearby candle.

“Ms. Helen, you worry like this every time you see me jogging in the winter.” She would have taken an alternate route home, but Megan had secretly hoped to run into Ean.

Ms. Helen grunted. “And you never listen. Come on back. I'll fix you some tea to warm you up.”

Megan pulled off her ear warmers and tugged off her gloves. She followed her neighbor through her living and dining rooms, and into her kitchen. The older woman looked comfortable in a red velour lounge suit that picked up the healthy blush of her cheeks. Her oversized, fuzzy purple slippers were silent on her hardwood flooring.

Ms. Helen had enhanced the kitchen's white-and-yellow color scheme with hand towels, pot holders and Christmas curtains that added the season's green-and-red accents.

Megan settled into a chair at the table and watched her hostess prepare their tea. “Happy New Year, Ms. Helen.”

“Happy New Year to you, too, baby.” Ms. Helen spoke with her back to Megan as she pulled mugs, tea bags and sugar from her cupboards.

With a smile, Megan shook her head at the familiar exchange. “Did you have a good Christmas?”

“Oh yes. This year, all of the cousins returned to Trinity Falls with their children. They left yesterday. It was a good visit.”

Megan nodded. Ms. Helen's relatives were scattered across the country and took turns hosting the family's Christmas reunions. “Will they come back for the Founders Day celebration this summer?”

“They'd better.” Ms. Helen's tone was stern. “This one's the sesquicentennial. It's too important to miss.”

“I hope Jack Sansbury feels the same way.”

The kettle boiled. Ms. Helen turned off the burner and poured the hot water into two mugs. “He's the last member of the town's founding family. He'll come around by then.”

Megan accepted the tea from her hostess. “Thank you.”

“I haven't seen Ean running with you for a few days now.” Ms. Helen settled into the chair across the table. “When are you two going to settle this foolishness and make up?”

Megan dropped her gaze. “I wish I knew, Ms. Helen.”

Ms. Helen grunted. “I was young and stupid once. But I didn't know it at the time. Well, I knew I was young. Didn't know I was stupid.”

Megan smiled. “How did you come to find out you were stupid?”

“I fell in love.” Ms. Helen laughed at Megan's expression. “You'd never imagined that I'd had a torrid love affair, did you? Actually, I've had more than one.”

“Why didn't you ever marry?” Megan looked with new eyes at her elderly neighbor.

Ms. Helen blew into her mug of hot tea. “I came close to marriage during my first love affair. I met him while I was teaching at the college. Well, it was a college then. It's a university now.”

“Was he a professor, too?” Megan recalled Ms. Helen had taught physics at what was then Trinity Falls College. She'd been Dr. Helen Gaston in those days, decades before the town's children began calling her “Ms. Helen.”

Ms. Helen nodded. “He taught political science.”

“What happened?” Megan prompted. Ms. Helen wasn't telling the story fast enough.

Ms. Helen's gaze became distant as though she was reviewing the events from her past. “He was a fine man. Tall, lean, broad shoulders. He had a great butt. Far too sexy to teach political science. And I told him so.”

Remarkable. Megan had known Ms. Helen her entire life but had never heard the story of her lost love. Had anyone?

“What happened?” She prompted again.

Ms. Helen's gaze came back into focus. “He wasn't from Trinity Falls and didn't want to stay. But I didn't want to leave. I was born here. I grew up here. I'd attended universities in big cities, but Trinity Falls was my home.” She arched an eyebrow. “Sound familiar?”

Megan nodded. Ms. Helen's story was her own. “So he left.”

“He left. He became a campaign advisor to a political candidate in Chicago.” Ms. Helen sipped her tea. “I was devastated for a long time. A very long time.”

“I'm so sorry.” Megan could only imagine the older woman's heartache. She was experiencing a smaller version of it now.

Ms. Helen seemed to shake off the memories. “I heard he married a stunning young woman with excellent political connections.”

“Oh no.”

“A few years later, he went to prison.”

Megan blinked. “What?”

“He was caught embezzling from that Chicago politician's reelection campaign fund.” Ms. Helen propped her chin on her fist and lowered her voice. “I'd always wondered if he stole the money to please his wife. She looked to be used to the finer things.”

“Oh.” What else could she say?

“‘Oh,' indeed.” Ms. Helen lowered her arm to the table. “Do you know the difference between my lover and yours?”

“Besides the fact that Ean would never embezzle money?”

Ms. Helen chuckled. “Yes, besides that.”

“What is it?”
Am I really having this conversation with Ms. Helen?

“My lover left Trinity Falls. Yours came back. Your fear of losing him became a self-fulfilling prophesy. He didn't leave Trinity Falls, but he did leave you.”

The words were hard to hear. “I shouldn't have given in to my fear.”

“No, you shouldn't have.”

Megan felt worse. “Do you have any advice for me?”

“Yes, I do.”

Megan's heart jumped. “What is it?”

“Don't wait too long to make things right.”

 

 

“This isn't much of a New Year's celebration.” Quincy's voice rumbled into Ramona's town hall office Tuesday afternoon.