Page 40 of Oops, I Fell For The Town Bad Boy!

She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen him just now. So cold, so detached… There was nothing in him that seemed to regret the fact that he was leaving. No indication that he would miss her, miss it here. It seemed to Taylor that she had had no impact on him at all. He probably wouldn’t even remember her when he went back to Detroit.

I misjudged him, she thought, her heart sinking. I thought he spent all those years away longing to come back but feeling afraid to… but that’s only what I wanted to believe. The truth was that he let me believe that, probably because it was easier than admitting to the fact that he has never cared about anything or anyone in this town.

She clung to that idea. She wanted to believe it was true. It would be easier to hate Kane right now than to admit to the feelings she knew were still there.

But even though the idea was appealing, she couldn’t hate him. She couldn’t forget how it had felt to hold him in her arms, or to work side by side with him. She couldn’t forget the happiness she had felt at the idea that he might care about her the way she cared about him.

He was right that they had both known it wasn’t going to last forever. But she hadn’t imagined it would end like this. Even when she had allowed that thoughts of their parting to come to her, she had assumed it was something they would both be at least mildly sad about.

Instead, he didn’t seem to give a damn.

Taylor thought about the stir fry on the dining room table. She ought to go back, pack it up so that it wouldn’t go bad. That would be the responsible thing to do.

But why do I always have to be responsible? Look at what Kane is doing — skipping town when people need him again, just like he always does. He certainly didn’t care about living up to his responsibilities. Taylor was tired of being the responsible one all the time.

She couldn’t pull out of the farmers market, though — she knew that. No matter how much it bothered her to think of having to see it through without Kane, she couldn’t do it to the Chesterfields, who had been screwed over so many times and had done nothing to deserve it. She’d have to go through with this, even though Kane had let everybody down.

She let out a sigh and laid down on her bed.

It was all her fault, really. She was the one who’d decided to trust him, and she should have known better. He had shown her years ago who he was. People didn’t change. Not that much.

CHAPTER 21

TAYLOR

“So he’s really just leaving?” Maddie asked as she helped Taylor put up the booth that would host the local candlemaker.

“Yup,” Taylor said. “I mean, I don’t know why I expected anything else. Leaving is all Kane ever does.”

“I thought it would be different this time, though,” Maddie said. “Didn’t you?”

“Why would it be different? You mean, because we’re older now? That’s what I thought — that maybe he’d matured — but I was giving him way too much credit. He’s the same flighty, selfish person he always was.”

Maddie raised her eyebrows, stopping what she was doing to look at Taylor.

“What?” Taylor asked.

“You don’t usually talk about people that way,” Maddie said. “You sound awfully mean when you do.”

“I can be mean.”

“Not usually,” Maddie said with a smile. “You’re usually one of the nicest people I know. To a fault, even.”

“Well, maybe I think he deserves it.”

“And maybe he does. But what’s bringing out this side of you? Plenty of people have deserved to be told off in the time I’ve known you, and you’re rarely the one to do it. You’re usually more about giving second chances.”

“Are you kidding me?” Taylor asked. “Maddie, this was his second chance. Are you saying I should give him a third one?”

Maddie held up her hands. “I’m not saying you should do anything,” she said. “You need to handle this in whatever way feels right to you. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I’m surprised to see you so affected by this.”

Taylor sighed. Her friend wasn’t wrong, she supposed. “I don’t know why I let him get under my skin this time.”

“Let’s get a drink,” Maddie suggested, pointing over at the table where the Chesterfields had set up a cooler of lemonades for the people who had come to volunteer today.

Just the thought of volunteers made Taylor feel angry. So many people from Miller Creek were here pitching in, happy to help. And the one person who should have been making amends had run away.

“You know, it’s probably hard for him to face all this,” Maddie said quietly.

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