Page 13 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

He took a quick look over at her and said, “You’re Vaughn’s sister.” It wasn’t a question but a statement, and he knew she took it as such.

“Yes, and as you probably know by now my name is Zara Miller.” She paused a moment and said, “And you’re Evans Toussaint. I understand Saint is what most people call you.”

“Yes, it is.”

“That night when you introduced yourself to me as Saint, I figured it was a name you’d made up. That’s why I told you my name was Angel.”

“I figured as much,” he said. Although the bayou was dark and there was little light on the streets, he knew his way since he’d lived here his entire life, until he left for college.

“Why didn’t you correct me on my assumption?” she asked.

“I tried to. If you recall, I suggested we share our real names. You didn’t want to do that,” he reminded her.

She did recall that at the time, she hadn’t. “You’re right, I didn’t. That night, sharing our real names wasn’t all that important. I honestly thought you were someone who’d attended the summer music festival in New Orleans that weekend in August. Someone I would never see again.”

“That was a logical assumption to make since a number of the stranded travelers were. I’d come to Catalina Cove that week to check on my parents. My father had had an accident the week before.”

“I hope he was okay,” she said.

He heard genuine concern in her voice. “He was fine and was just being an ornery patient to Mom. But then I guess he figured it was payback since she wasn’t the best patient to him months earlier when she’d cut her finger and had to get stitches.” He suppressed a laugh, then said, “They like to get on each other’s nerves every once in a while.”

“You’re amused by it?” she asked.

“Can’t help but be. My parents were high school sweethearts. I guess after over forty years of marriage it was bound to happen. But trust me, it doesn’t often. They love each other very much and are thicker than glue.”

When the interior of the car got quiet, she said, “That night when you were leaving Catalina Cove, I was arriving to visit Vaughn. However, due to the storm it wasn’t safe to make the hour drive from New Orleans.”

No wonder she’d given him a vague answer when he’d asked about her flight out of New Orleans. “Just so you know, Zara. I don’t regret that night.”

“Neither do I, Saint. And I was telling the truth when I said being with you enabled me to make a pathway forward.”

He recalled her saying that, but at the time she hadn’t gone into any details. Would she now? There was no harm in asking. “Will you tell me why you felt you needed one?”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she told him that it was none of his business. Instead, she said, “Four months before we met, I had broken up with my boyfriend.”

“The one you had dated exclusively for two years?”

“Yes. That’s the one.” She got quiet again and then added, “He was cheating on me.”

“He cheated on you?” he asked to make sure he’d heard her correctly. Saint couldn’t imagine any man in his right mind doing such a thing. Especially to her.

“Yes. I caught him.”

A frown settled in his features. “In the act?”

“Close enough. He and the woman had been seeing each other for around six months. I guess he started getting a guilty conscience and ended things with her. He purchased her a parting gift, a diamond tennis bracelet. Somehow, there was a mix-up with the order since he’d bought me something from that same jeweler before. In error, I got the gift instead. I knew the moment I thanked him for it, by the shocked look on his face, that it hadn’t been meant for me. I called him out on it, and he admitted everything.”

Saint shook his head. Not only had the guy cheated on her, but he had purchased the other woman a parting gift? An expensive parting gift at that. Finding out what an ass her boyfriend was had to have been hard for her.

“Maurice felt he should be forgiven since his affair with the woman meant nothing,” she then said. “He claimed she was someone he’d recently met, and it was just sex and no emotions were involved.” She chuckled scoffingly. “Like just the sex part wasn’t bad enough. He tried making me feel guilty by saying it happened during the time I was traveling extensively while checking on my boutiques, and we weren’t spending a lot of quality time together.”

She paused before continuing. “He felt I should give him credit for coming to his senses and ending things with her. He thought I was being unfair to him for throwing away two years of what he saw as a good relationship without trying to work things out between us.”

He needed to know, so he asked, “Did you take him back?”

“I almost did until I discovered through a mutual friend that his affair with the woman hadn’t been the first time. The two of them had been a couple in college and were known to hook up every so often over the years. Evidently, he’d had no problem continuing to do so after meeting me. When I confronted him about it, he admitted they had a history but said he was finally over her. I felt he should have told me the truth about them being involved other times before, and not make it seem like he hadn’t known her until the affair.”

After glimpsing out the window, she looked back at him and said, “At that point, working anything out wasn’t an option with me. He even thought he was being a nice guy by telling me I could keep the bracelet he’d purchased for the other woman. Can you believe that, Saint?”

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