Page 75 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

When hell freezes over, he thought. There was no way Mia would join him doing anything. Zara was the only woman he wanted with him on his boat. “Sorry, but someone else will be joining me.” What he’d said was a bald-faced lie, but his mother had no right to deliberately put him on the spot in front of Mia.

He looked back at Mia. “Please finish your breakfast, Mia. I’ll be out back near the dock when you’re ready to talk.”

He then left the kitchen.

31

Saint had been standing, facing the bayou, when he heard the sound of movement behind him. He turned to see Mia approaching. She smiled upon meeting his gaze. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it, Evans?”

“Yes, it is,” he agreed, wondering what nonsense his mother and hers had conjured up to persuade her to come here to see him. He figured he would find out soon enough.

“I’m sorry your mother tried pushing you into taking me boating, Evans.”

“No problem. I know how to handle Mom when she tries getting into my business.” He paused a moment and then when she came to a stop in front of him, he asked, “What do you want to talk to me about, Mia?”

She nervously glanced over her shoulder and then back at him and said, “Can we take a walk?”

He figured she’d asked that because she, like him, was aware his mother was watching them through the curtains. “Sure.”

She moved in step beside him when he began walking. “I love your home. Your mom dropped by there after picking me up from the airport this morning. I didn’t see the insides, but from the outside it’s impressive. There’s so much land.”

“Yes, there is, but I’m sure my home and property aren’t what you came all the way from Florida to talk to me about, Mia,” he said, cutting to the chase.

“No, it isn’t.” She seemed nervous and Mia had always been a self-assured and confident woman.

She met his gaze and stopped walking and he did, too. “I made a mistake about you, Evans. It might have taken me three years to face that fact, but I have. The thought of marriage scared me because it was something I thought I would fail at.”

He lifted a brow. “Why would you have thought that? Your parents have a successful marriage, and so did your grandparents on both sides. Why would you think you’d fail?”

“Mainly because I wanted to accomplish a number of things before settling down, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that while married. If you recall my mom and grandmothers were stay-at-home moms and they were satisfied with that. I’m different. I wanted a career and my career meant everything to me.”

He’d known that and had never tried standing in the way of her having one. “I don’t recall giving you grief about your work, Mia. I was always supportive.”

“Yes, but you wanted to get married and start a family. I honestly wasn’t ready for either. My boss had promised me a promotion so I knew it was only a matter of time before I would get it. I also knew that meant relocating to Florida. I had decisions to make. I figured you wouldn’t want to relocate unless I agreed to marriage, and I didn’t want to do that.”

“Why are you rehashing everything, Mia?”

She shrugged. “Because I now know that I made a mistake. My career no longer means anything to me.”

“Is the reason it no longer means anything to you because you no longer have one? At least not with Monroe, Hills and Luster since they went out of business?”

He knew her well and the blush that appeared on her cheeks told him he was right. If her career was still flying high, she would not be here. In a way he’d always known he came second in her life. She’d only considered him her safety net and nothing more.

“Okay, Evans, I admit losing my job was my wake-up call. But you knew that eventually I’d get my priorities straight and come to my senses.”

“What makes you think that?” he asked.

She gave him a tentative smile. “Because according to our folks, you haven’t been seriously involved with anyone since we broke up over three years ago. That means you’ve been waiting for me to get myself together.”

She was dead wrong and so were their parents if that was what they thought. Granted, it took him a year after she had left to move on. But he knew, deep down, that he began truly living again that night he met Zara. Something about her had reached out to him. Of course, he’d assumed it was only physical. But when their paths had crossed again two and a half years later, a part of him had known differently.

He’d never been one to believe in predetermined destination until now. There was a reason Zara had appeared and then reappeared in his life. He hadn’t been waiting for Mia to return. And she was wrong about him not being seriously involved with anyone. As far as he was concerned, Zara was an integral part of his life.

He met Mia’s gaze and held it. She honestly believed what she’d said, and that in itself was sad. For him, it showed how selfish she was if she thought she could place him second in her life during the four years they’d been together, and then over three years after their breakup, when her life appeared to be falling apart, and after not having had any contact with him whatsoever, she could waltz back into his life and think he would be happy to take her back.

“You’re wrong, Mia, and so are my folks and yours if anyone thought I’ve been waiting for you to come back. And contrary to what you’ve been told, I have been seeing someone seriously.”

She waved her hand as if to dismiss what he’d said. “I hope you don’t mean that woman you’ve been involved with over the past month. According to your mom the two of you are having an affair that will end when she leaves town.”

---