Page 37 of Mishaps and Mistletoe

She blew out a breath and shook her head. “You kept saying youhadto join me. That you justhadto help me, like it was something you actually wanted to do. And I’m the fool who believed it was because you lo—”

“Because I what?” he asked, reaching for a life raft, knowing she would pull it from his grasp at the last second. He deserved to drown. But he reached out anyway. What other choice did he have?

“You lied to me. You used me.” She looked up to the sky, and he watched her chest tremble on her inhale. “And the thing is—I should have known better.”

“Josie, I lied because I needed to keep seeing you.”

Her lips pressed into a line. “Yeah. And now I know why.”

He took a step toward her so he could lower his voice. They’d caught the attention of several families whose holiday merriment they were quickly ruining. “Yes, I kept part of the truth from you. I’ll admit that. And I’m sorry. I should have been totally honest with you from the beginning.” And then something hit him. Something he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized before. Her hesitancy. Her past. It all made sense to him now. And before he could stop himself, he flung the revelation into the air. “Are you really mad at me for that, or are you just using it as an excuse?”

“What?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Are you really upset with me for not telling you I’d be working on advertising for your place of employment, or are you using it as an excuse to end this?”

She jolted as though his words had slapped her across the face. “That’s ridiculous. Why would I throw this all away so easily?”

“Guilt.” Her nostrils flared, and he saw her chest rising and falling so fast he feared she might hyperventilate. “It’s the same reason you ran away from the holidays. You feel bad because you’re moving on, and Courtney can’t.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her face still said she wished he was dead, but the softer volume of her voice told him she was too tired to fight.

“I think I do.”

She stamped her foot on the ground. “This whole thing—whatever it was—I just can’t be with a liar. I can’t get over it. Sorry.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Does it matter?” She rubbed her forehead. “I just can’t believe I’m here again. This is all such a disappointment.”

A disappointment.

Kevin winced at her words. Words he’d heard throughout his life, butneverimagined he’d hear from her. From someone he’d shown parts of himself to that he’d shown no one else. Someone he’d trusted enough to do that with. Someone he loved. “I see,” he responded in a voice so rough and thick he hardly recognized it.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that—”

“You don’t have to explain,” he said, waving his hand between them.

“Kevin, please.” She reached out to him, placing a hand on his forearm, and a chilly sting accompanied the touch. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

Over the last three minutes, she’d basically confessed that she loved him and that she hated him. “Which part?”

“Mr. McCann, you left your credit card!” the café worker shouted as she ran to them. When Kevin turned to take the card, Josie made a break for it.

And Kevin let her.

Not because he didn’t want to chase her, but because it would likely hurt too much if he did.

ChapterThirteen

“Knock, knock!”

Kevin looked up from his desk. “Mrs. Harvey, what can I do for you?”

She offered a small smile. “Nothing for me. It’s Mr. Stevenson, actually. He’d like to see you in his office as soon as possible.”

Three days. It had been three days since he’d last seen his boss. Three days since he’d chased Josie into the parking lot of the lodge, and everything came crumbling down around him. Three days since he’d last seen her. And those days defied the laws of time, seeming much longer than the decades that had passed between when they’d met as kids to when they’d reunited a few weeks ago.

“Please tell him I’ll be right there.”

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