Page 8 of No Ordinary Love

He knew how I'd put all my savings into the townhouse, confident that it was the right financial decision because I was building a future with this man.

He looked down at his drink, swirling the remaining amber liquid in the glass. For a moment, he was quiet, and I almost thought he might apologize. But when he finally spoke, he hurt me more.

"I can buy you out; that's no issue. If you remember, I didn't even want you to spend your money. You'll have your money asap.ButI'm not ready to end us. We should take some time to think this through."

Time? How much time had I already wasted waiting for him to decide if I was worth it? The realization hit me hard, the finality of it all. Lucas wasn't heartbroken. He wasn't torn apart like I was. He was just feeling guilty, and that wasn't enough to build a life on.

"To think throughwhat?" I demanded huskily, heartbroken, angry,broken.

"Us, baby. What we have is good. I—"

"Do you love me?" I asked the same question I'd asked him over the phone.

He looked up at me, and I could see the conflict in his eyes. But it wasn't the sort that would drive him to chase after me or beg me to stay. It was the kind that would hold him back, waiting for the decision to be made for him.

I tossed back the rest of my wine, pulled a twenty from my purse, and tucked it under the glass before standing up.

"Goodbye, Lucas," I whispered, turning away before he could see the tears welling up in my eyes.

As I walked out of The Den, I realized that maybe I wasn't just closing the door on a relationship; perhaps I was closing thedoor on a part of myself that had been waiting for Lucas to be the man I needed him to be.

By the time I got to Basil's place, I was a mess. I was grateful that Basil was not at home—he'd wanted to be there, but I'd told him I needed to be alone. He didn't know I was meeting Lucas; otherwise, he'd have been at The Den, glowering at my now ex-boyfriend.

I went into the guest room and sat on the bed. I felt like someone had died—like Lucas had, and in the worst way possible. Our relationship had ended, and the man I loved was gone; the man I thought who loved me never even existed.

With trembling hands, I called my father.

"Kiddo, how are you?"

"I'm not good, Daddy," I whispered, my voice cracking. The familiar sound of his kind voice was enough to destroy the last bit of strength I had left. "It's over. Lucas…he doesn't love me. Heneverdid."

There was a pause on the other end. I knew my father was taking in every word, processing it with the careful consideration he always gave to everything.

"Tell me what happened," he said finally, his tone gentle but firm—the way it always was when he knew I needed him to be both my father and the cop who'd seen it all.

I took a shaky breath.

"I overheard him talking to his mother," I began, the words spilling out faster than I could hold them back, as if saying them might somehow lessen the sting. "He said...he said he still loves his ex. And when she asked about me, he said he didn't know if he loved me."

The silence on the other end was heavy, and I could almost picture my father, his jaw tightening, his hand clenching into a fist the way it always did when he was upset.

"That bastard," he muttered under his breath, but I caught it. Even miles away, he was ready to fight for me. "Son of a bitch. I trusted him with you."

Daddy had met Lucas a few times and liked him. In fact, the first time they met, he'd approved of Lucas. "That's a solid man you got there, kiddo."

How could I have been so wrong about him?I wondered sadly.

I was a careful person. I had had a few boyfriends; actually, two before Lucas, and they were relationships that lasted a couple of years. Now, it felt like that was a pattern. Two years and my time was up.ButI'd not been in love with my previous boyfriends. I never lived with them. We dated. We had fun. We were monogamous because that was one of my caveats. I didn't do casual sex or men who did casual sex.

"Kiddo, I don't know what to say. The man I saw, the one I met, I'm certain was in love with you," he said somberly. "I cannot fathom what happened but I suspect the pressure from his family finally became too much."

Daddy hadn't liked Patsy and Shelby, and he'd told me that he'd prefer not to meet them again unless Lucas and I were getting married, or it was unavoidable. He'd actually hit it off with Rena, which had been a surprise to everyone. I'd always thought of her as snobbish and standoffish, but she was charmed by Daddy, and they'd gotten along very well, to the chagrin of Patsy, who was turned off by my family's blue-collar roots.

"And let's not forget, he never got over Kath," I added.

"Sometimes men confuse pride with love." Daddy sounded resigned. "But all this tells me is that he's not the right man for you. Where are you now?"

He knew me well and guessed that I wouldn't have stayed where Lucas and Iwere building a life. "I'm at Basil's. I couldn'tbe…," I trailed away, my voice trembling as everything that had happened came crashing down on me.

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