Page 55 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

I stepped out of the elevator and faced him. “Can Emily spare you a few more hours? I’m going to need your researching skills.”

He raised an eyebrow, but grinned when he saw the look on my face. “Count me in. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Twenty-One

Two daysafter Tanner’s video hit YouTube, I quit my job.

Paul frowned when I gave him the official letter to pass along to the Forest Agency. “Is this some feminist crap about keeping you in the booth?” he hissed. “If it is, I don’t understand it. You have a real opportunity here.”

I did my best not to roll my eyes. If he weren’t retiring, I would have told him off then and there. “It’s the perfect opportunity for someone else. Thanks for hiring me and helping me find out what I want.”And don’t want.I refused to be used again, by Paul or his bosses or anyone else.

“Where do you intend to go from here, then? I’m sure that wildlife technician job was filled long ago.”

I smiled politely at him. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about a career educating the public in wildlife preservation using social media, YouTube specifically. Those videos can be very effective.” I grinned and walked away, leaving him sputtering.

When I arrived home, a little sweaty and more than a little dirty, Carmen burst out of the kitchen with a giant bowl of popcorn that made the entire living room smell like melted butter. “There you are. I thought you got eaten by a bear.”

“Thisisthe time of year when bears are fattening up for hibernation,” I told her. “But they’re mostly harmless as long as—”

“Okay, well, anyway,” she broke in, rolling her eyes. “I thought we could have a movie night.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you had plans tonight.”

Carmen looked positively giddy. “Canceled. There’s something you have to see.” She motioned to the couch. “Sit.”

It was then I saw her arrangement of pillows across the sofa and a second huge bowl of popcorn. “How long is this movie exactly?”

“Not long. I’m setting the mood. Will you sit already?”

I sat. She shoved the new bowl into my hands and plopped down next to me. Then she picked up the remote and woke up the TV, which came to life. Tanner’s YouTube episode list.

I groaned. “Not a fan already, Carmen.”

“Give it a chance. I think you’ll like this one.” She pulled up one of the videos and hit play before sitting back with a grin.

The sight of Tanner standing there with a tight black V-neck tee that pulled nicely around his shoulders and hardened chest made my heart skip a beat. It was the same shirt he’d worn to the carnival with his ridiculous Grease jacket. And those arms . . . they’d been around me just days before. Those lips had been on mine, and possibly my neck too, and—dang. I would need a fan to get through this.

Somewhere deep down, my heart quivered in its safe little corner. I wasn’t sure I could handle another surprise from him. I almost dumped the popcorn over Carmen’s head and went to my room.

But this wasn’t a past video. The post date said today despite the skyrocketing view numbers. Behind him lay a wide patch of lawn and people walking past on a sidewalk. One couple had a dog and looked at one another shyly, as if this were the exciting new beginning of a promising relationship.

“Today I’m at a park in Manhattan,” Tanner began. “Normally, I would tell you all about it, maybe interview the caretaker and show you what’s cool about it. But this episode is for a very special person and her alone. The rest of you can hang on for the ride.”

I looked at Carmen questioningly, but she shushed me and motioned back to the TV.

“I messed up,” Tanner said. “Big time. Not only did I visit a small town with the intention of profiting off it, not caring what happened to it afterward, but I did something far worse. I used someone I cared about. I shared a story that wasn’t mine to share. It was an accident, but I should have made sure it didn’t happen in the first place. I betrayed her trust in the biggest way possible, and that’s on me. Nobody else.” The camera moved in on his face—that jaw I’d caressed and those eyes that seemed to stare into my soul, and I saw only truth there. “So I took down my previous episode and recorded this one instead. I can’t undo what happened, but I want to try and make it right.”

I set the popcorn bowl on the floor and swallowed back the lump in my throat.

“This is Four Seasons Park,” he said. “This special person’s parents were married here, and she’s always wanted to visit. But since I can’t bring her here, I’m bringing it to her.”

Tears sprang to my eyes.Now I recognized it. That lawn, that pathway behind it, the skyline in the distance. I’d seen it in their wedding photos.

“I did some research. Turns out a local newspaper covered the event in detail back then. Where I’m standing now is where the happy couple stood when they made their vows. Out there,” he said, gesturing to the lawn, “is where the guests sat. And this was the aisle.” He motioned to a stone pathway with grass growing between the cracks.

Suddenly, I could picture it—my mother in her white dress with a train that ran at least fifteen feet. My father in his black tux, watching her with a tender expression. He cried over everything. Always had. He didn’t like watching movies where people died or fell in love because he got weepy and then grumpy that he’d gotten weepy.

And now it was me acting all weepy. Carmen wordlessly handed me a box of tissues she’d obviously prepared in advance. I grabbed a handful.

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