Page 18 of Snowed In With The Second Chance Daddy

I shake my head. “I’m just curious. Rowan and Oliver don’t talk about you.”At my request. “So, I don’t know how you’ve been.”

“I didn’t know you cared.”

Harsh. An uppercut to the jaw.

“Of course, I care.” More than I want to. More than I let on.

Iris chews on the corner of her lip. Wary of me.

She wasn’t even this wary on our first date, and I was just a stranger from a dating app.

Hard to believe a stranger might make her feel safer than I could right now.

“Be honest with me,” she says, gentleness in her voice. “And don’t get mad when I say this, but…”

My thigh muscles tighten in preparation to not get mad.

“I think you want to know if I regret taking the job. Is that true?”

I blink a few times. “I…”

“Be honest, it’s fine.”

I close my eyes. I’m so frustrated. Not with her. With me. “That’s notallwant to know, but…” I rub my hands over my face. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

It’s strange to me, but Iris smiles. It’s a sad sort of smile. A smile she wishes could be different I think. “I don’t, Trevor.”

I suck in a breath. Another punch, this one to the gut.

I can’t conceal how her answer makes me feel. “Sorry, I–”

“It’s okay, I know that can’t be pleasant to hear.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s not.”

I’m no longer hungry. The smell of the buttery pretzel’s making me nauseous. I reach for my lemonade, hoping it can tamp down the churning in my belly.

“Look, Trev…”

Not the nickname…

“I know apologies mean nothing. You made that clear.”

The night everything fell apart between us, there was no lack of apologies from Iris. They fell on my deaf ears. Because it couldn’t fix what had happened.

“And while I’m sorry that the way I made my decision hurt you…I can’t help but wonder how you would have reacted if I had told you that I was applying for a job in Seattle. That Igota job in Seattle.”

“I would have supported you.”

“Not the way I needed to be supported.”

I move back in my seat, her words a physical push to my chest.

“You would have been scared that things would have to change. I know you, Trevor. You were so locked in on our future.”

“And you weren’t?”

“I was, but you were so rigid about everything once we got engaged.”

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