Page 114 of Beach Vibes

“Jana, don’t do this.” His tone cajoled. “We were so good together. Remember our weekend away?”

“How did you manage that? Was she out of town?”

Something flickered in his eyes.

“She was.” Jana laughed. “That’s so classic. Wow, so our, quote, scheduling around your work, unquote, was just you waiting until your real girlfriend was gone. You must have been texting her the whole time. How do you keep us straight? Isn’t that exhausting?”

The contrition faded, as if he’d decided to drop the act. “It’s not as hard as you think,” he said, his voice astonishingly casual. “So you’re really going to do this? End things?”

“I am. You’re a whole lot less than you think, Rick. It’s not going to take me very long to get over you.”

His expression turned contemptuous. “You’re hoping that’s true, but let’s face it. You’re not going to do better than me.”

He started for the door, then turned back. “As for the act, it worked on you, didn’t it? Women like you make it easy. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself.”

With that, he was gone.

She sank into her chair and stared at the open door. She feltas if she’d just been in an emotional hit-and-run. Adrenaline joined anger, adding a faint twist of nausea to the mix. How was she supposed to reconcile what had just happened with the man she’d been dating for the past few months? While she was shocked by what he’d said, she supposed the real kicker was the almost villainous confidence. Something like that only came from a lot of success. So how many women had there been, and under what circumstances?

She thought about what Dex had said—that a person couldn’t cut open bodies on a regular basis, fighting back death, and not have a different mindset. She assumed most surgeons were warm, giving people and that Rick was the exception. Or more likely, his personality had always been there. The cool job simply gave him more opportunity to be a jerk.

On the bright side, their encounter had gone a long way to helping her get over him. The only thing to mourn was how gullible she’d been. Thank goodness he hadn’t been around enough for Linnie to get attached.

As she reached for her headset, she had the brief thought that there was no way Beth had seen this side of her brother. The other woman was too giving, too kind, to be comfortable with someone like that. Or did she know and look the other way because they were family? And in the end, did it really matter at all?

* * *

The lull between the lunch rush and the high school kid invasion at the store gave Beth too much time to think. She needed to stay busy enough to keep her mind occupied so she wouldn’t keep going over and over what had happened Saturday night. She kept seeing the shock on Teddy’s face, hearing her own voice as she pleaded, then feeling the helplessness of having him walk away.

Just as distressing was imagining what Jana must be going through. While Teddy was probably pissed, his involvement wasn’t direct. Jana, on the other hand, had been betrayed bothby a friend and by the man who was supposed to be falling in love with her. She’d been the innocent party but had ended up with the most pain.

Beth wanted to reach out, but wasn’t sure what to say. She’d texted an apology—one without excuses. She’d acknowledged she was wrong and had expressed her regret. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t know what else to do. Should she try to call? Show up at her house? Only she couldn’t do that because of Teddy.

Just thinking his name sent a sharp pain through her. She continued to load paper towels into the dispensers in the bathroom. She’d already filled the soap and checked the toilet paper. Next up she was going to do a quick condiment inventory because it would occupy her mind just enough to keep the worst of the regret at bay.

“B?”

She stepped out into the small hallway and saw Kai.

“It’s Teddy,” he told her, not quite meeting her gaze. “He wants to talk to you.”

Emotions rushed through her. Hope, yearning, guilt. She must have gone pale or something because Kai took a step toward her. She shook her head.

“I’m okay. He’s up front?”

“He said he’d wait outside.”

She quickly put away the paper towels, wiped her hands on her apron, squared her shoulders and walked toward the front door.

When she stepped out into the bright sunlight, she saw him standing a few feet away. Her heart leaped, her breath caught and she was swamped by a longing so intense, it burned.

She’d missed him with every breath, she thought, studying him. Had dreamed about him, picked up the phone to text him a thousand times. But she’d kept her distance because she knew that was what he wanted. Now she took in the dark circles under his eyes and the stiffness in his body and realized his being here wasn’t a happy thing. He had nothing good to say to her.

She walked past him to the side of the building by the tables and chairs. It was more private here, quieter. She wanted to suggest they sit down, but knew in her gut whatever he had to say wouldn’t take very long.

They stared at each other. She tried to memorize his features so that years from now she could recall him clearly. Sorrow welled up inside of her. So much was lost because of a single decision, she thought sadly. For that one moment, she’d held all she wanted in the palm of her hand, and then she’d lied.

“I’m sorry,” she said involuntarily.

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