Page 38 of An Unexpected Love

Jill was grateful because she didn’t know how much longer her legs would support her. Everything seemed so much more difficult in the light of day. She’d been so confident before, so sure she and Ralph could make a life together. Now she felt as though she were walking around in a heavy fog. Nothing was clear, and confusion greeted her at every turn.

She took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to explain.”

“Go ahead.” Ralph sat comfortably across from her.

She was so close to the edge of the chair she was in danger of slipping off. “It’s only fair you should know.” She hesitated, thinking he might say something, but when he didn’t, she continued, “I met a man in Hawaii.”

He nodded gravely. “I thought you must have.”

His intuition surprised her. “His name… Oh, itdoesn’t matter what his name is. We went out a couple of times.”

“Are you in love with him?” Ralph asked outright.

“Yes,” Jill whispered slowly. It hurt to admit, and for a moment she dared not look at Ralph.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot of time to be falling in love with a man. You were only gone a week.”

Jill didn’t tell him Jordan was in Hawaii only three days. Nor did she mention the two brief times she’d seen him since. There was no reason to analyze the relationship. It was over. She’d made certain of that when she told him she was marrying Ralph. She’d never hear from Jordan again.

“Love happens like that sometimes,” was all she could say.

“If you’re so in love with this other guy, then why did you agree to marry me?”

“Because I’m scared and, oh, Ralph, I’m sorry. I should never have involved you in this. You’re a wonderful man and I care for you, I really do. You’ve been a good friend and I’ve enjoyed our times together, but I realized this morning that I can’t marry you.”

For a moment he said nothing, then he reached for her hand and held it gently between his own. “You don’t need to feel so guilty about it.”

“Yes, I do.” She was practically drowning in guilt.

“Don’t. It took me about two minutes to realize something was troubling you last night. You surprised me completely when you started talking about getting married.”

“I surprised you?”

“To be honest, I assumed you were about to tell me you’d met someone else and wouldn’t be seeing meanymore. I’ve known for a long time that you’re not in love with me.”

“But I believed that would’ve changed,” Jill said almost desperately.

“That’s what I figured, too.”

“You’re steady and dependable, and I need that in my life,” she said, although the rationale sounded poor even to her own ears. True, if she married Ralph she wouldn’t have the love match she’d always dreamed about, but she’d told herself that love was highly overrated. She’d decided she could live without love, live without passion—until Jordan showed up on her doorstep. And this morning, Shelly had told her what she already knew. She couldn’t marry Ralph.

“You’re here because you want to call off the engagement, aren’t you?” Ralph asked.

Miserably, Jill nodded. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s the last thing I want.”

“You haven’t,” he said pragmatically. “I figured you’d call things off sooner or later.”

“You did?”

He grinned sheepishly. “You going to marry this other man?”

Jill shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“If you do…”

“Yes?” Jill reluctantly raised her eyes to his.

“If you do, would you consider subletting your apartment to me? Your place is at least twice as big as mine, and your rent’s lower.”

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