Page 20 of The Summer House

“I thought you didn’t have other plans for the day.”

“I don’t. It’s just…” She pulled her dress up over her hips. “I really need to get going.”

Rick watched her without speaking. His serious gaze spoke volumes for him, though. She zipped up her dress and searched for her shoes before remembering she’d left them downstairs. She faced him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What?” she asked.

“Why does it have to end like this?”

“Like what?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

But it did. She couldn’t explain her compulsion to leave. After all that had happened, she felt unsettled. Time and distance would ease that.

“You haven’t changed as much as I thought,” he said flatly, not bothering to get up and get dressed. “After all these years, you still run when things get tough.”

His words cut through her…probably because she didn’t have a good defense.

“You call this tough?” she asked, motioning to the bed. “In my mind, it was too easy. I don’t have a clue as to what happened today. One minute I was minding my own business, the next Jo suggested I contact you for lunch. Somehow we ended up in bed. Doesn’t any part of that strike you as strange?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, it does for me. We shouldn’t have done this. The sex…” What about the sex? It had been great, but what had she been thinking? Or not thinking? She and Rick were strangers.

“I have to go,” she repeated, and headed out the door.

As she ran down the steps she half expected him to come after her. He didn’t. Rick claimed she hadn’t changed as much as he had thought. She could say the same about him. She might be the one who was running, but he’d always found it far too convenient to let her go.

Chapter Five

Mandy was still shaking when she arrived back at Cassie’s beach house. It had taken her five tries to get from Rick’s house to the highway; she’d been so upset, she’d turned north instead of south. What should have been about a thirty-minute trip had taken her nearly an hour.

But she was safe now, she told herself as she paced the length of the living room. Safe and everything would be fine. Eventually. She just had to figure out what had happened back there and how to put it in perspective. Oh, and she also had to find a place to put her growing anger.

The anger surprised her. After the past five or six hours she would have expected to be dealing with a lot of emotions, but why was she mad? Or was the anger simply a cover for some other feeling?

She didn’t want to think about that, so she continued to pace and mutter and try to distract herself. Only her brain kept flashing back to her time with Rick. She could recall dozens of things he’d said—how he’d smiled, the changes in his body and the way they’d been together in bed.

“Not that!” she said aloud. “It was a mistake. All of it. What should have been a charming, easy encounter with my ex turned into something…”

What? Horrible? Not exactly. Scary? Maybe. Confusing? Yes. Definitely confusing.

The phone rang. Mandy spun to face the plain beige instrument sitting on the counter dividing the kitchen from the living area. Her first instinct was to run. She didn’t want to hear whatever Rick had to say. Then she reminded herself that not only did henothave her phone number, he’d never been very good on damage control or follow-up. He preferred to disappear until things blew over.

“Hello?” she said into the receiver.

“Hey, how’s sunny Southern California?”

Mandy sagged against the counter. Relief filled her. Cassie. Just the person she needed to talk to.

“It’s beautiful here,” she said, pulling out a stool and settling on it. “August is always wonderful weather.”

“I can’t wait until I get to experience it myself.”

“How’s the transition?” Mandy asked.

Cassie worked in a hospital in Arizona. She’d recently given notice, causing her boss to panic and swear she couldn’t survive without Cassie there.

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