Page 31 of Clumsy in Love

“Sure,” Holly said. Cole stepped away to give them some privacy but not entirely out of earshot.

“I’m sorry about everything.”

“This isn’t the place or time,” Holly said. “We can talk later.”

“Um, there’s something you need to know about, and I wanted you to hear it from me before word gets around,” Rick started. “There’s someone else. That’s why I couldn’t go through with the wedding.”

Holly stood motionless, and Cole’s heart went out to her. Not only dumped, but dumped for another woman. Ouch.

“I never cheated,” Rick hurried to say. “We’ve never even been on a date. It’s just that I have feelings for her. And I thought if that was possible while I was in love with you, I probably wasn’t ready to get married.”

Holly shrugged. “So, going with the whole, it’s not you, it’s me?”

“I mean, there’s also the stuff with your dad. We work together. And you’re so tall.”

“I’m sorry,what?”

“I still want us to be friends though.”

“Okay. Good talk,” Holly said, holding up a hand. She turned on her heels and met Cole in the hall. “Let’s go.”

He hustled to keep up with her long strides. On the way out, she stopped by a little room and grabbed a radio and a set ofkeys. Then led him out a side door to an official park vehicle—a black SUV. Cole didn’t say a word about driving and silently got into the passenger seat. This was her show now.

“Can you…,” she said once they were in the car. “What the…? How on…? Of all the…”

Apparently, a complete sentence wasn’t in the cards.

“You’re better off,” Cole said. “That guy’s a douche.”

Holly barked out a laugh, which broke the tension. She made eye contact from the driver’s seat, paused for a second, and nodded.

“I almost married him,” she said softly. “What was I thinking?”

He took it as a rhetorical question. Plus, he had no idea what she’d been thinking. “You okay?”

She shook it off. “He’s not the first person I thought loved me to leave me,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind. Let’s get out of here.”

She put the car in drive, and they headed off. Near the entrance, the parking lots were filled with vehicles. People heading off on hikes or bike rides, families and couples sharing picnics. But as they got deeper into the woods, signs of civilization thinned. Holly rolled down her window and stuck out her arm. He followed her lead and did the same.

“I shouldn’t be worried you’re taking me to a remote location to kill me, right?”

She pulled to the side of the road and parked. “I just need some fresh air.”

“Well, there’s no shortage of that around here.”

A crackle came over the radio. “Bennett? You available for a bear sighting at Picnic Area Number Four?”

“En route. ETA five,” Holly replied.

“Bear sighting? I thought you were joking about that.”

“We get a ton. People don’t follow the rules about packing up their food and trash.”

“Do you shoot the bears?”

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