Page 9 of Rescued Hearts

“He’s the creative type. Like me.”

“You’ve said that before. But at least you have something to show for your creativity. Honor, how did the breakup really go?”

“What do you mean? I told you, it was simple. I said I was leaving, he hardly had anything to say and no argument to keep me. So I left.”

“You never know a person until you break up with them.”

A throaty laugh escaped her. “What on earth did you think he’d do?”

Her sister lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “He was so secretive.”

She gave Felicity a pointed look. “He was private.”

“He could be dangerous, Honor.”

The word was so harsh. So shocking. Neither of them spoke for a long minute. On the stove nearby, a pot of water simmered for pasta. The refrigerator hummed, as did the air conditioner. She hadn’t realized how hot it would be here in the mountains.

“Did you ever find out what Sully did for work? Where he went? What he was doing all that time you were together?”

Unable to answer and needing time to think, Honor turned to her packages and pulled out a few packs of beads. The silver and gold swirls in them gleamed in the kitchen lights and from the sun slanting through the window.

She felt Felicity take a step closer. “He never wanted to get married. You dated for six years. He refused to commit.”

She didn’t look up from the beads. The gold and silver twisted around the bead like veins cut through marble. She planned to use the pricey beads sparingly, as accents to her pieces. Her mind already had an idea formed for a special pair of earrings that also involved her unique method of wire wrapping.

“We didn’t need a legal paper to prove that we loved each other, Felicity.”

“That’s Sully talking.”

She whipped her head up to pierce her sister in her stare. After a long heartbeat, she nodded. “He did say that. He said, ‘why do we need the piece of paper for happiness?’ He said he came home to me every night…and I saw his point.”

“Did you?”

She set the beads on the table and sliced her fingers through her hair. The idea of Sully coming all the way to Willowbrook made her stomach dip. Not because she missed him or wanted to see him.

Because she didn’t.

“I left the relationship long before I left it. For the final months, we didn’t even sleep in the same bed.”

“You’re kidding.”

She shook her head. “He came home late and didn’t want to wake me, but I see how it made us grow apart even more.”

“I wish you had shared that with me, Honor. It must have been painful.”

“He was always super-supportive of my business.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to defend her ex. Or maybe it was to defend her choices so her sister, who she loved and respected so much, didn’t judge her for them. “Sully always took interest in my work. I even came home one day and found him going through my bead collection, just looking at all the things I had accumulated. What guy does that? And he didn’t mind me being gone for long stretches when I spent summers attending all the festivals to sell my jewelry.”

Her sister didn’t appear to be convinced. “He wasn’t cheating on you?”

“No!”

“Well, something else must have been stealing his attention if he wasn’t cheating. You’re a gorgeous woman, Honor. Every guy who sees you can’t take his eyes off you, and women would settle for a portion of the allure you have in your pinky finger.” To show this, she held up her own.

The birthday ring Honor had made her containing her birthstone of a ruby circled it.

The sigh she pushed through her throat cleared some of the constriction there. “I’m not defending him, Felicity.”

Her sister assessed her for a long moment. “Whether or not I saw Sully’s van doesn’t matter if you’re not into getting back together with him.”

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