Page 72 of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
‘Yeah ... uh ... I have to get going.’ He couldn’t meet her eyes. Not now. Not anymore. Not since he’d so fundamentally misunderstood this entire situation.
‘Oh. You do?’ The disappointment was clear in her voice, but she pushed through it. ‘I guess I should give you your shirt back.’
‘Keep it.’ His voice was gruff, rude, and sharp, but he couldn’t help it. There was no way in hell he could take that shirt back now. Not with Jeanie’s freshly showered smell all over it.
‘Logan, is something wrong?’
He sighed and ran a hand down his face. ‘No, everything’s fine. Just need to get home.’
‘Okay.’ She moved toward him, her warmth overtaking him, crowding him. ‘It just seems like you’re upset about something.’ She glanced toward the table, her stare lingering on the papers before realization dawned on her face.
‘Didn’t realize you were planning on selling,’ he said. ‘Surprised me, that’s all.’
‘I’m not.’
Logan shook his head. ‘I think maybe you are, Jeanie. Maybe that’s what you want.’
‘It isn’t.’ Her mouth turned down into a frown, and Logan hated it. Wanted to kiss it right off her face, but that kind of thinking had only gotten him into trouble.
‘Maybe you should.’
‘What? Why would you say that?’ Her gaze snapped to his, hurt simmering in her eyes.
He shrugged, feigning a casualness he didn’t feel, not a bit. His body buzzed with hurt and anger that he’d fallen for the wrong woman again. That his heart had led him right down this same path.
‘Look around.’ He gestured to the living room and Jeanie’s gaze skittered over the boxes and empty walls. ‘You haven’t even moved all the way in.’
‘I... It’s just that I’ve been busy.’
Busy, maybe. Or maybe this wasn’t what she wanted at all. ‘We don’t know each other all that well ...’ She flinched at that, and considering everything they did last night he knew it was a real asshole thing to say, but if he didn’t push her away, he’d take her in his arms and be even more devastated when she left. ‘But it seems to me you ran away from your old life. Your boss died and you got scared. But maybe this isn’t really where you want to be.’
Her hands were on her hips now, her eyes narrowed. His flannel shirt rose up, exposing more of her thighs. He tore his gaze away. He was suddenly wishing they were both wearing pants for this conversation.
‘For someone that doesn’t know me, you sure have a lot of opinions about what I want.’
‘I think we should just cool things off for a while,’ he said, echoing the words Jeanie had said to him a week ago. He should have listened.
He would not look at the tears pooling in her eyes.He would not.He’d been down this road before, and he knew what happened when you tried to make someone live a life they didn’t want. Unhappiness for everyone.
‘Fine.’ She sniffled and swiped her tears away with the back of her hand. ‘You have some shit to sort out, anyway,’ she said and spun on her heel back toward the bedroom. The door slammed behind her.
Damn it.
He’d woken up this morning planning on telling Jeanie he was in love with her and instead, he’d suggested they ‘cool things off.’ What a mess.
He glanced back at the table and Jeanie’s exclamation points mocked him from the listings. If Jeanie didn’t want to stay in Dream Harbor, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to convince her otherwise. Despite what his stupid heart was telling him.
The bedroom door opened again, and his completely misguided hopes rose.
Jeanie tossed his jeans into the hallway and slammed the door again.
Right.
There was no fixing this.
He grabbed his pants, tugging them on as he hopped toward the door. His boots still sat toppled over next to Jeanie’s where he’d tossed them the night before. He’d been so frantic, so eager to get to her, he hadn’t cared where anything ended up.
Now, he stepped into them, not bothering to tie them, grabbed his coat off the back of the chair, and left Jeanie’s temporary apartment behind.
