Page 54 of Puppy Love & Snowflake Kisses
He stood there for the longest moment, staring at her with those pain-filled eyes. Her heart ached. She assured herself that this pain was less than the pain she’d feel if she were to commit herself to him and then lose him—after all, he was the sheriff. It was a dangerous job.
And then without a word, he turned and walked out the door. When he closed the door, it wasn’t slammed shut. Instead, it soundlessly closed, except for the snick of the latch.
And then she was alone, except for Odie. She stood there until she heard the pickup start and then the sound of the engine gradually faded away.
By then, the tears she’d been holding in spilled onto her cheeks. She moved to the couch and sank down onto the cushion. No sooner had she sat down than Odie jumped up next to her. He wiggled onto her lap.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him to her chest. Her head rested on his. And she let her emotions pour out. She’d only been this scared one other time in her life, and that was the night her parents died.
Parker kept filling her every thought. She already missed him. But this was for the best. It wouldn’t have lasted—love never did. Telling herself this did nothing to make her feel better. She still felt horrible—like she’d just lost the best thing in her life.
Chapter Eighteen
Wherehadeverythinggoneso wrong?
Even after a sleepless night, he didn’t have any answers.
The next day, Parker returned to work. He was thankful he had something to do. If he was at home, his thoughts would do nothing but torture him.
He couldn’t figure out how things had gone so wrong with Belle. One moment she was thanking him for bringing Odie back to her, and the next thing he knew, she was saying things were over.
Maybe it was just the stress over Odie catching up with her. Maybe a good night’s sleep would have her seeing things differently. He could only hope.
He reached for his phone, and before he could talk himself out of it, he called her. The phone rang and rang. Then it switched to voicemail. Instead of leaving a message, he hung up.
He thought of going to see her, but he didn’t let himself. He knew from experience that even if the relationship was working for one person, that didn’t mean it was working for the other person. He thought they had finally worked past all of the contention from their past. But apparently Belle didn’t feel the same way. How could he have been so wrong about them?
When he glanced at the dashboard, he noticed it was seven forty. There were four vehicles lined up at the red light. He made it five vehicles. It was what constituted rush hour in Kringle Falls. When he cleared the intersection, he drove a little farther and then turned around. He maneuvered his official SUV into his position on the edge of town to wait for speeders.
As he watched car after car pass by, none of them were Belle. Had she changed things up from her usual drive to work? She could be trying to avoid him. Or had she called off from work? It would make sense that she was wiped out after everything she’d gone through.
And then a worrisome thought came to mind. Was something wrong with Odie?
He halted his rambling thoughts. He told himself it was the lack of sleep that had his mind working in overdrive, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He checked the time. It was now seven fifty-six. His brother Colin’s office didn’t open until nine.
Parker reached for his phone and dialed his brother’s cell phone. Colin answered on the second ring. “Hey. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you this morning. Is everything all right?”
“I don’t know,” Parker said in all honesty.
There was a pause. “Well, then why did you call?”
“I was wondering if you could make a house call.”
“You mean to check in on Odie?”
Parker nodded and then he realized his brother couldn’t see him. “Yes. I don’t think Belle went to work today, and I’m worried that I was too quick to assume nothing was wrong with the puppy. Could you go check on them?”
“Isn’t that something you should do?”
Parker’s jaw tightened. He really didn’t want to get into this, but his brother wasn’t leaving him much choice. “Things…uh, aren’t going well between Belle and me.”
“Really? You two seemed really close the last time I saw you.”
Seriously?He was going to make him talk about this. “She told me things were over.”
“Ouch. Yeah. I’d agree that things aren’t going well. What did you do wrong?”
“Me?” Actually, it was the same question he’d asked himself last night while he’d been staring into the darkness of his bedroom. He never did come up with an answer. But he didn’t like his brother jumping to the conclusion that it was his fault. Even if he was most likely right. “Why do you think it’s my fault?”
