Page 49 of Rebel Bride
“I would love that!”
After that chat about kissing, Summer’s admission about the roles she played and why she let her relationship with Dash go so far had been illuminating. Talking about what had happened before, joking around about the kissing, had eased things between us. Something still gnawed at me, though.
It could have been like this all along.
All this time, I’d made it my mission not to like her. Put her into a box, walled her off, because it was easier than thinking about what if. I hated seeing her with Carter, and the fact that he had a few years more experience than me on the team and was more often in the roster mix didn’t make it easier. The guy had everything I wanted.
Now I was seeing Summer more clearly. Not that it made a blind bit of difference to the situation. Sure, it was better not to be at each other’s throats, but that didn’t mean we should be at each other’s mouths.
Or other body parts.
“Can you get the new tube for the bike while in town?”
“Sure.” There was nothing wrong with the tire, but I didn’t want her gadding about town where someone could spot her.
“So what are you working on?” I could have looked at the screen, but I didn’t want to pry.
“Just returning gifts. Well, creating shipping labels so I can be ready to print them off when I get back.”
“No one else can do that for you?”
“It’s my responsibility.”
Fair enough. I left her to it and drove into town. In the Gourmet Grocer, I picked up a few things for the boat, all the while wondering about Summer and Carter, and how they had got to that point. I had believed her today when she said she wasn’t a gold digger, but I had sure thought that before.
My experience was that a lot of women were looking to land a rich pro-athlete, and if a guy disrespects his girl—especially in public—and she’s okay with that, then there had to be a reason. My sister thought Summer was trying to reform Carter. That she was too decent to be in it for the money, but I hadn’t listened. Unfortunately, I had personal experience that colored my thinking.
And that personal experience was now walking toward me in the Condiments aisle.
I had to admit that Ava looked good. Since her engagement, she’d acquired a cultured air. Her fiancé was an investment banker, as far as I knew, and Ava had landed pretty well for herself. When I hooked up with her last summer, she was more of a townie, a good time girl not interested in anything serious—or so I thought. I was looking for consolation, a salve to my self-inflicted wounds.
“Looks like the Gourmet Grocer is the place to be on a Monday in Saugatuck.” She picked up a jar of wasabi and looked at the ingredients. “How are you, Hatch?”
“No complaints.”
“Well, you wouldn’t have. You and your girlfriend sure know how to put on a show.”
I turned to her, looking for some indication of where this conversation might be going. She’d played her hand with me and lost. But she’d obviously played another and gained a fiancé.
“It’s early days.”
She smiled serenely. “Any chance we could go for coffee?”
“Why?”
She seemed taken aback at my abrupt response. “To clear the air. I feel like things ended … not so well between us. I’d like a chance to explain.”
“Listen, Ava. There’s nothing to explain. After it happened and the dust settled, we realized that it wasn’t meant to be. You caught me at a strange time in my life.”
“Are you saying I took advantage?”
“I’m an adult and I knew what I was doing. What happened is done and I don’t want to relitigate it.” I picked up a jar of olive tapenade and put it in my basket.
“Okay, I get it. I just wanted to say no hard feelings.”
“None, whatsoever.”
Summer
