Page 81 of Love in Training
When I look up again, his expression has darkened. “What are you afraid of?”
I look away, forcing a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Come on, you’re on guard all the time. Always looking over your shoulder. For a while I just assumed you didn’t trust me, but tonight...” he trails off, and when I meet his gaze, his eyes burn into mine. “I don’t think it’s me.”
My heart thuds. He’s either been paying real close attention, or I’m a way worse actress than I thought. “Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He arches his eyebrows over his glasses. “I know a scared animal when I see one.”
I snort, grabbing Rufus’s leash. “You spend too much time with dogs.”
“Caprice.”
I stop in my tracks. I can’t remember if he’s ever spoken my first name. Had he been calling me Ms. Phipps? Has he called me anything? And why does he have to sound so much like he cares?
“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to do. But just stop.” My voice is a low growl. “We’re not friends. We’re barely acquaintances. I’m never giving you the dog. I’m not even sure why I’m still here.” I gesture around the training center. “Maybe Kyle planned all this out just to twist the knife a little harder. But I’m done.”
A bitter laugh rumbles from Drew’s chest. “Right, because Kyle hurtyou.”
My throat burns. “He sure as hell did.”
“You have got some nerve.” He steps toward me, malice lacing through his voice.
Tears prick the corners of my eyes. “Pretty sure I have the right. We were together ten years. I was planning to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“Until he got hurt. And things got hard.”
I snap my head to look at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I was there that day—I watched yourunout of the church.”
A gasp slips from my throat. The air goes still.
“Is that what you think happened?” I close the distance between us, clutching the leash in my trembling fists.
For a second, his eyes flash between mine like he’s uncertain. Then he presses his mouth into a thin line. “Thatiswhat happened.”
Something fissures deep inside me. Not my heart, which has been in pieces far too long already, but something else.Something new and fragile that had just started to blossom. Until he wilted it with his words. I step back, away from him.
“So, you’re telling me you watched your brother’s bride leave him at the altar. And you turned around and left without offering him a word of support.”
Drew’s eyes narrow, but I don’t miss how his face pales.
“You’re right, Kyle changed after the second time he was hurt. Things got harder for him. Darker.” I shake my head. “I planned the whole wedding thinking we’d be okay if I could just hold him together.”
My voice breaks, but I force the rest of the words.
“Kyle never set foot inside the church, which you would have known if you were ashadowof the brother you pretend to be. I waited for him in my dress, convinced I could save him if I gave him my heart.” I swallow hard, leaning into Rufus for support. “But my love wasn’t enough.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
My follow-up pieceabout Unmatched drops Wednesday.
And it’s a total flop.
Maybe because the man at the center of it wasn’t a high-profile philanthropist. Maybe because a couple ofveryfamous celebrities renewed the world’s faith in love stories by getting engaged the day before. Or maybe a butterfly simply flapped its wings somewhere over the Continental Divide, shifting the winds and the whole world’s fates.
