Page 3 of To Bring You Back
Some wounds never healed. She’d done the right thing.
On the narrow shelf by the window, steam wafted off a waiting Super Superior.
“He won’t be back for that.”
Asher arranged a bun in another cardboard boat, loaded a hotdog, and scooped on macaroni. “What’d you do to him?”
“Wrong question.”
“Okay. What’dhedo to you?”
“He killed my fiancé.”
Asher held the hotdog in front of his customer but didn’t hand it off.
Okay. She deserved as much blame as Gannon for what happened to Fitz, but she was doing her best to live a good life now. Meanwhile, Gannon pretended to deserve all the fame and fortune the world laid at his feet.
Face hot with shame—over the past, over mentioning it so carelessly—Adeline took the hotdog from Asher and completed the transaction with the man at the window. After the customer left, she glanced at her boss.
Still waiting for an explanation.
“I thought you didn’t like drama.”
With a grunt, he turned back to the grill. “He left a note in the tip jar.”
The old pickle jar sat next to Gannon’s abandoned food. A white slip swam among the crinkled bills. She plucked it out. When she read her name in Gannon’s hurried scrawl, she could almost hear his voice again. Beneath, he’d left a phone number.
“Good thing I insisted on coming.”Gannon’s manager draped his hand over the steering wheel of the rented sedan. “You’d think you’d never seen a fan before.”
The fans hadn’t erased Gannon’s ability to entertain and manage a crowd.
Adeline had.
“So this is about a woman.” Tim smirked. “Here I’d been thinking you were more or less immune.”
Not at all. Gannon hooked the hat on his knee and pushed his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t expected that seeing Adeline after all those years would revive every feeling he’d ever had for her. Too bad seeing him hadn’t had a similar effect on her.
He’d hoped she’d forgiven him by now. Or at least come to a point of acceptance so they could talk, each giving and getting closure. Then they could both move on.
Considering her feelings, closure would be next to impossible. Considering his feelings, he might never move on.
I’m totally unprepared for this, God.
Tim checked the rearview mirror and followed the road around a bend, traveling steeply uphill. “Harper’s going to be crushed.”
The actress flirted, sure, but she had a boyfriend. “Harper knows she and I will never be more than friends, and Adeline’s obviously not even that anymore.”
“Fair enough, but we’re not staffed for a full-scale inundation at the cabin.”
“Lakeshore’s population is what, five hundred?”
“Try eight thousand plus the campus, and there are other factors to consider.”
He’d allowed Tim along for this kind of advice. Awestruck’s manager was good at running interference, especially during scandals.
Yet Gannon had hoped he wouldn’t need the help—especially not so soon.
He scratched his head again, then pulled the hat back on, an act of contrition to soften his next announcement. “Then you’ll be glad I didn’t leave her my number.”
