Page 49 of To Believe In You
She missed him.
No. The thought came with such force, she shook her head. She missed the man she’d thought him to be and the future she’d hoped they’d have. Shane had dashed those hopes as the mirages they were, leaving her stranded in the Land of Instead. Her rescue from the wasteland would have to come from another.
God, first and foremost. Perhaps He’d provide the husband and the family she’d dreamed of. Or maybe she’d build her life right in her current circumstances, and maybe she’d come to love it. Whatever the case, Shane had no right to intrude.
Lina appraised his suit. He must’ve flown in, and he wouldn’t have packed such clothes unless he’d planned to attempt entering the reception. “Why are you here?”
“I knew you’d be here.” He paused for a charming smile. “No one likes to attend a wedding alone.”
She crossed her arms and kept her shoulders square, her chin up. She’d asked Matt to allow her the opportunity to stand up for herself, so she risked saying exactly what she thought. “Especially not a woman who’d hoped to have her own wedding before now.”
Hurt shaded his eyes. “You said you forgave me.”
“I also asked you not to contact me.” The necklace pendant shivered with her rapid heartbeat.
“I went to Carter and Jen’s wedding. They looked happy together, and I missed you. How could I give up without a fight? I needed to see you.”
Shane’s friendship with a nice guy like Carter had helped her dismiss her early concerns about his character. After the breakup, she’d shocked Jen by revealing what Shane had done. Lina had assumed the couple would cut ties.
But then again, if Matt and Philip were any indication, a reformed addict could salvage friendships. Had Shane changed? She wouldn’t give him another chance in her life, but perhaps a transformation would temper her disappointment over all she’d lost. “Are you still gambling?”
“No.”
How would she know if that was true? She should’ve asked a question with an answer she could measure. “Do you plan to repay the money you stole?”
“Stole? The money was in a joint account, and I thought you said you forgave me.”
He didn’t want to call what he’d done stealing and didn’t consider himself obligated to repay her?
“I might not have that kind of cash, but Ihavechanged, Lina.” He touched her arm with warm fingertips. “So much. I’ve had a year to work on myself. To reevaluate what’s important and who I want to be. This is a public setting. It’s your turf, not mine. There’s security. I thought you might feel safe enough to give me a chance here. I can’t undo the past, but we could pick up again at a good place.”
She swallowed and blinked, focusing on the space around them to keep Shane from blinding her, the way he tended to.
The wedding had taken over the entire club. Large flower arrangements and a galaxy of lights decorated the lobby. The staff stationed at the door wore black suits, and the few people who had stepped from the main celebration to chat or rest in the foyer glittered in gowns and jewelry or satin lapels.
A man approached the closest seating cluster, about fifteen feet from her, holding his phone in tattoo-covered hands.
Matt.
His presence emboldened her as she refocused on her ex. “I asked you not to contact me. You shouldn’t have come.”
“So much for forgiveness, huh?” Steel reinforced Shane’s question.
If she were him, the reminder of overstepping a boundary would’ve brought humiliation. She would’ve left in shame to avoid a bigger scene, but she’d miscalculated when she’d expected Shane to behave similarly. Unless she allowed him inside or left with him, he would escalate this far beyond her ability to control.
Matt slid his phone away, and her hand pulled his direction like a paperclip pulled by a magnet. But she couldn’t silently summon him to her side when he wasn’t even looking her way.
“I can forgive you and still ask you to leave.” The tremor in her voice seemed to feed Shane’s confidence.
He stepped closer, his voice low with false calm. “You can’t send me away after I came all the way here. We had something special. I’m willing to do the work to get it back. If you were ever serious about us, you should be glad to see me.”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
He huffed, eyes narrowing—but only for a moment. “Maybe you’re right.” At his resigned tone, she inhaled deeply. Perhaps he was giving up. “Maybe I don’t deserve another chance. But is there any room for friendship? Anything I can do?”
She shook her head, praying desperately that he’d leave.
“Your dad said the place in Maine is a burden. I still know investors who would jump at the opportunity, and you’d get more for it than what was in that account of ours.”
