Page 92 of Home Tears

She closed the door behind her, but didn’t move farther into the room.

The windows were closed over the screens, but it was still cold. The furniture was bare. A table was pushed against a wall. A pile of chips, soda cans, and cookies were on it.

Dani had to move closer, or she wouldn’t be able to hear anything. The rain was almost deafening.

“You left that game. You knew what Jake had, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why’d I leave the game?”

“Yeah.” He was being difficult. “You walked. Why?”

Boone shook his head, rubbing a hand over his tired face. “Because I remembered why I came to this party. It wasn’t for poker.”

She knew. Her throat grew thick. “Why’d you come?” she asked anyway.

“It really pisses me off that you’re here. It pisses me off that my brother still thinks he can order me around. And it pisses me off that I couldn’t not come tonight.” He pushed forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He gazed down at the floor. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to start this. I was so angry when I found out that you lived here.” Boone took in a ragged breath. “I came here to get over you, but I can’t do that because I’m so fucking angry at you.”

Dani expelled a similar sounding ragged breath. “I’m sorry I left you the way I did. I shouldn’t have done that. There shouldn’t have been a note. I should’ve been honest when you proposed, and I should’ve ended things that night. I snuck out. I’m truly sorry that I did that.”

He regarded her with stricken eyes. Pure agony flared over him but he turned away again. “I still love you. And that’s the kicker. I will probably love you for a long, long time.” His jaw clenched. “I didn’t know what to do after you left, so I went home. Drew’s been trying to get me back into the business. I used to be the head hunter for them. It’s somewhat ironic that they pulled in Bannon’s father considering,” he glanced to the door, “everything.”

“You were a head hunter?”

She had a type. Apparently.

“If my family has a problem sealing a deal, they used to call me in. I assess what the problem is, and I deal with it.” The side of his mouth lifted in a twisted half-smile. “Everything was fine until I dug too deep on a job. I fell for ‘the problem’s’ daughter. I was done after that. Drew kicked me out, said I needed to go on a sabbatical and clear my head. I was supposed to figure out what made me tick, then come back better than ever.”

Jenny mentioned a girl. “Did you love her? The daughter?”

“No.” His eyes held on to mine, for far too long. “I fell in love with you. She just opened my eyes to what else was going on. I looked around, took surveillance, and realized I didn’t like what side I was on.”

Dani had no response to that. She looked down to the ground.

The door opened. Conversation, yelling, and music filled the room suddenly. Bubba walked onto the porch, then stopped. “Oh.” He blinked in surprise. “Sorry.”

“Did you come for more of these?” Dani grabbed some soda and chips. She held them out for him.

“Thanks.” He took them, then smirked. “Fancy Nancy.”

Dani rolled her eyes, but waited until Bubba shut the door behind him. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

“You ripped my heart out.”

“Boone.” She looked down at the table, pulling her hands to her lap. She hunched over.

“You looked like you were drowning after the storm, and I thought I was giving you a future. I didn’t know that I was handing you a nightmare instead.”

“It wasn’t—it wasn’t like that.”

“You made me happy, Dani. Do you want me to let you off the hook and say that I only loved the idea of you and not you? Do you want me to cheapen what I thought we had?”

“I wasn’t right.” Her voice was hoarse. The memories were flooding in.

“I knew you weren’t right!” Boone scooted to the edge of his couch. “I’m not stupid. I saw things, like when you’d get up the middle of the night and just look out the window for hours. I saw all of that. I knew you had your own demons, but I figured you’d let me in after a while.” His voice quieted. “I wanted to make you happy, too.”

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