Page 58 of Trails of Temptation

“Sorry it didn’t work out.”

“Don’t apologize to me, Pete. I was… reckless. Stupid, honestly. I thought George felt as strongly as I did for him but the second it became clear he’d have to choose between you and I… Yeah. I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m sorry for ruining your friendship with him and now neither of us have him in our lives.”

“He really left?”

“Three days ago.”

“Without a word?” Fury flared behind Pete’s eyes while I chose my next words wisely.

“He tried to call me but I ignored it.”

“If I ever see him again, I’ll—”

“No,” I said hastily, shaking my head and looking him dead in the eyes. “No, Pete. I don’t need you to defend my honor. I’m thirty-three, for Christ’s sake. Please, promise me you’ll just leave it alone.”

“Fine,” he ground out, picking up his wine glass.

“Fine,” I repeated, taking a long drink from my own.

Silence settled between us for a long, slightly awkward moment before he asked, “Did you really love him?”

“Yes. I still do.”

“Well, now you can move on—”

“I… don’t think so,” I cut in, taking another drink of my wine. “George was always it for me. I still believe that and I don’t think it will change. I just knew, I guess, that he was the one for me. That God or whoever the hell is up there right now steering the course of my life put George in my way for a reason. But I can’t change things now. If he doesn’t want this, I can’t force his hand. I’m okay just being… me. By myself.”

“I hate that,” Pete whispered, and for the first time ever I noticed a look in his eyes that gave me pause. There was real sadness there. Regret, honestly.

“Have you… met someone?”

“I—Uh, no. Not like that.”

I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, but the look on his face cut me to my core. He finished his glass of wine in one swallow and got up to get more. His back was rigid with tension, his shoulders practically trembling as the wine sloshed into his glass.

“If George comes back, what will you do?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, wanting nothing more than to ask Pete what was going on with him and why he was suddenly acting so weird, but he’d changed the subject back to George. “Moira is having her baby soon, maybe within the week. I’ll be free of my commitment to the Hallstons in a few weeks if that’s the case. I’ve been looking at teaching jobs, found a few on the East Coast.”

“The second-grade teacher here in town just retired. They’re going to post her job soon, from what I heard.”

“I can’t stay in Hot Springs,” I whispered, sadness aching in my chest. “Not after what happened.”

“I understand,” he breathed, standing with his back to me as he faced the kitchen island. “The East Coast is just pretty far away.”

“Have you ever thought of leaving, Pete? Of packing up and starting fresh somewhere?”

“Every goddamn day,” he admitted, chuckling a bit as he turned around.

“Why don’t you?”

“Because that would mean every person who has ever had a bad thing to say about our family would win. They tried to drive Mom and Dad out of town years ago when everything happened. Kicked them out of the church, boycotted the bar, you know. When I took this place over it took years to turn around. I make a good living, and I’ve made it clear that no one gets to fuck with me unless they want to see the consequences. I can’t give up.”

“You can’t live your life trying to avenge our parents, either. They would have hated that for you.”

“Maybe so, but they’re dead, and I’m here picking up the pieces,” he said lightly, groaning as he settled back onto the couch on the other side of the coffee table. “Plus, the idea of starting over sounds awful and I am pretty set in my ways.”

“Maybe if you left, you’d find a nice woman to settle down with,” I offered, but he shrugged.

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