Love in Country (De La Fuente Family #4)(10)

My embrace tightens because I know that tonight will have to keep me going until I’m home again.

And I’ll be coming home to Sarah.





5


SIX WEEKS LATER ~ SARAH

It’s early May and there’s still a chill in the air, which explains the large checkered blanket that I’m currently wrapped up in as I sit in the back garden of the home I share with Greg. I’m not sure why I’m sitting out here when I can just as easily hide in my bedroom and be warm.

There’s just something about the evening that attracts me as I gaze up at the stars in the darkened sky.

Aiden’s been gone for six weeks and I try to shut him out of my thoughts, but find that it’s impossible to do when he’s always so close to my heart, even when I no longer want him there. After seeing the images of him online at one party after another with the same gorgeous woman on his arm, I’ve stopped reading his emails and texts. I trusted him…the photographs were a shock. They made me sick to my stomach.

Wiping a tear away, I realize that I hate him for what he’s done to me. He promised that he’d come back to me, but so far he hasn’t, and if the images are anything to go by, he won’t be.

“Sarah.”

I jump at Greg’s voice and hope he can’t see me in the dark.

“There you are,” he says as I hear the creak of the porch. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, and you’re not answering your phone,” Greg chides as though I’m a child.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to yell at him, but I hold everything in because I know he’s only trying to be my friend and he’s concerned.

“Aiden messaged me because he couldn’t get a hold of you.” Greg sits opposite and frowns as he catches sight of my appearance.

He eventually admitted to me that Aiden had talked to him about his relationship with me before he left for Europe, and although I should’ve been angry, I wasn’t.

“You’re really not fine, are you? What’s going on, Sarah? Are you sick?”

I sigh. “I really am fine, Greg.”

“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” He glances between my phone and me. The cell currently hovers on the coffee table with the screen lit up as another text from Aiden comes through.

“Because I’m tired, Greg,” I answer softly. “I only ever wanted a quiet life as a small town vet. I didn’t want nor ask for all the hurt, and everything…” I close my eyes and try to get my thoughts in order, but nothing works because my mind won’t give me a minute’s peace. It’s on replay with the images of Aiden and the woman. They both looked very familiar with each other in every photograph.

It wasn’t just of the same night either. Paris. Rome. Milan. Berlin. The list goes on.

“Dammit, Sarah. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I’m going to bed. Next time Aiden calls, please answer.”

I don’t respond because I don’t want to lie to him when I have no intention of answering another of Aiden’s calls or messages again.

AIDEN

“Something has to be wrong.” I work out the time back home in Montana, knowing that it isn’t too late at night.

“There could be something wrong with her phone. Lots of reasons as to why she isn’t answering,” Rae, my best friend for the past ten years tries to reassure me.

“No.” I shake my head. “Greg said he’d check on her and he must have done so by now, but I still haven’t heard from her.”

Rae shakes her head and the messy ponytail she has in tumbles down. “I can’t handle you pacing back and forth any longer, I’m going for a nap before we have to do that party thing tonight.” She stares at me pointedly. “You do realize that you owe me big time for doing this for you, right? I mean, big, huge…no escaping.”

I roll my eyes. “I owe you big time.” I smile and walk over to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and dropping a kiss the top of her head. “Go get some rest.” I shove her into her bedroom and close the door so that I don’t disturb her.

As beautiful as Rae is, I’ve never seen her as more than like a sister to me. I feel protective of her. She’s always been there for me over the years that I was on the European circuit, and I’ve always been there as someone to lean on.

Most people don’t understand our friendship and it’s always been misconstrued in the media. Articles have often reported us as a couple. After a while we’d learned to let it roll off our backs. I guess part of me gets where they’re coming from, but to Rae and me, it’s just natural.

Which is why I asked her to accompany me on this trip. I knew if I didn’t they’d shove a woman onto my arm in each city we stopped, and that was the last thing I wanted.

Of course the woman I really want here with me is back home in Montana currently avoiding me and I don’t know why. At first I put it down to her being busy, but after five days of not talking to her or even receiving one message I’m worried.

Every time my cell beeps I’ve been jumping for it, and each time I’m always disappointed. Hearing it going off now, I’m afraid of it being someone else. With Rae taking a cap, I grab it anyway as not to disturb her.