All Summer Long (Fool's Gold #9)(88)

Then he saw her. One second there was only smoke and steam, the next she was walking out into the night.

Relief kept him in place as firmly as fear had done. He watched her, grateful and terrified at the same time. Because knowing she was alive wasn’t enough. He had to find a way to always keep her safe. She was... She was...

And then he knew. He’d never bothered to protect himself from Charlie because he didn’t have to. They were friends. Lovers. But not in love. Never in love.

But sometime in the past few weeks, she’d worked her way inside of him. Into his heart. She’d become important. He loved her.

Charlie walked over to the medics and pulled off her helmet. He knew right away that she was fine. He caught scraps of conversation and heard her arguing that she hadn’t been anywhere near the collapse. That she was fine. No one listened.

He returned to the growing crowd and helped keep order. By midnight the fire was out. By two in the morning, the cleanup complete. All nine teens were safe. Three had been taken to the hospital but were expected to make a full recovery. Sometime close to three, he drove back to the ranch.

He parked, but instead of going inside, he walked out to the corrals and stared at the night sky. He was cold, smelled of smoke. There were probably holes in his shirt from the embers. He might have a few burns.

None of that mattered. What he couldn’t wrap his mind around was how it had happened. How had he fallen in love again? He’d assumed he would only love Diane for the rest of his life. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else. He couldn’t do it again. Give his all and then lose it. He wasn’t that strong.

Which meant he knew what came next. What he had to do.

Charlie was resilient, he told himself. Capable. In the end, he couldn’t hurt her. Not really. She had survived worse. And so had he.

* * *

CHARLIE PARKED IN her driveway and told herself she really had to get out of her truck and walk to the house. Once there she would collapse. Her bed was waiting; she’d already showered twice at the station. A good day’s sleep and she would be healed.

It had been a hell of a night. The fire, set by teens lighting a fire in the warehouse, had destroyed the structure, but no lives had been lost. They’d been on the opposite side of the building that had collapsed. Apparently the old saying was true—God did look after children and fools. Last she’d heard, the couple of kids taken to the hospital would be released later today. The other buildings in the area had been protected. What could have been a disaster had ended as well as could be expected.

She climbed out of her truck and started toward the front door. Movement on her porch caught her attention. She saw Clay stand and walk toward her.

Instantly her exhaustion faded. She hurried toward him, wanting to see him and touch him. Right now she didn’t even care if they made love. She just wanted to feel his arms around her and spend some time in his company. If that led to the wild thing, that would be good, too.

“Hey,” she said when she stopped in front of him. “I heard you did good last night. Olivia said you got a little worried when that section of roof caved, but you took care of the crowds and stayed out of trouble.”

“She’s lying,” he said, his voice oddly flat.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought I’d lost you.”

The words should have made her do the happy dance, but there was something in his voice. Make that something that wasn’t in his voice. There was no energy, no drive. It was as if they were talking about whether or not to wash the car.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her stomach tightening as something very close to dread washed through her. “What happened?”

She waited for him to laugh and say he was fine. For him to pull her close and kiss her. She would settle on gentle teasing, as long as he said everything was fine. That they were fine.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” he told her, his dark gaze unreadable. He motioned to the space between them. “Us. The relationship. It’s over.”

She’d spent much of her life protecting herself, emotionally. Now all that training took over. Raw pain cut through her, but she didn’t blink, didn’t flinch, didn’t say a word. She felt her face stiffen, shifting to a kind of shield where no expression showed. Her hands stayed loose at her sides, her legs continued to support her.

The only outward sign that anything was wrong was her chin rising slightly.

“All right,” she said calmly.

“I wish you the best,” he said. “And I’m sorry if this hurts you. I’ll tell everyone you dumped me. You know, so there aren’t any questions.”

She wanted to point out that questions wouldn’t matter. Not when she didn’t have answers. She wanted to scream that she didn’t understand and then ask why he was doing this to her. What had changed? Why was today different than yesterday?

For the first time in her life, she wanted to beg.

Instead she asked, “Anything else?”

He shook his head and walked away.

She watched him go. Waited until he’d gotten in his truck and driven away. When she was sure he was gone, was sure he couldn’t see her anymore, she sank down onto her knees, her face pressed into her thighs, her body shaking, her hands pressed against the cement walkway. Tears soaked her jeans as she let the pain wash over her.