Before We Kiss (Fool's Gold #14)(90)

When no one asked another question, he thanked them for coming and collected his notes.

The people attending stood and began talking to one another. He heard snippets of conversation about the cat rescue and the start of the upcoming Book Festival. But not a word about him and Dellina.

Hadn’t she told her friends what had happened? Didn’t she want to get drunk and call him names? Or say that she missed him? Except the latter was wishful thinking, he told himself. Just because he wanted to go see her, to explain, to...

To what? Ask her to put things back the way they had been before? It wasn’t possible. The words had been said. She loved him.

Sam closed his briefcase and wished he could put a fist through the wall. She loved him. Dammit all to hell but he wanted to believe her. Wanted to think they could make it work. Because if there was anyone whom he could trust, it was her.

Except he knew what would happen. Oh, not the specifics, but the outcome. Something terrible would end things. Some disaster. It had always been that way. He had the scars to prove it. Dellina couldn’t possibly be different. But he sure wanted her to be.

He started toward the door. Patience stopped him.

“My accountant is thrilled with my new financial literacy,” she told him. “Thank you so much for doing this. I know it’s a big-time suck for you and probably not very interesting, but it’s helping so much.” She wrinkled her nose. “I have a degree in business and put together a financial plan for Brew-haha, but none of that prepared me for real-world problems.”

“I’m happy to help,” he said. “Believe it or not, I like doing this.”

“I’m glad. With your help, we’re all going to do better.”

A few more people spoke to him before he left. They were all pleasant and complimentary.

Rather than heading directly back to Score, Sam walked through town. He found himself nodding at people he didn’t know and speaking to those he did. And he knew a lot. He couldn’t go more than half a block without having to stop and talk to someone who wanted to know about the cat rescue or mention how nice his guests had been over that weekend.

Speaking of the cats, there were signs everywhere with pictures and a number to call. Apparently Larissa was going to host an adoption booth at the upcoming festival. Sam thought about his empty house. Because when he’d walked away, he hadn’t bothered taking any cats with him. Nor had he thought to mention his willingness to foster with Larissa. From what he could tell—that didn’t matter. She had plenty of help from the town.

Why was that? he wondered. Why would people who didn’t really know her help? He thought about all the people who had shown up with carriers and food and offers to drive to pick up cats. It was this town, he thought. This same damn town that didn’t talk to Simone and had made the entire Score family feel welcome.

He turned at the corner and walked to the office. When he got there, he went directly into Taryn’s office and shut the door. She was on the phone but when she saw him she told her caller, “I need to get back to you....Later today....Yes, of course.”

When she hung up, she motioned for the seat opposite her desk. “What’s up?”

He put down his briefcase, but couldn’t sit. He had to keep moving. “I don’t know. This town.”

“What about it?”

“Everyone’s so nice.”

She laughed. “Yes, I found that annoying at first, but now I go with it. It beats the alternative.” She stood and crossed to him. “Sam, what’s the real problem?”

She stared at him with her beautiful violet-blue eyes. She was lovely. Smart, bitchy, gorgeous. Why hadn’t he fallen for her? He understood her. He trusted her. Only she’d been married to Jack once and there’d never been any chemistry and he knew in his gut he would be having the same doubt regardless of who the woman was. Because he was the problem.

“How did you know?” he asked.

He expected her to ask about what, but this was Taryn and she understood her “boys” better than anyone else.

“About Angel? I just did,” she told him, taking his hands in hers. “It’s a feeling in your gut and your heart. It’s more than attraction and more than need. It’s about connecting. It’s about wanting to share everything for as long as you have on this earth.”

Her words made him ache. Yes, he thought. He wanted that with Dellina. But how could he believe?

“Trust is hard,” he said.

“It is.” She led him to the sofa in her office and sat angled toward him. “We were all betrayed in different ways. The four of us. We’re so messed up. You with all your disasters. Kenny with, well, we know what happened there. Me with my father.” She paused. “He used to hit me.”

Sam hadn’t known. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I got away and he’s gone now. And Jack with his brother. Each one of us had been betrayed or hurt and that made us scared. Which means it comes down to a choice. What do you want, Sam? Do you want to be ruled by that fear? Or do you want to take a chance on a wonderful woman who’s fallen madly in love with you?”

“She told you?”

“No. I could see it. We can all see it.”

“I couldn’t.”

“You’re an idiot.” She spoke the words kindly. “I love you, Sam. You’re my family. So I see the good and the bad in you. You’re stubborn and set in your ways.”