Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove #8)(40)

She didn’t want to care about Troy Davis. Didn’t want to feel even a flicker of emotion. Letting him back into her life would only bring more pain. He’d proved that.

Troy entered the living room. “Would it be all right if I sat down?” he asked.

Faith nodded. Her lack of welcome and warmth went against the grain, but she was protecting herself. She had no choice.

She sat down again in the overstuffed chair that was her favorite and Troy took the one across from her. He sat on the edge of the cushion, hat still in his hand.

He didn’t speak for an interminable moment. “You’re looking well,” he finally said.

“Thank you,” she returned stiffly. She had to bite her tongue to keep from bragging how well she really was and how nicely she’d gotten along without him.

He nodded. “I was thinking…”

Faith reached for her knitting needles, needing something to occupy her hands.

“I was thinking, actually I was hoping, you might be free for dinner tonight.”

Faith set the needles in her lap and raised her eyebrows. “I beg your pardon? Did you just ask me to dinner?”

“Yes. Cedar Cove has several good restaurants and—”

“How dare you, Troy Davis.”

He blanched.

“Did I hear you wrong two months ago, not to mention last week? Did I somehow misconstrue your words or intentions?”

Troy frowned uncertainly.

“As I recall, you said it would be best if we no longer saw each other. That’s the way I remember it, so correct me if I misunderstood.”

“I did say that,” he agreed. “But at the time I didn’t have any idea how difficult that would be. I love you, Faith.”

“No, you don’t,” she said flatly, unwilling to fall under his spell yet again.

His head snapped back as if she’d struck him.

“If you loved me,” she continued in a cold voice, “you wouldn’t have been so quick to break my heart. You have a habit of doing that, Troy, and I’m through. This was the last time.” She picked up her knitting again, avoiding his eyes. “As for your dinner invitation—”

He didn’t allow her to finish. “I’ve missed you, Faith.”

She’d missed him, too, more than she wanted to admit, but that didn’t change what he’d said—that he could no longer see her. She recognized how concerned he was about his daughter, and she sympathized, especially now that she’d met Megan. She would’ve understood if he’d asked for her patience. Instead he’d cut her out of his life. Just like that. If she hadn’t pressured him, he wouldn’t even have given her a reason. Oh, no. She was done with Troy Davis.

“Not a day passes that I don’t think about you,” he murmured.

She refused to look at him.

“Whenever I drive past your house, I call myself every kind of fool.”

“I have a few other names I could add to your vocabulary.”

She hadn’t meant it as a joke, but he laughed.

“Yes, I suppose you could.”

Her hands tightened around the knitting needles.

“It’s taken me this long to find the courage to come to your door. It isn’t dinner I’m asking for, Faith. What I really want…is a second chance.”

She pinched her lips together. “Isn’t it a third chance?”

“Third?”

“You broke my heart when I was a teenager.”

“Oh, come on, Faith, not that again. You broke mine, too, and if you’re blaming me for that, then you’re way off base.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Your mother lied to me,” he reminded her.

“And you believed her! You didn’t even talk to me. You took her at her word and went about your merry way and met Sandy.”

“You met Carl and married him quickly enough.” Anger flared in his eyes.

There was no point in arguing. They were at a standstill, neither of them willing to budge.

“That was years ago,” Troy said after a tense moment. “As far as I’m concerned, it was unfortunate, but it happened. We both went on with our lives and found other people. You married a good man and I married a woman I loved. We both had families. Everything turned out the way it was meant to be.”

He made it all sound so reasonable. Troy didn’t know how many nights she’d cried herself to sleep back in college, wondering why he’d dumped her—why he’d been so cruel. Yes, she’d met and married Carl but getting over Troy hadn’t been easy. She’d genuinely loved him then—and she genuinely loved him now.

“Fate brought us back together,” he murmured.

“And then you blew it.”

“I did, and I apologize,” he said without hesitation.

At least he admitted that much.

“I assumed Megan wouldn’t accept another woman in my life,” he explained, “especially so soon after Sandy’s death.”

Faith was curious as to whether Megan had mentioned her. Since she’d kept her pregnancy a secret from her father and in-laws, Faith suspected she hadn’t said anything about their recent friendship, either.

“Megan’s my only child and I love her, but I have my own life.” He paused, then added in a soft, coaxing voice, “Right now my life feels very empty without you.”