Seaside Avenue (Cedar Cove #7)(100)

“I’m sorry, too,” he mumbled.

“I know you’d never cancel a date for any frivolous reason.”

He didn’t respond.

“I guess I’ll have to tell you my news over the phone,” she said, “instead of waiting for this evening.”

She remained irritatingly cheerful. “What news?” he asked.

“I would’ve said something sooner, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I sold my house!”

This was the last thing Troy wanted to hear. “Oh,” he said flatly. He had no idea how he’d cope with seeing Faith in town—on the streets, in the stores, everywhere.

If she heard the reluctance in his voice, Faith ignored it. “I should’ve done this before now. It was ridiculous to live in such a huge place all by myself.”

Troy said nothing.

“My son’s thrilled,” she went on to tell him. “Scottie’s looking for a house for me. At least you and I won’t be spending all our time on the road now,” she added with a laugh.

“Faith, listen, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’ve decided it might not be wise to continue seeing each other.” How he managed to get the words out, he didn’t know. His heart screamed that he should stop. That he should withdraw the words, pretend he’d never said them.

He couldn’t.

Bracing his hand against his forehead, he leaned his elbow on the desk.

A short pause followed his announcement.

“Have I done something to upset you?” Faith asked softly. If her joy had irritated him earlier, her pain left him raw.

“No.”

“Then can I ask why you’ve made this decision?”

He thought about that, too, and how unjust he was being. “No.”

She took a moment to absorb his remark. “I’m not a teenage girl anymore, Troy. Our relationship went wrong all those years ago through no fault of ours. I don’t want it to happen again. Now, please tell me what’s wrong. I deserve to know that much.”

She did, and he had to tell her. “It’s Megan.”

“Your daughter…”

“My daughter might have MS.”

Faith gasped. “Oh, Troy. I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve never told her about you and I can’t now.”

“No, I don’t suppose you can,” she agreed sadly.

“When you move to Cedar Cove…” He couldn’t ask her not to move because it wasn’t his right to do so. But at the same time, seeing her around town would be agony.

“I’ve already made that decision, Troy. You were one reason, but there are others, including my son and his family.”

“Of course.” He closed his eyes in an effort to control his feelings. He loved Faith. He’d loved her while they were in high school and he loved her now. Whether she lived in Seattle or Cedar Cove didn’t matter. His love for her wasn’t going to change.

“It might be best if you started seeing someone else,” he said, disregarding the pain it caused him to say that.

Her lack of response filled him with dread. After a minute she said, “Is that what you want, Troy? Do you really want me to see another man?”

“It might be best,” he repeated.

“I don’t think so, but I understand why you feel that way.”

“I’m sorry, Faith. I wish this had worked out for us, but it’s not going to happen.”

“I’m sorry, too,” she whispered. “I’ll be praying for you and your daughter.”

“Thank you.”

He thought he heard her swallow a sob. “Goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye, Faith.”

Forty

Linnette had been working for Buffalo Bob nearly two months now, and she had to admit she’d grown attached to this town called BuffaloValley. The people were open and friendly, yet they respected her privacy and never asked questions she didn’t want to answer. With one exception.

Pete Mason.

He’d taken to dropping by 3 of a Kind for meals as often as two or three times a week—which wouldn’t bother her if all he did was eat. Oh, no, whenever he came to the restaurant, he made some remark or other about the things she’d blurted out after the tornado. In fact, he didn’t even seem to know he was embarrassing her with his rude comments.

Once, he’d actually brought her popcorn from the town’s lone theater. The stuff dripped with so much melted butter that it leaked through the bag. He’d presented it to her in front of half a dozen patrons, bowing low and making a spectacle of himself and consequently of her. All because she’d casually mentioned one day that she liked popcorn.

Okay, Linnette was willing to confess that she ate the popcorn later—alone in her room.

“Pete likes you,” Merrily told her early on Saturday afternoon.

“I doubt it.” This was a discussion Linnette didn’t want to have. If Pete Mason was the slightest bit attracted to her, he would’ve asked her out on a date by now. There’d certainly been plenty of opportunities. He’d shown more interest in the meat loaf and mashed potato special than in her. As far as she could tell, the only reason he made the long trek into town was so he could humiliate her with all the personal information she’d revealed.