Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(107)

“I want you to trust me,” he said, picking up the phone. He dialed the number. “I have to do this.”

Nikki could no doubt see the number on the caller ID because she picked up. She answered, “Hi, sweetie.”

“It’s not sweetie,” Paul said. “It’s Paul.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“I have to talk to you. About Joe.”

“I thought we settled that,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess it’s pretty much settled for you,” Paul said. “Not quite settled for me. Just for my peace of mind, Nikki, I have to ask you something. See, I’ve known Joe a long time now and I’ve trusted him with my life. Literally. I went to war with the guy. I’ve seen him with women, and this guy—he’s always been a classy guy. I’ve never known him to treat a woman badly.…”

“He didn’t treat me badly, Paul,” she said softly.

Paul let out a breath. “Well, thank God. That’s a relief. I was afraid, I don’t know…Afraid I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. I mean, you were really upset—and then I found Joe to be just as upset to hear you left here in tears. He wouldn’t tell me what went on between you two, but he insisted he hadn’t done anything to hurt you.”

“It’s okay, Paul. You can let this go.”

“Good. Because I just couldn’t stand to think he’d treat a woman wrong. He’s not that kind of guy. You’ll be glad to know, finally he seems to be putting this whole thing behind him. It was killing him for a while there, but I think he’s getting better.”

“Better?”

“Yeah, a little bit. Trying to get over it. Over you. He was up here this weekend. There were architectural plans he had to bring me—I’m going to build three of his houses. Vanni told me he was writing notes, leaving messages. I guess he had it pretty bad, but it’s not like Joe to bother a woman who doesn’t want to be bothered. You’ll probably be shed of him pretty soon. Maybe you already are.”

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Good. Then.”

“I don’t exactly know what has him so jammed up. I’m sure he gets the message by now. That you don’t want anything to do with him. Ever. Again.”

“Maybe he wanted to apologize. It’s not necessary,” she said.

Paul hmmed. “No, I don’t think so. I suggested he might get some points with Vanni if he said he was sorry. He said he couldn’t do that—he wasn’t sorry. Just disappointed by how it turned out.”

“I thought it was best,” she said. “After all, it was brief…”

“Yeah. God forbid something like that should ever happen again…”

“Paul, I gave a man five years and he was lying to me the whole time. He kept saying he needed more time before making a commitment and then finally admitted he’d never get married, never have a family. It was like I didn’t know him at all.”

“I know, Nikki. That was bad, I’m sorry. My friend Joe? He’s not that kind of guy. A lie would turn into acid in his mouth. If he wasn’t going the distance, he’d say so.”

“It’s better this way. Better to let it go now, before…I wouldn’t want to go through something like that again.”

“I guess you know what you’re doing. Joe, he’s still a little roughed up, but he’ll get over it. You probably know better than anyone how that feels, right? Trying to get over someone?” He lifted his eyebrows toward his wife.

“Yes,” Nikki said.

“There you go. He said we all have to move past it, get it behind us. That’s what you want, right? For him to forget about you?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice weak and quivering a little.

“God, I hope you’re right about this, Nikki,” he said. “That this is a man to put behind you. I did that once, you know. Different circumstances—I was up against Matt. But I fell in love with Vanni so fast it was ridiculous. No one would believe it—that I took one look at her and man, it just hit me. When Matt made his move, I backed right off. I let her go, I wasn’t going to compete with my best friend for a woman. I have to tell you—I started to regret that ten minutes later. For years all I could think was why the hell didn’t I walk right up to them and say, ‘Out of my way, buddy—I saw her first!’”

Silence answered him.

“But I guess we don’t have much in common there, huh? There was no competition, except maybe Joe was competing with a rotten memory. If there was anything about him you thought was worth a damn, you never would have let him get away. So. I just hope you’re right.…”

She whimpered a little bit. “It was one night.…”

“I think maybe the crazy fool loves you,” Paul said.

“That’s impossible,” she said, but there were tears in her voice.

“Nikki,” Paul said softly. “You said yes, right?”

“Of course I said yes,” she sniffed. “He didn’t force me. He didn’t even insist. He’s not that kind of guy.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. You know, it’s probably none of my business, but it just doesn’t make sense to me—two people trying to get over each other because something good happened, something both of you wanted to happen. But I guess you know what you want. And don’t want. Huh?”