The Middle of Somewhere(19)

“Today?”

“Or a more convenient time. And only if it suits you.”

She hadn’t gone out with a man in three years. Not that this was a date. She’d done him a favor and he was being polite. Colleagues often had drinks after work with no romantic intentions.

“Today works.”

“Great. Six at Freddie’s?”

“Six at Freddie’s.”

“See you then. Wish me luck.”

“Luck.”

She slid out of the room, wiping her sweaty palms on her trousers. She hurried down the corridor, Dante’s smile in her mind, forgetting entirely about the package waiting in the mail room.

Now tears stung her eyes as she read his note again. She set the paper down and watched a jay alighting from branch to branch. It squawked loudly, raised its black crest in excitement and flew out of sight. Dante would have known what sort of jay it was—and probably the Latin name, too. He had a thing for birds.

And he had a thing for her. She felt sorry for him. She regretted moving in with him and getting caught up in his version of her. To him, she was someone who could return his love wholeheartedly. She doubted she could. He assumed the force of his love would erase the tragedy of the death of her husband, her first love. That tragedy followed her like a hungry, mangy dog, but Dante believed he could free her from it, set her life on a different path, one leading to a happy ending. Kiss me! As if he were her frog prince. She wanted it to be true, but wishing didn’t make it so.

She’d deluded herself into thinking she could escape her past by submerging it, and had kept one secret from Dante, then another, and another. If he knew the truth, if he knew what the real tragedy was, he wouldn’t love her at all. He’d regret inviting her for a drink at Freddie’s and everything that followed. But now they were caught, and it was her fault.

Liz stared at the letter and felt herself collapsing away from Dante, in shame and in fear. Her breath snagged in her chest and she rocked back and forth, biting her lip to keep from sobbing. He deserved someone better than her. At the very least, he deserved the truth.

If she came clean, she would break his heart, and her own. She might endure that, but she was dead certain she could not bear to see his face when he found out his beloved widow had blood on her hands.





CHAPTER SEVEN





When she returned to the café the next morning, the last person she expected to see was Dante. But there he was, sitting at a picnic table, leaning on his elbows and fiddling with his phone. She scanned the area for his pack but didn’t see it anywhere. He looked both bored and anxious. And of course he was there to see her.

Her first impulse was to avoid him. What would another confrontation accomplish, other than more pain? Nothing had changed since they’d parted three days before, despite his note and the feelings it had provoked. She was well rested, fully supplied and poised to continue her southward journey. All she needed to do before rejoining the trail was eat breakfast and turn in the bucket for recycling. Neither was imperative. She could duck behind the store to the footpath that led across the road to the JMT. He’d be left thinking he’d missed her and she’d be gone, hiking alone as she’d intended. That was, after all, why she was here.

She hesitated. Avoiding him was childish. She approached the store, leaned her pack against a post and began transferring the extra food from the bucket into the trash.

“Liz.”

She tossed a handful of energy bars into the can.

“Liz.” He put his hand on her arm. “How are you? How was your hike?”

A bag of trail mix, the extra sunscreen, into the can. She held a packet of M&M’s in her palm.

He moved in front of her and tilted his head to better see her face. She focused on the bucket. His voice was soft with concern. “Two nights ago, did you have a thunderstorm? I was worrying about you so much.”

That night. Her heel digging into the mud. The driving rain. The waves of fear cascading through her body as the thunder rumbled. The world exploding in light, the silhouetted figure appearing between the trees.

A shiver slid down her spine. She chewed her lip to control her emotions and handed him the M&M’s.

He smiled as if nothing had happened. “Let me buy you breakfast.”

The café had just opened but was already half full. They took a small table next to the counter. As the waitress poured coffee, Paul and Linda came in and sat near the door. Linda caught her eye and waved cheerfully. When Linda’s gaze fell on Dante, a bemused expression took over her face. Oh, the predictably topsy-turvy lives of young couples! Liz gave Linda a weak smile and picked up her menu.