“You never introduced yourself to me because of that?”
“I never introduced myself because I saw why you didn’t want to deal with the rest of us. Every time I saw you, you were always walking away from something or someone.”
She left. She did it her entire life. She just left and walked away. She left her family. She left for ten years.
I’m here if you decide to stop running…
She left everything that she had in the last ten years too.
Jonah began cutting into his steak. “I always felt that I would’ve been pestering you if I ever said hello or something.”
Dani’s plate was still untouched. Her hands had yet to leave her lap.
He added, holding her gaze, “Truth is, you kinda intrigued me after that day when you ditched your sister. I thought it took balls for someone to do that to Erica O’Hara. No one did that. All those girls worshipped the ground your sister walked on, but I thought you must’ve had steel in that spine of yours to do what you did.”
“I was her sister.” Her voice grew hoarse. She didn’t know what compelled her, but she heard herself saying, “When I left, I traveled a bunch. I wanted to be something else than what I’d always been here. I worked here and there, but there was this group. I got involved with them, and at first it was great. We laughed, we drank, we…they were nice to me.” Then things changed. “This one girl, her name was Parker. She—she had this thing for this guy who started traveling with us.”
I’m here…
She swallowed a lump in her throat, and kept going. “She was a little like Erica. She got all the guys, but she wanted this one guy and he wanted me. So she started to hate me, and then the group did too.”
“Hi.” He had dark eyes, dark hair, and a warm smile. He looked like Jake, but he wasn’t Jake. He offered his hand, and said as she shook it, “I’m Mitch, but call me Boone.”
Boone chose her.
“I went off on my own again.”
Boone went with her.
She remembered when she shook his hand. It was sturdy, the tiniest bit rough like he wasn’t used to manual labor until recently, and she blushed that night. She felt her cheeks now. She was blushing again. “Sorry.” She ducked her head, laughing softly. “I don’t remember what I was talking about.”
“What happened to the guy?”
Boone had fallen in love with her. “Nothing.” It didn’t matter. She left him, too. “I’m a walker. That’s what I do. I walk away.”
“I know.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She stared into those eyes. He was serious, but there was depth there. “You’re not what everyone says you are, are you?”
“That depends on what they say?” He gave her a half-grin.
“You’re a ladies’ man. You can charm your way into anyone’s pants. You’re a heartbreaker.” But as she was saying that, she couldn’t remember if those words had been used to describe him or if it was her own memory. She remembered what Mae said about him that first night over their nightcap. “Mae told me you’re dangerous to a hurting heart.”
His half-grin lessened. “Really?”
“I think that was her way of warning me to steer clear of you. She said you moved back to Craigstown a few years ago.”
“A few, around three. I take care of the river now.”
“You were a big head hunter before.”
He nodded, half-grin was almost gone. “I worked for my father’s company for a bit. Yeah.”
She frowned. She couldn’t remember anything about his parents from before. “Your father?” She remembered he had a sister.
“My sister and I grew up here with my mom. She let us believe that our dad didn’t want anything to do with us, but that changed when she died. Lawyers had to involve him and suddenly he wanted back into our lives again. I was a junior in school. Aiden was a senior. I went to college on his dime and worked at his company for a while.” His eyes grew downcast, and he cleared his throat. “I didn’t like who I was becoming, so I decided to change. I’ve never regretted it for a second.” He looked up, looking right into her eyes. “How about you? Anything you regret?”
So much.
It was on the tip of her tongue. She swallowed those words and instead said, forcing a small laugh out, “I know one thing that people think I’m going to do, but I’m not. I’m not going to break up Jake and Julia, and I’m not going to regret not doing that.” She laughed again, this time it was less forced.
“That’s good to know, but I’m not here to find out that information either.”
“You’re here for my car.”
“Not really.”
“You’re here for a ride.”
“That’d be nice.”
There was a different look in his eyes. Something more. He didn’t react to her comment about the car, not like before. It was like… She cocked her head to the side. “You’re not here about the car, are you?”
He shrugged. “I’d still like to take it for a ride, but no. The car was an excuse. The fair’s tomorrow. You going?” He moved his fork around his plate and sank it into his last piece of meat. “I think you should go. You can go with Aiden if you want.”
“Your sister?” Dani asked in surprise.
“Yeah. She and Kate are going together. They’re good friends.” He rolled his eyes. “Kate usually shows up Friday nights, and the two of them gossip about every girl I’ve ever dated. That’s what friends do, right?”