“No kidding.” For all that Mack had broken her heart, he would never have turned his back on his family as her father had done.
She’d always dreamed of a family of her own one day, and the chance to give her kids the kind of home she’d always wanted. She’d assumed Mack would share that dream. But he’d told her once he would never have his own children.
“I’m sure your grandmother appreciates having you here.”
“I never would have even known she was so frail if I hadn’t come here and seen her with my own eyes.” The last Nina had seen Gram six months ago, she’d been recovering nicely from knee surgery. “She fell recently and didn’t tell me—” And there she went again, sharing something personal with Mack. “Anyway, I’ll be in town for a while and it sounds like you will, too. We’ll just...avoid each other.”
There. Done. She gave him a nod and turned to get into the truck.
Fingers on the handle. Door levering open...
“Wait.” Mack dropped a large hand right beside hers on the open door.
She stilled, afraid a sudden movement might bring her in contact with him. He stood behind her, so close the small hairs rose at the back of her neck in a kind of good way. Her body must not have gotten the message that he’d broken her heart when he’d refused to leave Heartache with her.
And then a second time when he’d married...
“What?” The husky note in her voice revealed too much. She cleared her throat.
“Nina.”
A wealth of shared memories in that simple word. God, how many times had he spoken her name before?
“I’m listening.” She had no intention of turning around. No desire to fall into his gaze and be hurt by all the memories there.
“For the record, I hadn’t heard anything about your business and I’m sorry if Cupcake Romance isn’t working out.” The sincerity in his voice only reminded her of her failed dreams.
Although the fact that he remembered the name of her shop lifted her spirits just a little. Had he looked her up on Google at some point? Or asked Gram how she was doing? The thought eased some of the old hurt that he’d just written her off completely as soon as she’d left town. Not enough to forgive him, however.
“I don’t need your sympathy.” She faced him now, unwilling to let him believe that New York had gotten the better of her. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure you will be.” He didn’t move away. “You may not believe it, but I’ve been rooting for you all along.”
That’s why he’d let her go to pursue her dreams alone, right? That’s why he’d chosen his family instead, insisted on staying behind in Heartache to pick up the pieces of the lives ruined on graduation night...
Old anger flared. Just like her parents, Mack talked a good game but he hadn’t really wanted her.
“You’re right. I do find that hard to believe.” She needed to leave. Needed to make sure she didn’t talk to Mack Finley for eight more years. “I really have to get home.”
“Can I just ask you one more thing?”
Absolutely not. Breathing the same air as him was killing her.
“What?” She gripped the heart-shaped locket around her neck, a present Gram had sent her when she’d finished her college program on a scholarship.
“Did your grandmother say if she’s had a falling-out with my mom?”
Nina released a pent-up breath. The subject was safer—for her, at least. Mrs. Finley’s moods had always made her family walk on eggshells around her. Nina had witnessed a few episodes in the years she and Mack had dated, but never anything like the argument they’d had the night she’d left Heartache. Left Mack.
“No. Gram just mentioned that your mother is sticking close to home even more since your father’s death, which I was very sorry to hear about. Your dad did so much for this town.” Not only had Mr. Finley been mayor for longer than anyone else in the history of Heartache, he’d been a genuinely nice man.
“Thank you. We all miss him.” Mack swallowed hard before he glanced toward his mother’s house. “And Mom misses him the most, of course. Scott’s been having a tough time even getting her to her doctor appointments lately, and she’s stopped having Ally overnight on the weekends. I’m debating where to stay for the next couple of weeks while I help Scott with the Harvest Fest.”
He didn’t need to spell out the difficulties of staying with his mother. He’d been as anxious to leave Heartache as Nina, and most of his reasons had revolved around his mother.
“You’re really going to pitch in with the event?” She remembered other Harvest Fests. Especially the Harvest Dance at the end of the festival each year. The year she left, she and Mack had been voted the king and queen, their straw crowns ridiculous and fun. The whole night had been sweetly magical beneath a twirling, pumpkin-shaped disco ball.
She’d told him she loved him that night.
“It’s a lot for Scott to manage on his own. Especially now, when—” He shook his head.
“Is he okay?” She’d been close to the whole Finley family once, as she’d spent half her time at his house during senior year. “I mean, he’s not ill or anything?”
“No. Nothing like that.” He pressed a palm to his forehead for a second and then lowered his hand, but he still looked...pained. “His marriage is going through a rough patch. The tension in the house has been making Ally act out, too. It’s been a tough few months for their family.”
“Really? I’m sorry to hear it.” That news came as a shocker. Scott and Bethany Finley had been the town’s golden couple even before Nina left Heartache. He ran the family construction business and building-supply store. She’d taught preschool and volunteered at the local nursing home. They were solid. Happy. Then, anyway. She’d kept her distance from the Finley family in general on the intermittent weekends she’d visited her grandmother.
But Nina could appreciate the havoc that feuding parents could wreak on a kid. Her heart ached for what Ally must be going through.
“Divorce is painful.” Mack straightened. “I don’t want either of them to go through that.”
Right. Because he knew what it was like.
Another old pain that ached anew.
“It’s kind of you to try and spare them that hurt.” Her arms felt heavy and wooden as she finally opened the truck door. One foot on the running board, she pulled herself up into the driver’s seat and steeled herself to acknowledge Mack’s marriage. “For what it’s worth, I was sorry to hear about you and—” she fought to keep her voice even “—Jenny.”
She stared out the windshield for a long moment, not sure she could look him in the eye. She sensed his gaze on her, though. And it made her feel...
Too much.
“Thank you.” He stood beside the pickup window and pounded his fist gently once, twice on the open sill. “You should call her sometime. I’m sure she’d enjoy hearing from you.”
Nina shoved the key in the ignition of the old Ford and started it up. The mayor’s son had just taken his Nice Guy Act too far, because that was not going to happen.
“Jenny made it clear to me years ago that she blames me for Vince’s death on graduation night, the same as plenty of other people in this town. So if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that your ex-wife doesn’t ever want to hear from me again.”
She didn’t bother saying goodbye. They’d already said it enough to last a lifetime.
Copyright © 2014 by Joanne Rock
ISBN-13: 9781460339176
WINNING RUBY HEART
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Lohmann
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decom
piled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Winning Ruby Heart Page 28
