“What is she doing here?” he grumbled.
“Who?” A dozen scenarios shifted and shuffled like a deck of cards in Saylor’s brain.
Cole slammed the button on his pickup, killing the ignition. He gave her a single, exasperated glance.
“My ex-wife.”
Chapter Fifteen
Cole didn’t miss the widening surprise in Saylor’s gaze. “Did you know she’d be here?”
Something hitched in her voice. It wasn’t as warm and inviting as it had been when she was sharing her hopes of a future with him. What awful timing on Brooke’s part, to ruin such a perfect moment.
That was so like her. Cole had told her no in every conversation they’d had since Christmas Eve, and she still wouldn’t take a hint. He had to make himself clear, once and for all.
“Hang on,” he said, sliding out of the pickup. He should have left the ignition running so Saylor would stay warm, but he wasn’t thinking clearly at the moment, and it was made all the worse by Brooke’s interruption. He’d been close to telling Saylor he was falling in love with her. He’d meant it when he said he wanted to try, to see where things were going, that he hoped for a one hundred percent relationship with her.
While he wasn’t sure whether he was in love with her yet or not, there were certainly things he loved about her already. Her spunk, her passion for her son, the flush of pink in her cheeks when she caught him watching her. He loved that she was independent, she was using her computer skills to try to build a life for herself without her loser ex-husband. He loved kissing her and holding her in his arms.
If Brooke hadn’t interrupted them, he could have told her that.
Of all things, Brooke smirked as though she just won a bet. “Are you on a date?”
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
She pouted her bottom lip. “You keep ignoring me.”
Cole was flabbergasted, which wasn’t a word he claimed lightly. This was utter and complete nonsense. Any sane person would take his response to her and read it loud and clear for the message it was: he wasn’t interested.
Not Brooke. Spoiled, indulged, Brooke just had to get her way.
“Listen,” he said, tucking his hands into his coat pockets. “I know you want a second chance. But it’s not going to happen. Things between us weren’t good. They certainly won’t be any better a second time.”
Brooke closed in, taking the front of his jacket with her gloved hands. Cole pried her hands free, ready to push her away once and for all when the passenger side of his pickup opened and Saylor slipped out, slamming the door behind her.
“Saylor. Saylor, wait!”
“What is she, a pirate?” Brooke said derisively. Then she lifted her voice loud enough for Saylor to hear. “You mean she didn’t know you agreed to meet me here tonight?”
Cole glowered at her. “We’re done. We are so done,” he said, turning and leaving Brooke alone on the sidewalk. He half suspected she would follow him, but to his relief, he ran alone.
Saylor made her way down the street, her face tucked into her fur-lined hood. The jacket looked thin and old—it couldn’t be that warm. Cole’s feet hammered the snow, steering clear of the cars along the street.
“Saylor!”
She didn’t turn.
He could imagine how it looked back there. Taking her to his apartment for the first time, sharing his feelings, then having his ex show up and claim he invited her there, too.
“Saylor, wait!”
She wiped at her eyes and faced him, pelting him with burning resentment. Her cheeks and nose were painted red from the cold, and her hair caught in the wind, making her appear even more enticing. Making him feel worse about all of this.
“I can’t believe I fell for it,” she said.
“Fell for what? I didn’t invite her over.” He had the wrong tone, and he knew it, because Saylor turned her back to him and continued walking.
Cole caught up again, taking her by the arm.
She shook him off. “Am I a game to you? A joke?”
“No.” The opposite.
“I told you how David broke my heart. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to open myself up to you. I should know better by now.”
“She just showed up. I swear,” he said, calming his voice to a more believable level. “She’s been badgering me since Christmas to get back together.”
Saylor quieted, folding her arms over her chest. Her breath was visible in the chilly air. “Are you getting back together?”
“No,” Cole said a little too adamantly. That had always been a fault of his, getting overexcited easily, especially when he was as frustrated as he was right now. “And I’m about to make that very clear to her, just as soon as I take you home.”
Saylor sniffed. “I called my dad. He’ll be at the Chevron on the corner in a few minutes.” She gestured in the direction she’d been walking. The Chevron’s blue awning spilled light over vacant gas pumps.
Cole’s head spun. This was not how this evening was supposed to go. He’d intended on curling up on the couch with her, on watching movies until it was time to watch the ball drop. He’d wanted to kiss her at midnight, to ask her to officially be his girlfriend. Why did Brooke have to show up?
“See you later, I guess,” she said, turning away from him again.
The motion hit him in the gut. “At least let me walk you the rest of the way and wait with you.” She shouldn’t stand there alone, not this late. Not when he’d asked her on a date.
“No thanks.” The sadness in her eyes, the resolve there to leave him behind here for good, stopped him. “Goodnight, Cole.”
And she left him behind on the sidewalk.
Chapter Sixteen
Saylor curled up on her mom’s couch beneath a wool blanket, a pack of Oreo’s resting on her knee, and stared at the poor, dismembered
