Okay, where next? She turned quickly and ran into her mother’s room. They had to be there somewhere. She flipped open the trunk, which was now nearly empty, but they weren’t there. Shit! Did someone steal her letters? Would someone do that? If they’d steal the scrapbooks, they’d definitely steal the letters. She plopped down on her mother’s bed and threw her head back.
Fucking hell, now what?
She sat there for a long moment, trying to jog her memory, but she was sure they were gone, damn it. She got up and pounded down the stairs and back out the front door. What else could she do but search her apartment again?
Before she had her key inserted into the lock, her front door swung open with a swoosh.
“Hey, babe.”
“Dex, what the hell are you doing in my apartment?”
He grinned at her as if he hadn’t been there without her permission. “You gave me a key a few weeks ago. Remember?”
“I also broke up with you. That means you’re no longer allowed to use the key. I didn’t think I had to worry about changing the locks.”
“Why are you acting like this?”
“Because you’ve intruded into my space after I broke up with you. I have every right to question you. You shouldn’t even be here.”
“We didn’t get a chance to talk at El Lago.”
“Actually, we did. I was very clear about my feelings, and then I told you to go to hell. You really don’t listen to me, do you?”
Bailey stepped past him and into the apartment as he closed the door behind her, then she focused on him, and everything was so clear to her. She didn’t have to do this. She didn’t have to put up with his shit. She didn’t owe Dex anything—not even the chance to talk. He was rude, abrasive, and demanding. Why did it take her so long to see this? To realize what a complete douchebag he was?
He wasn’t what she wanted. And why should she settle for anything less than what she wanted? Why settle for anything less than everything she wanted?
“Listen, Dex, before you say anything else, I need to tell you something.” She paused, knowing what she was about to tell him would drive a permanent wedge between them. But even as she thought this, she realized she didn’t really care. “You stood me up on the Fourth of July.”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “I know, but I’ve already apologized for that.”
She shook her head. “Listen to me, Dex, I slept with someone else that night.”
He exhaled and shook his head, his body stiffening. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ve already moved on. When you didn’t show up on the Fourth of July, I went out on Ryan’s boat with him…alone.”
“Ryan?” Bailey watched the heat travel up his neck and into his face. “All the insisting you did about being just friends, I knew it was bullshit,” he sneered. “There’s no way a man and a woman can be friends without sleeping together. I knew he wanted you, but you insisted I was wrong.”
“None of that matters. I can’t be with you, regardless of Ryan. This isn’t going to work. I’m sorry.”
“Just like that, huh?”
“I don’t owe you anything. You didn’t care about my feelings until I was no longer available to you. You weren’t concerned with hurting me until I’d given up on you and moved on.”
“No, it just took losing you to figure out what I wanted.”
“And it took losing you to figure out what I wanted. A long-distance relationship where I’m on the bottom of your priority list is not what I want. I want to be cherished, and you don’t cherish me. You don’t respect me. You don’t care about what I want or what I love.”
“And you think Ryan does?”
“This isn’t about Ryan. This is about you and me. I’ve put up with being your vacation fling for far too long. I can do better than that, and I want more than that.”
“Bailey, I know! That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you all night.”
“You’re too late, Dex!” She paced the room for a moment, trying to be firm but kind. “If you would listen to me, you’d know what I’ve been trying to tell you all night. There isn’t anything you can say that will change my mind. I no longer want this relationship.”
He stepped closer to her. “I apologized for standing you up, and I’m telling you I’m ready to make a commitment to you. What more do you want?”
“I want more than you have to offer. I would rather be single and alone than be with someone who isn’t everything to me, or I to him.”
He leaned forward and got right in her face. “I hope you mean that because once I walk out that door, I’m not coming back.”
Bailey fought to maintain eye contact. He was big and burly, and, for the first time since she’d known him, he frightened her. She didn’t back down, though, and she wouldn’t.
He breathed heavily through his nose for a second, then turned away. “Fine. You got it, Bailey, and now you have to live with the consequences.”
She fought to restrain her sigh of relief when the apartment door slammed shut behind him. She wrapped her arms around her chest to suppress a shudder. “You’ve done it now, Bailey.” She turned to face her empty apartment, taking a minute to get her bearings and shake off the adrenaline rush that always accompanied conflict.
She lowered herself onto the couch and scanned the room, her mind returning to the missing letters. When her eyes rested on the snow globe sitting on the bookcase, she stared at it, her mind drifting to when her mother had given it
