I had fun jet-setting to movie premiers and club openings with my celebrity heartthrobs, but when it came time to settle down, I chose a perfectly ordinary real estate investor—if you considered owning half the state of Florida ordinary. Caleb Moreno wasn’t famous, but he was the only man I’d wanted to keep around since ending things with Jake a week after getting my GED. He felt…real, the way Jake had felt real, in that way I hadn’t understood was so rare when I was eighteen.
By the time my thirtieth birthday had come and gone, I’d been ready to settle down for a while, but none of the guys I dated had staying power. They were all…too flimsy and changeable and plain silly to be trusted with my heart, let alone the children I hoped to have one day. Before I met Caleb, I’d begun to think I’d never find Mr. Right.
But then my ex had walked onto the set of a television special I was filming at one of his historic Florida mansions, and I’d been hooked. With his polished good looks, no-nonsense business acumen, and sharp sense of humor, Caleb had checked a good number of my “forever man” boxes. We’d dated for a year before becoming engaged and, not long after, pregnant.
I was…over the moon.
At first, Caleb pretended to be excited about the baby, too, but within weeks of hearing the news, he started working late. First, it was three nights a week, then five, and then I could never seem to get him on the phone after four o’clock in the afternoon. I resorted to texting his assistant to find out if I should even bother setting a place for him at the supper table.
I’d been so thrilled about the baby that I’d chalked Caleb’s absence up to a resurgence in the real estate market, but looking back the signs that he was on his way out were so clear. Caleb loved glitz and glamour and shiny new things. I’d fulfilled those needs a lot longer than most of his girlfriends, but in the end, he’d been relieved to escape without a child to complicate our breakup.
He made that obvious when he elected to skip Grace’s funeral.
I take a deep breath, pushing those thoughts away, reminding myself that I don’t dwell on those things anymore. I’m done with destructive patterns.
Which means this is the perfect chance to have that one-on-one chat with Jake.
After a quick glance in my mirrored compact to check for caramel stuck to my teeth, I smooth on a coat of lipstick, run my fingers through my hair, and head for the exit, calling out, “Be right back!”
I push through the door, pretending I don’t hear Maddie asking me where I’m going.
Outside, the winter air is crisp and clean-smelling, but not nearly as cold as it was last night. The cool wind nips at my cheeks but isn’t unpleasant.
In fact, with the sun shining and tinsel-covered garland glittering above Main Street, the day is gorgeous, the kind of early winter afternoon that makes the New Year and new beginnings feel just around the corner.
I hold tight to the thought as I hurry across the quiet street and aim myself at Jake.
Chapter Seven
Naomi
I move quickly, with the determination of a woman on a mission of good will, but I’m still a good ten feet away when Jake looks up.
Once again, he seems to sense me coming.
Maybe we still have that old psychic connection…
Or maybe he smells me coming, the way bees and dogs smell fear.
I can’t see his eyes through his dark sunglasses, but there’s no doubt he’s spotted me. It’s clear in the way his shoulders stiffen, his jaw clenches around his last bite of sandwich, and his big hand crushes his brown paper lunch bag into a ball. I can feel his attention on me—making my pulse speed and my mouth go dry. His focus doesn’t waver, not even when he hurls the wadded up bag toward the trashcan at the end of the table, acing the shot on the first try.
“Two points!” I say, thrusting my arms into the air, committing to the joke before I think better of it.
But screw it, I’m too nervous to play it cool. That sky-before-a-lightning-storm energy that leapt between us last night at the auction—singeing everyone unlucky enough to be in its path—sizzles in the air, making the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.
Clearly Jake isn’t any happier to see me today than he was yesterday…or the day before. I half expect him to bolt before I reach the picnic table, but he stays put as I hop the curb and pad through the crunchy brown grass.
“Hey.” I pull in a breath and force a smile. “How are you?”
He just…sits there.
Chewing his last bite.