“It was not a routine.” That accusation cut like a jagged knife. “I care about you, Christine. More than this emerald.”
“I kept hearing from you that I needed to let go. Take risks.” She shifted her jaw to one side as she tried to contain the anger that rolled through her. “But I was the one taking the risks.”
“We both were taking risks.” He had been just as vulnerable as she was.
“I welcomed you into my life, into my bed,” she said, refusing to listen to him. “I risked my reputation, my future, for you. I followed your lead with Bonnie because I believed you had my best interest in mind.”
“You are my priority. You have been since I met you. All I want is to make you happy.”
She scoffed at his statement and started walking to her car. “I listened to all the advice you gave me and it actually changed the way I view the world. You’ll be very proud of me. Because I’m letting go. Of you.”
“I’m coming back and we will work this out,” he said as he followed her. He didn’t know if he could fix this. In the past, he just moved on when a relationship crashed and burned. But this was different. “As soon as I get this damn emerald to Aaron, I’m coming back to stay.”
She pulled her car door open. “Why?”
He spread his hands out. “I want to be with you.”
She whirled around and glared at him. “No, you don’t. It was all part of your scam.”
“I didn’t scam you.” He bit out the words. “I wasn’t truthful about why I came to Cedar Valley, but I want to stay because of you.”
She leaned against the car door and gave him an appraising look, from his wet hair to his drenched boots. “Would you have approached me if it wasn’t for the emerald?”
He nodded. “I like to think so.”
“Even though I am everything you don’t want in a woman.”
Travis stared at her. “I never said that.”
“You avoid standing still because you’re afraid to have a comfort zone. I am firmly in mine. You’re afraid that your world will get smaller and smaller. My world is about as small as it can get.”
“So?”
“You knew I was trying to jump-start my life,” she said. “You said you could see right through my pretense. If it hadn’t been for the emerald, you would have steered clear of me.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I want to be there when you reach for your dreams. I admire the way you’re trying to break out of your comfort zone.”
“You have to admit that my life is a cautionary tale for you,” she said. “But you’re trying to make me believe you want to be a part of it?”
“The only thing I have to admit is that you are the best and the worst woman for me. You are the greatest challenge and the greatest adventure.”
“Greatest adventure?” She gave him a look of disbelief. “How is that possible when I’m all talk and no action.”
“That’s not true. I see the world through your eyes. You find adventure wherever you are.”
“Not true,” she said as she sat down in her car. “I had a bucket list for ten years before crossing anything off. And let’s not get into the one I had for sex. Or the one you supposedly had.”
“My bucket list is all true.”
“I was exclusively on your bucket list because you needed to get closer to me,” she said in a low growl. “Did you stay in my house because you couldn’t get enough of me or because you needed to search for the emerald?”
There was a beat of silence. He wanted to lie, but she already suspected the truth. “Both.”
Her mouth set in a grim line as she slammed her car door closed. “You have the emerald now. There’s nothing keeping you here.”
“Yes, there is,” he insisted. “You told me that you love me. Believe it or not, that means something to me.”
“Don’t let that get in your way,” she said through the window as she turned on the ignition. “I’m letting go. You should do the same.”
18
CHRISTINE SAT ON her porch swing, tapping a pen against her notebook. The sun was shining and she heard the leaves rustling in the breeze. It was a quiet Sunday. Cedar Valley had been quiet since Travis left weeks ago.
She heard a knock on the porch door. “Hey, Christine,” Jill said through the screen. “I thought I’d find you here.”
“Come on in,” Christine said. She gestured at the porch swing. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”