“You ask me that after last week?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” I demanded. He wasn’t making any sense.
He took a step toward me, towering over me. “I saw you with Landon. I saw the way you were all over him that night. Landon is still in love with you, and it sure looked like you felt the same.”
Landon was in love with me? Ha! That was a riot. And Jensen thought I was still in love with Landon? That was equally laughable.
“That is not what you saw!” I told him.
“Save it, Emery.”
Then, he turned and walked into the church, leaving me sputtering in shock. He thought I loved Landon. He thought that I had somehow chosen Landon over him. And I didn’t even know how he could think that.
Where had he seen me with Landon? At Flips? I definitely had not been all over him then. I’d never even touched him, except when he’d helped me to the door so that I wouldn’t fall over.
I stumbled back a step. Oh, shit.
Kimber had said Jensen had come by. Maybe he’d seen Landon help me. Maybe he thought something had been there that wasn’t. Because nothing was there. And it was preposterous to presume something like that. It was even worse to assume it, not have a conversation about it, and then run.
Chapter 27
Jensen
Emery’s gaze burned me like a brand throughout the service.
Luckily, the Christmas Eve service was almost entirely comprised of singing, and there was never a point where she could talk to me.
I’d been prepared for her to be here tonight. I’d figured, after the way I’d left things—or hadn’t left things—that she would want a confrontation. She was that kind of girl. But she’d made her choice that night, and then I’d made mine when I hopped on that plane and flew to New York.
What I did regret was that things were still tense with Landon. I should have fixed things with him before leaving. He was my brother. He would always be in my life, and if I had to endure his love for Emery, then I should at least let him know that I would stand down. I knew he was married to Miranda. But I always thought that was a temporary thing and that he’d find someone better in the end.
It had been impossible to get near him when I got back this morning. Miranda never left his side, and I couldn’t be in her vicinity for more than a few minutes before wanting my eardrums to burst.
But I would fix it tonight.
When the service ended, I reached down for my jacket, and when I stood back up, there was Emery, looking pissed as all hell. She was looking up at me with fire in her eyes, and it was impossible not to stare back. She was…stunning. Breathtaking. My chest tightened when I looked at her.
Avoiding her had seemed like the best option. I’d thought that telling her what I had seen would send her careening away from me. Yet, here she was, gazing up at me, as if she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to kiss me or punch me. What a quandary, this woman.
“You’re an idiot,” she snapped.
“Not now,” I muttered.
“Yes! Right now. I’ve waited all week for this. Why wait another minute?”
I could see in her eyes that she was in no way going to let this go. “Fine. Let’s do this somewhere else.”
“Fine,” she spat. “Outside then.”
I made my excuses to my family and then followed Emery outside. Emery nodded her head to the left, and we started walking in the bitter cold weather. She was in a warm jacket and scarf, and already, her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold. Temperatures were dropping rapidly, and we were actually expecting a white Christmas.
“All right, we’re outside,” I said. “What is it that you have to say to me?”
“You’re being such an incredible idiot right now.”
“You mentioned that.”
She glared in my direction. “I can’t do this, Jensen.”
“Can’t do what?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant.
“You don’t trust me. You don’t value my opinion. You couldn’t even bother to talk to me. You ran at the first sign of trouble. Then, when things got tough, you went to see your ex-wife.”
“This has nothing to do with Vanessa. You know that.”
“How?” she demanded. “How could I know that? Do I know anything at all about what the hell this is about? You’re pissed about Landon. Then, you ran to your ex, and you expect me to not care about that? Look at how you reacted when you thought something had happened with Landon. I have every right to be upset.”
“You do,” I conceded.
None of what she was saying was wrong. But that didn’t mean I was going to stand here and let her yell at me. I knew Landon. I knew what he was feeling and thinking. She must just be blind to it.