It was a scene right out of a fairy tale.
"Who are they?" Carl asked.
She jerked, having forgotten that he was there next to her. How long had she been staring? Obviously a while since they'd walked up to the storefront, gotten ice cream, and sat down.
She glanced back at Carl, who was glancing between the family and Halley. "I have no idea," she said with complete honesty. She'd thought she knew Mike, but obviously, she was wrong. She'd had no idea that he had a whole family! That he was married! The betrayal was huge and painful.
Turning her head away, she hurried over to her SUV, unaware and unconcerned with the state of her feet at the moment. Her only desire was to get away from here, away from the picture of Mike and his perfect, laughing family. Away from all of the dreams that had died such a brutal, painful death when those five people had rounded the corner several minutes ago.
She had to leave. She had to get out of here. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave by the front because Mike would see her red SUV. He knew her vehicle and would know that she'd seen him and his family.
She couldn't let him know how much he'd hurt her. She had to hide from that. She was too strong to let anyone see her pain, her weakness.
Angrily, she wiped the tears from her cheeks as she turned right instead of left out of the parking lot. It wasn't the most direct route home, but she didn't care. Survival was the most important thing here. Her heart had been trampled on by that discovery, the least she could do was keep her pride. Mike could never know that she'd discovered the truth. She'd have to play it off as if she didn't care, that her heart wasn't involved in their relationship.
Damn him! Her heart wasn't involved! She hadn't fallen in love with him!
She pulled off to the side of the road and leaned over to her glove compartment, grabbing the stash of napkins stored there. She wiped her eyes and then pulled back onto the street. Blinking, she focused only on the traffic. She wouldn't let this destroy her, she told herself firmly.
And for the next ninety minutes, she convinced herself that she wasn't hurt, that Mike hadn't wounded her. No man had ever hurt her before. Mike might have, if she'd let him. But she was strong, and she hadn't fallen victim to his charm and sexual prowess. She definitely wasn't enamored of his personality, the way he could make her laugh about the silliest or most boring issues.
Nope, she was perfectly fine!
When she pulled up to her cottage, she ignored the twang of fear that hit her. This was her house! This was her private domain and no one was going to force her out of here! Damn that stupid stranger! But damn Mike more! He'd led her on! He'd led her to believe that there was hope for the two of them.
Okay, so not much hope because she refused to be completely open and honest with him, but her secrets weren't nearly as bad as what he was hiding in Billings! She was hiding her dreams. He was hiding a whole other family!
She stormed into her cottage, irritated that she'd left Elf and Midget at her parent's house earlier today. She hadn't planned on coming back here. She'd stupidly been thinking she would call Mike and they could … she would …
Darn it! She'd wanted to spend another night in his arms. Many more nights!
She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water, praying that she could control the sobbing. She was finished with him! Done! Better that she'd found out about his lying, cheating ways now, before she'd truly been hurt!
Holding the still-full glass of water, she stared out of her kitchen window. Now that she thought about it, Mike wasn't in town on his days off. She thought back to the past few weeks. She usually hit the coffee shop at the same time every morning so that she could see Mike running. The weather didn't change his schedule, but the day of the week did! Mondays and Tuesdays were his days off. He would still run those days, but then he was gone! She'd never thought about it before, but he must go into Billings to be with his family.
Damn it! She pulled several tissues out of the box, then grabbed the box and headed for her family room. She needed her dogs, she thought. Bozo was nowhere to be found, but the persnickety feline would come out pretty soon.
She grabbed her keys and walked back out of her house. She was going to get her dogs and retake her life!
A few minutes later, she was pulling into her parent's driveway. She only had to step out of her truck and whistle. A moment later, both Elf and Midget were running up the hill from the stables to her. She saw her dad step out of the stables as well. Halley knew that her dad would sense something was wrong so she lifted her hand and waved as nonchalantly as possible, opened the back door to her truck and slammed it shut when both dogs were inside. Yes, Halley desperately needed a hug from her dad right at this particular moment. But there was no way she would allow her dad to see her like this. She was a mess! Halley hadn't looked in the mirror recently, but she was fairly certain that her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks puffy from the ridiculous crying she'd put herself through. She texted her dad a thank you, then drove back to her house.