Foolproof Love(59)

 

He stopped, but he didn’t turn to face her. “Now’s not a good time, sugar.”

 

Her realization last night settled in her chest, feeling like it’d cemented her heart into place. There was no reason to be surprised he was shutting her out. Hadn’t he done it every single time she’d asked him what was wrong? But she took a deep breath, shored up her courage, and said, “You can talk to me.”

 

He still didn’t turn around. “Talking never did anybody a damn bit of good.”

 

“You won’t know until you try.” She touched his arm, trying to quell the panic rising with each breath. Please don’t shut me out. Please just talk to me. Please show me that we weren’t doomed before we started.

 

Adam jerked his arm out of her grasp. “Talking is all anyone in this shitty little town likes to do—except when it counts. Then everyone shuts the fuck up. So, no, sugar, I’m not going to pour my heart out to you to make you feel better about yourself.”

 

She stumbled back a step, her heart dropping to her stomach. “That’s not why I offered to talk.”

 

“Isn’t it? You want to fix me, and you want reassurance that I fit into the plans you have for your future. Well, I can’t give you either.” He started to turn away. “And I’m never going to be the man who will settle down with you.”

 

The woman she was a month ago would have let him walk away. She would have mourned the end of things, but she wouldn’t have had the fire burning in the pit of her stomach driving her to chase him down the sidewalk. “No one can fix you, Adam Meyer. Not until you’re ready to hold still long enough to realize that your inability to stay in one place has nothing to do with your dad and everything to do with you. You’re a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you could change if you wanted to.”

 

He glared, his hands clenched at his sides. “Really, Jules? Changing my entire life around to suit your needs isn’t as easy as coming up with some quirky plan to scandalize a small town before you move on with your life.”

 

“That’s not fair.”

 

But he wasn’t listening. “Here’s a piece of advice—being the town scandal comes with more strings attached than you want to deal with. It’s better to leave the whole damn thing behind.”

 

“There you go again, running the second it looks like you’re in danger of putting down roots. Brave, Adam. Really brave.”

 

He shook his head. “This was a mistake. I should have seen it earlier.”

 

This is it. He’s not even waiting to leave town to walk away from me. She stared at his back as he moved away from her. “Fine. Walk away from me. It’s what you’re good at.” His step hitched, and for one endless moment, she thought he might turn around, might come back and actually talk to her.

 

But then the moment passed and Adam kept walking.

 

Jules’s breath whooshed out, and it took everything she had not to crumple into a ball on the street and start crying. When the heck had she started to care about that man so much? She was an idiot, and quite possibly insane. She turned, feeling like she was walking through molasses, and looked straight into Grant’s gray eyes. And I thought today couldn’t get any worse.

 

He smiled. “Trouble in paradise?”

 

Did he think she cared about what he thought when her heart was walking away from her, the pain cutting deeper with each step he took? She’d thought herself in love with Grant back in the day, but it hadn’t been a drop in the ocean compared to what she felt for Adam. So Jules lifted her chin and stared down her nose at her ex. “Here’s a tip, Grant—fuck off.” She marched into her café and shut the door behind her.

 

It was clear from the expressions on the handful of customers around that they’d seen and/or heard everything. She tried for a smile. “Does anyone need a coffee refill?”

 

Mrs. Peterson walked over and took her hands. “I’m so sorry, honey. But after Grant, you really should have known better.”

 

The walls around her seemed to be moving closer. She carefully extracted her hand. “Adam is nothing like that…that…douchecanoe. How dare you even compare them? He’s stubborn to the point of idiocy and proud and in pain, but that’s no reason to put him in the same box.” In a distant part of her mind, she knew she was ranting, but she couldn’t seem to stop. “And for God’s sake, I’m twenty-six. Just because I’ve been dumped unceremoniously twice in my life doesn’t mean I’m doomed to be alone, and I’ll thank you—and everyone else in this town—kindly to remember that. At the very least I should have three shots to get it right before you regulate me to the shelf!”