Within a week, they were living in Baton Rouge and Snow’s world went from perfection to a bad dream. Caleb seemed as happy as ever, doting and generous, but Snow had become a whirling mass of insecurity and panic.
It was no wonder she’d bolted the way she did. The real mystery was what took her so long.
“Did he refuse to give you a divorce before you left?” Lorelei asked, dragging Snow back to the present.
Keeping her gaze from meeting Lorelei’s, she said, “I didn’t ask for a divorce.”
“Then what reason did you give for leaving?”
Keeping her voice low, Snow answered, “I didn’t give any reason.”
The blonde leaned forward. “So you what? Said good-bye and drove off?”
She’d thought answering to Caleb had been hard. Snow leveled her shoulders and prepared for Lorelei to think the worst of her. Goodness knew she didn’t like herself very much right now, and regardless of the circumstances in which she’d found herself, Snow sure as heck couldn’t justify her actions.
“I didn’t say good-bye. I waited until he was asleep, and then I left.”
Lorelei stood straight. “Just like that? No warning? Not even a note?”
Snow shook her head.
“Wow,” Lorelei said. “That’s—”
“Cowardly,” Snow finished for her. “Not to mention rude, idiotic, and immature.”
“I was going to say gutsy.”
Not the reaction Snow expected. “Gutsy?”
“Men don’t like it when they don’t get a say in things. How long ago did you get up the nerve to tell him where you were?”
“I didn’t tell him. He found a flier for the Ruby festival down in Nashville and caught the Snow’s Curiosity Shop mention. He didn’t even know for sure it was me, but he drove all the way up here to find out.” As she heard herself explain it that way, Snow realized how far Caleb had gone to find her. And not just geographically. “If I’d gotten the tip that he was coming, I could have hidden somewhere and let you pretend to run the store.”
The bells jingled over the door as the first customers of the day strolled in. The two older women lingered in the jewelry section near the front. Dropping her voice, Lorelei said, “How would you have gotten a tip?”
Snow leaned close and said, “His mother.”
“What?” Lorelei asked, jerking back. “You got his mother to work against him?”
“Trust me,” Snow said, “she was more than happy to have me out of Caleb’s life. She caught me the night I left and gave me an e-mail address to contact her when I landed somewhere. As she put it, when Caleb finally agreed to divorce me, they’d need an address to send the papers.”
“And she kept your secret all this time?” Lorelei asked, fascination dancing in her eyes. “That’s wild.”
For the first six months, Snow had been certain Caleb’s mother would fold and spill her whereabouts, but the woman was more ruthless than she let on. Vivien McGraw—bone thin, always smiling, never angry or flustered—was in reality a mean woman with a heart of stone. Snow wanted to believe the McGraw matriarch’s motives were to protect her son’s heart, but deep down, she knew it was all about the family. Keeping up appearances. Maintaining their high standards.
“She did,” Snow said. “In exchange for sharing my location, I made Vivien agree to send the occasional message to my family. If Mom didn’t know where I was, she didn’t have to lie to Caleb if or when he asked her if she’d heard from me. But I couldn’t leave them wondering whether or not I was okay either. Vivien wasn’t my favorite choice for messenger, but I had no other options at that point.”
Lorelei shook her head. “To save your parents from having to lie, you let his own mother betray him. And I thought Hollywood had the drama.”
Betray was such a harsh word. It wasn’t as if Snow had paid her to keep silent. Or even had to twist her arm. “However it went down, Caleb is here now and I have to convince him that we aren’t right for each other.”
“How is that going?” Lorelei asked.
Pushing unruly curls back from her face, Snow said, “Rocky at best. I set the condition that we wouldn’t have sex in the next month, and I thought that would send him running.”
“He agreed?”
“Yeah.” She still couldn’t believe that tactic hadn’t worked.
Following a low whistle, Lorelei said, “That boy is determined. And I don’t know how you’re going to hold out for a whole month.”
“Sadly, neither do I.”