Take a Chance on Me(40)
But she stopped, considering him for a long moment. So long that he had the urge to turn and run.
“People do that to you, don’t they?”
She had such pretty eyes. Amber, really, in the right light. He’d forgotten that—or maybe not, but he’d tried to. “I—”
“You’re a scapegoat in this town.”
Now she had his attention. “I don’t know about that. I think Deep Haven has their reasons.” Even if he was innocent of the crime they accused him of, he could certainly agree with their anger. Their grief.
“I know. But the truth is, you probably don’t deserve what they handed down to you.”
Who was this woman, and where had they put the Claire he knew, the one who hadn’t talked to him in three years?
“I don’t understand. I thought you agreed with—”
“With how you were treated? No. I believed that it was an accident. I’m mad at you for other reasons.”
Well, now that they had that cleared up . . . “What reasons?”
She pursed her lips, turned away from him. “I’m not a fool.”
Wow. Not a clue. Still . . . “Listen . . . the reason I keep coming to your gigs is because I miss you.”
Now he might as well open up his chest, let her take a good look at the ache inside. But he didn’t know when, out of some cosmic misalignment, he might find himself talking to her again, especially in a moment when she wasn’t hating him completely, so he went on. “I used to love to listen to you play, and . . . I know I come to all your gigs, but it’s just because I miss you and Darek. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable.”
She was staring at him, her mouth open a second before she closed it. Then her face began to crumple.
“What did I say?” He winced. “I’m sorry, Claire. I don’t mean to hurt you. I’ll go.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “No. Don’t go.”
Don’t go?
He couldn’t breathe. Okay.
She looked at the harbor and let out a trembling sigh. “Do you remember that Independence Day we made a campfire on Paradise Beach after the fireworks and stayed out all night, sleeping under the stars?”
“Your grandfather drove by three times that night.”
“He knew you and Darek were red-blooded males and never understood how we could be just friends.”
Yeah, him either. In fact, if he were honest, despite his efforts he’d never really thought of Claire as just a friend. And Felicity . . . she’d been more of a conundrum.
“You told us the story of Bosnia that night.” He’d wanted to climb out of his sleeping bag, take Claire in his arms, tell her that he’d never let anything like that happen to her again. Never let her feel trapped, overwhelmed, abandoned. But Felicity kept looking at him, tossing rocks onto his sleeping bag, and, well, he’d been tossing them back, just for fun.
It seemed Felicity always had to have his—and Darek’s—attention. Even in Claire’s most desperate, vulnerable moments.
“That’s right; I did,” Claire said. He got a hint of a smile.
“Then we stayed up all night and played truth or dare.”
“Mostly truth,” she said.
“Except you dared Darek and me to go for a midnight swim.”
“I saw the way Felicity was flirting with you. I thought you needed cooling off.”
He laughed, but a little heat pressed his face. And then, for some stupid reason, he reached up and thumbed away the tear glistening on Claire’s cheek. “What’s the matter?”
Her smile faded, something haunted in her eyes. Then she turned away.
“Claire?”
“My parents are coming home.”
He stalled at this, and she glanced back at him.
“Yeah. From Bosnia. To sell my grandfather’s place.”
He didn’t know how to react, hating the traitorous leap his heart took.
“Not to you, Jensen. To Darek and Evergreen Resort.”
See, she could see clear through him. “What? No.”
“That’s what they said. They’re going to use the money to put him in a home, and . . . and they expect me to move on with my life.”
Move on. He hadn’t really noticed it before but . . . yes. She should move on. Beyond Felicity, beyond her grandfather. Beyond Deep Haven.
“What are you going to do?”
“That’s the point!” She held up a hand as if in apology. “Sorry.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t want to move on. I like it here—and I have nowhere else to go.”
Jensen frowned at this. “What are you talking about? Don’t you want to leave? Go to college or move away, start a new life?”