“You shouldn’t have come after me.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Gil stared out the windshield in silence. After a minute or so he glanced over at her. “Okay. I guess I owe you that much. If I hadn’t gotten so angry, none of what happened last night would have occurred.”
Madeline remained quiet hoping he’d continue.
“Crystal was my girlfriend. Three years.” Gil paused again and Madeline could see a fleeting trace of pain cross his face.
“I asked her to marry me.” He let out a long breath of air. “She said no.”
There had to be more than that to the story. Getting turned down on a proposal had to be hard to take, but he’d been so angry last night.
“There’s more?” Madeline asked.
Gil let out another long sigh. “Not much more. She didn’t want to be tied down to a country bumpkin like me. Couldn’t stand the thought of living in a boring small town like Comfort Crossing—her words, not mine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. Things just didn’t work out.” His voice held a tone of icy remorse. “I should have known better. Wasted a lot of years.”
“And that Bryan guy?”
“Her ex. The guy she dated before me. The one she swore she was over. Though, towards the end of our dating he turned up at almost every party or function we went to. I should have known…”
“I really am sorry. Sorry they turned up last night, too. We were having such a good time.”
“Until I acted like a jerk, raced out of the hotel, and you decided to follow me. In New Orleans. At night.” He scowled.
“I was worried about you.” She wasn’t going to let him turn this into a blaming match. She looked over at him, his strong profile etched against the bright sunlight streaming in the driver’s side window.
Gil scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “I know. I shouldn’t have left you there alone.”
“I wish you would’ve just talked to me.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I created the whole mess and then, to top it off, we missed Paul.”
It was time to end the whole apologizing thing. “Gil, you’ve apologized. I’ve accepted. Anyway, I was the one who followed you. If I hadn't gone after you, none of this would have happened. We’ll just move on from here.”
Gil nodded, but she didn’t really believe he agreed with her.
“So, we’ve missed Paul. Maybe I can find some other way to locate him.”
“Maybe.” He sounded doubtful.
~ * ~
They pulled into the Sweet Tea’s driveway and Rebecca hurried out to the front porch.
“You poor thing.” Rebecca pulled Madeline into a hug as soon as she stepped out of the car. “Gil called me and told me what happened. Oh! Your neck. You’re hurt.”
“I’m okay. Really.” Madeline admitted that Rebecca’s caring hug almost put her back into tears.
“You come inside and let me make you some tea. You can tell me all about it. Or not. Whatever you want.” Somehow Madeline knew that Rebecca would get every detail of the entire trip out of her. She didn’t even mind telling Rebecca everything. Maybe it would help clear her mind, retelling the events in the safety of Rebecca’s home.
“Gil, you want to come in?” Rebecca turned to Gil, with her arm still wrapped around Madeline’s waist.
“Thanks, but no. I need to get back to the Feed and Seed. See how things are going.”
Madeline felt badly. She’d kept Gil away from his business for too long. “Are you sure you're doing okay? Take it easy with that arm.”
“I'm fine. Talk to you soon, Maddy.”
Madeline gave a small wave to Gil as she was swept away in the force that was Rebecca.
An hour later, warm and toasty by the fire, with the events of the last two days all told to Rebecca, Madeline began to relax. Rebecca had asked only a few questions but had thrown in some tsk tsk noises and a few shakes of her head.
“So are you going to still try and find Paul?”
“I’m not certain where to look anymore, but I’ll still try. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to be found even though I’m sure he’s our Paul.”
“Are you going to stick around and have Gil help you search?”
“I think I’ve taken up enough of his time.”
“He doesn’t seem to mind. He’s a nice young man, isn’t he?”
“He is. He’s been very helpful. I’ve pulled him away from his responsibilities for long enough now. I guess I’ll head back to St. Louis as soon as I can.”
“Already? Are you sure?”