Never Again by Jill Sanders

Author:Jill Sanders [Sanders, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945100871
Publisher: Grayton Press
Published: 2023-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Dale didn’t know what had changed in Darla. Every time he showed up to help her with the house, she would meet him at the door and turn him away.

The new windows were in and he’d heard from Billy at the hardware store that they’d installed her cabinets and countertops. The flooring was scheduled for the following week.

When he ran into her at the Hard Way, she was always too busy or just never around long enough to talk.

It was almost a week later when he finally cornered her after she got home one night. She had been sitting out by the fire sipping a soda. Her legs were tucked up underneath her, and she was gazing up at the sky as if watching the stars.

“Avoiding me?” he asked, sitting beside her.

“We live in a town with less than eight thousand people. You’re a cop and you know where I live. I can hardly avoid you,” she answered.

He tilted his head towards her. “You’re pulling away. Why?”

She sighed and then returned her eyes to the sky. “I’m not good for you.”

“Is this because of the craziness that went down in the grocery store last week?”

She glanced at him quickly. “You heard about that?”

He nodded. “The entire town has.”

She groaned and rested her head in her hands. “Why did I used to love getting attention? It sucks.”

“From what I hear, this time it was good attention.”

She kept her eyes on the fire. “I can’t do this.”

“This?” he asked, knowing full well what she was saying but needing her to say the words.

“I went to my first AA meeting last night,” she told him.

“Good,” he said, knowing that she was going to use it as an excuse to stop having him come around. Instead, she remained quiet for so long that he asked, “You’re not going to make up some lame excuse for why you need to pull away?”

She turned to him. “I do need to pull away, but my reasons are not lame.”

He nodded, feeling his anger grow. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

“I know. If it’s all the same, I’d rather break things off before they get… complicated.”

He wanted to tell her that it was too late. Whatever was between them was already complicated.

She’d convinced him to trust her and, stupidly, he’d done so. It wasn’t as if his heart had been on the line. He’d known her too long for him to wager that big.

Still, it stung. He stood up, nodded his reply, and left without saying anything more.

When he got home, he hit the gym and worked out his frustrations until he collapsed on the bed.

The following day, he got a call from Brent and had to head over to the Hard Way Bar and Grill to see what was up.

When he stepped in, Mel was standing at the bar. When she informed him that Darla was out back talking to Brent, he winced. He’d hoped to avoid seeing her. Hoped to keep the hurt from showing in his eyes.

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