Trusting Love by Julie Navickas

Author:Julie Navickas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Outdoor Romance, Small Town Romance, Second Chance Romance, Redemption, Life After Divorce, Bad Girl
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Published: 2024-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Ryan

Ryan stepped out of the shower and dried his body with a towel. The sink glistened and the mirror reflected back clearly for the first time since moving in. With a snort, he scooped up his dirty clothes and dropped them in the hamper. His toes squished over the freshly vacuumed carpet.

Thanks for the cleaning service recommendation, Rach.

He dropped his butt onto the mattress and his gaze glossed over the still-unpacked camping bag. He sighed and sank to his knees. Ryan gripped the bag and upended the contents, perfuming the air with the scent of a long-extinguished campfire. Clothes spilled across his floor along with a pair of women’s sandals.

How’d these get in here?

Wrinkling his nose, he rammed his legs into a clean pair of gray sweatpants and stared at his phone resting silently on the nightstand. The last forty-eight hours had brought him nothing more than a text reminder to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.

“Where’d you go, Tess?” Ryan whispered as he eyed the device. Her silence had been steadfast since the night she fell apart in his arms. He tapped the screen and navigated to last weekend’s photos, zeroing in on her beautiful smile hiding behind a ten-inch trout. “What happened to you that night?”

He shook his head and sighed before tapping her name. A boost of sudden determination flooded his veins. The phone rang and Ryan brought it to his ear, his heart pounding with anxiety over her two-day absence from his life.

“Hello?” Her sweet voice answered and quelled the sizzle of his nerves.

“Hey there, beautiful.”

She snorted.

“I miss you. Where’d you go?”

A sigh crackled the line, her breath hanging heavy on the other end. “I’m sorry, Ryan,” she whispered.

His heart faltered and skipped a beat entirely. “For what?” he choked out.

“For...” her voice trailed away as a sob echoed. “Ugh, you know.”

“Tess.” Ryan shook his head and frowned. “Please don’t. Look, we all had a little too much to drink that night. It was just a stupid game—”

“Don’t, okay? I acted like an idiot.”

“Well, clearly something was bothering you.” Ryan swallowed as her sad voice on the other end squeezed his heart.

She sighed. “I have something I need to tell you.”

Okay...

“All right, well, maybe you should come over here for dinner. We can talk.”

Silence fell on her end.

“Tess?”

“I’m here,” she whispered.

Ryan released a matching sigh and dragged a hand through his wet hair. A shiver wracked his body. Her eerie sorrow on the other end raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “Dinner,” he repeated. “Please?”

“Okay.”

He stood and walked the short distance to the kitchen. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’ve been told my spaghetti isn’t too disappointing.” Ryan rummaged in the cabinet for a box of pasta and sauce.

“I don’t think you can disappoint anyone with anything, Mr. Prescott.”

He snorted and gripped a glass jar of red sauce. “That remains to be seen, my dear. How about six o’clock?”

“Sure.”

“See you soon, Ms. Browning.”

The call ended and Ryan frowned. He eyed the device in one hand and the spaghetti sauce in the other.

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