St. Helena Vineyard Series: Last Chance Lullaby (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Donna Alward

Author:Donna Alward [Alward, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, 90 Minutes (44-64 Pages)
Amazon: B01M1NJHBB
Publisher: Kindle Worlds
Published: 2016-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Whatever Maria had been expecting, it wasn’t that question.

“We need to be honest with each other, don’t you think?” Tyler was still talking, and all she could do was stare at him. “We need to get things out in the open so we can deal with this head on.”

She frowned. “Deal with it head on? Tyler Davis, you’ve run away your entire life. Do you expect me to believe you’ve suddenly changed?”

He rested his elbows on his knees. “It looks that way, I know,” he said quietly. “And I left you behind.”

“You didn’t just leave me behind. You broke my heart. You do realize that, right?”

She hadn’t meant to admit to the depth of her feelings, but maybe this conversation had been coming for a long, long time. The surprised look on his face let her know he hadn’t expected her response. “You wanted honest,” she reminded him.

“We were eighteen.” He said it as if they’d been too young to know what love was.

“Maybe. But I’d loved you for nearly three years. We’d made plans. I was still going to go to school. You were going to go to Nashville. But I said I’d wait. And you said you’d come back for me. We’d see each other on holidays, and once your career got going I’d transfer… Oh, I know it sounds ridiculous now, but I believed in you, Tyler. The day you left…you told me not to bother waiting. You cut all ties. And you left me without even looking back. Do you know how much that hurt?”

There. She’d finally said it. What she hadn’t said the last time he’d been home, when she’d been so desperate to avoid him at first and then determined to enjoy the stolen moments, thinking there’d be time to work things out later. What a fool she’d been.

He slid his chair over closer. Daylight was disappearing rapidly, aided by the canopy of the roof and the leafy trees bordering her backyard, and it put them in a cocoon of privacy. Privacy she wasn’t sure she was comfortable with. She’d made her peace with not having Tyler in her life. Now that peace was gone. Now that he knew about Jake, they’d be tied to each other forever. It would be an exquisite torture.

“They were foolish dreams,” he said softly, and he reached out and touched her hand. Unwanted tingles zinged up her arm. “We both knew it. A clean break was just…easier.”

“For you, maybe,” she whispered. “Not for me. I counted on you to be different. My dad…he promised to be there for our family and he left. You promised to be different and you weren’t. And suddenly I was away at school, completely alone.”

She wasn’t overstating how horrible it had been. She’d known no one, and had been thrown into a world of social events that hadn’t really suited her style. She’d attended classes and studied hard, and lived for when she could go home again.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply, and his thumb traced along her hand.

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