before,â she said, trying desperately to keep him talking.
âAs long as he pays me to develop the site, I canât be responsible for how many hits it gets.â He smiled.
God, she loved his smile, the way it warmed something deep inside her.
âIâll be sure to take a look.â
âBecause I made it?â he asked.
She nodded, feeling kind of stupid.
âYouâd do that, wouldnât you?â he asked.
âJust because you donât make something tangible doesnât mean itâs not worth seeing,â she said, like she always had.
He laughed and nodded. The silence returned.
âIâm sorry about dinner last night. You shouldnât have left,â she said.
âWell, you shouldnât have felt the need to leave either.â
âStill, theyâre your parents.â She pointed out.
âAnd they love you more than me.â
âThatâs not true.â
âI think it is. Besides, I didnât leave because you were there. I remembered something I had to take care of.â
âYou couldnât even say good-bye?â she asked.
âApparently, itâs rubbing off,â he said. She twitched at his comment. Had he heard her and his mother discussing Meeghan? Shit.
âI need to apologize to you, Lex,â he blurted out.
âNo.â She didnât need to know what for. He didnât owe her anything. He had married a happy girl who loved him dearly, and heâd ended up with a depressed shell of a person who barely noticed anything about him other than his sperm count.
âYes, I do. Please just let me say this.â She waited, knowing she couldnât jump out of the car. âIâm sorry about bringing Meeghan to the viewing, and for whatever she might have said to you that was inappropriate. It wasnât her place to stand there next to me. Iâm not saying I expected you to do it, but I should have offered. I should have known you were hurting. I should have helped with that.â
âItâs okay. You have a new life now. Iâm . . .â She wanted to say she was happy for him, but she couldnât force the words out. â. . . dealing with that. I can understand why you would have wanted her there with you.â
âI appreciate that. It still wasnât right.â
Lexi suddenly wondered what Meeghan thought of this arrangement. Granted, she was elated the girl wasnât with them, but surely Meeghan didnât approve. Not when sheâd been so pissed just seeing them in her car together at Kellyâs house.
âIs Meeghan okay with this?â she asked.
âItâs fine,â he said rather abruptly.
âSheâs fine with you spending the weekend alone with your ex-wife? She didnât even seem comfortable with me in a room with you and a hundred other people,â she said.
âIt doesnât matter.â
âIf you wanted to bring her this weekend, I could have stayed at that little hotel in town or something.â
âLex, I said it doesnât matter. We . . . broke up.â
âOh. Iâm sorry.â She was. A little. Just because she never liked to see him sad.
He nodded but didnât seem to want to say anything else. They went back to silence for a while until it became unbearable again.
âSo, when was the last time you were up here?â she asked him, bracing herself for his answer. He had most likely brought the new girl up to the cabin in the past six months. That was to be expected, and she wasnât going to cry.
âHmm. I guess the Christmas before last, when you and I came up.â Her heart relaxed. âYou?â
âI was up with Jimmy last fall. We went hiking to look at the leaves changing.â
âIâm sorry I missed that,â he said sadly.
Just then her ears popped from the pressure as they climbed farther up into the mountains. Some things couldnât change, like
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