Page 23 of Broken Heart

I’d spent days wondering what kinds of things I’d learn about Skye when we finally had this dinner together, and not once in all the thoughts I’d had about it did I ever consider I’d hear such a tragic story.

I had my brothers and sisters. I had my parents and grandparents. I had my aunt, uncle, and all my cousins. The only thing I knew was a big, loud, close family.

Needing to know she had someone in her life, I tried to pry for more information without it seeming like I was horrified.

“Well, I bet you’ve met a ton of friends with all the reading you do,” I suggested.

When her face didn’t light up like I expected, I knew I wasn’t going to get the answer I was hoping for. “Not exactly. I do host a monthly book club meeting through the store, which has been a wonderful way to meet people with a similar interest, but I’m not close friends with any of them that we get together outside of those meetings. Maria was, for a very long time, my only friend. She was there for me when my grandmother died, and two years after that, I met Simon. The two of them were all I had… until I didn’t any longer.”

Simon.

That was the ex-boyfriend.

“How long were you two together, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“About two years,” she answered. “I was so stupid.”

Unable to stop myself, I reached across the table, covered her hand with mine, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You weren’t stupid. Why would you say that?”

Her eyes fell on my hand that was covering hers. It was clear she had some strong thoughts about it, but she never shared what they were. Instead, she lifted her gaze to my face and said, “For a few months prior to learning the truth about Simon’s infidelity, I had noticed something was off. I asked him about it, wondering if he was stressed about something he hadn’t shared with me. I thought it could have been related to work or something like that. He insisted nothing was wrong, and I foolishly believed him. Then, one day back at the beginning of February, he told me he wanted to take me out for dinner. There was something different in his voice, and I told myself that I finally understood what was going on. I actually believed he was planning to take me out that night to propose. As it turned out, he couldn’t even tell me the truth to my face that night. I got an email that afternoon, and he admitted everything to me about his affair with Maria.”

I gave her hand another squeeze, knowing it was probably doing very little to offer her any real comfort.

Skye amazed me.

Because she’d been nothing but sweet and humble. In the case of what had happened with that wood going through her front door, she could have been uptight, demanding, and angry. She wasn’t.

After experiencing so much hurt in her life, it would have been understandable—even expected—for her to have been a little hardened.

And that’s when it hit me.

Maybe everything she’d been through had impacted her tremendously. But instead of lashing out, she kept it bottled up inside.

From everything I’d just learned, she was on her own. The last two people who were close to her had betrayed her in the worst way imaginable. No wonder she was quick to tell me she wasn’t interested in getting involved in another relationship.

Skye had suffered more loss in her life than I thought was reasonable for any one person—the reason for the vast majority of it being truly horrific. The biggest loss I’d suffered in my life was when I moved out of my parents’ house and didn’t have my mom’s cooking every night. Even then, I still got to see my family nearly every day at work.

Our core life experiences were so vastly different. My childhood had been filled with fun, laughter, and lots of moments together with my family. Skye seemed to have lived a solitary life filled with heartache.

In drawing that conclusion and recognizing I didn’t want her to think she needed to be all alone in her life, I said, “I really, really hope you are willing to do that one thing I said on Saturday when I was in your store.”

“You mean going to the charity event?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Obviously, I want us to attend. I’m fully prepared and expecting that to happen. But when I mentioned wanting to take you to that, I also told you that my birthday celebration was the next day. I can think of nothing I’d love more than to have you join me for that.”

“Oh, um, well, I don’t know. I’m not sure that’s a wise idea. I told you I’m not looking to get into another relationship, Cooper,” she reminded me.

“I know,” I assured her. “I don’t have any expectations of you. I just think it would be fun.”

She stared at me, a look of disbelief and uncertainty in her expression. Following a long stretch of silence, she asked, “Why would you want to me to join you for something like that when there’s nothing in it for you?”

My fingers gripped her hand just a bit tighter. “That’s just it, Skye. I’m aware of where you stand, and I don’t intend to put any pressure on you, but I refuse to believe that we met simply by chance. I think there’s a reason wood from my truck flew through your front door that day. At the time, I felt more than mildly inconvenienced by it. Now, I realize there’s something else going on. And I think, considering what you’ve been through lately, that you might like to meet some good people. My family would love you.”

I watched Skye’s throat move as she swallowed hard. A moment later, she asked quietly, “Are you telling me you believe in fate?”

The corners of my mouth tipped up. “You just told me you enjoy reading romance and fantasy books the most, and you’re telling me you don’t believe in fate?”

Her lips parted slightly. “It’s kind of hard to do that when you’ve lived my life.”