Her Charming Heartbreaker (22 page)

“I figured as much. I’m
actually in the middle of something here and I need to sort it all
out. I’m sorry last night didn’t work out. I really needed to talk
to you. I’d like to talk to you now, but there’s so much going on
and…”

Eddie shut her eyes.
“You don’t need to explain.” He’d probably call her a few more
times. He might even suggest having a long distance relationship.
She wanted to laugh out loud. Instead, she thumped the heel of her
foot against the floor, hoping the pain would distract her.

“Everything’s a bit up
in the air at the moment and I feel like I’m going around in
circles. I need to deal with some things. It’s a complicated story
and I can’t go into details.”

Of course not. “I
know.”

“It’s to do with Claire
and Ben… and someone else. I promise I’m only the middle man
here.”

“I know.”

“You’ve been very
patient.”

Nothing but a regular
chump. Eddie cringed.

“I’ll call you again
when I can.”

She didn’t have it in
her to say goodbye, so she disconnected the call and then turned to
pull the plug from the bathtub. She sat there watching the water
draining away and then, as uncomfortable as it was to sit on the
floor, she continued to sit there until she lost track of time.
Eventually, she went through the motions of dressing and running
her fingers through her hair as a token effort to make herself look
somewhat presentable.

“Just get on with it,
Eddie,” she said as she made her way down to the bar to start her
shift. She was on the stairs before she thought to check if she’d
put on her boots. Her mind felt as if it had abandoned her. She
usually had something to eat before her shift, but the thought of
food made her stomach shudder.

It must have been near
closing time when she finally checked her phone for messages. There
were several. Helena had sent her an update on Sophie. They’d spent
the day out riding and rounding up some stray cattle. Joyce was
brainstorming ideas to keep Sophie busy during the evenings since
the first few days would be the hardest. And then there was a
message from Theo.

Catching first
available flight back to the States. Will call soon.

“Eddie.”

She looked up,
distracted by the message, all the thoughts that had piled up
inside her head, and by everything that had happened over the last
twenty-four hours. She did a double take. “Adam. Adam?”

Except for a few
stragglers, most people had already left for the night.

He looked different.
Serious. And… “Where’s your hair? Have you joined the army?”

He managed a small
chuckle. “I’m going for the low maintenance look. A cut this short
means I don’t have to visit a barber for a while.” He looked around
the bar. “Is it too late for a drink?” he asked.

Eddie shook her head.
For the life of her, she couldn’t understand how she’d ever
mistaken Theo for Adam. Same height? The day she’d missed her dart
throw seemed like an eternity ago... “You’re still in time. Last
call’s a half hour away.”

“I’ll have—”

He seemed undecided.
Eddie turned and reached for a shot glass. “Whisky?”

“That’ll do.” He
wrapped his fingers around the glass, and then looked at her.

“Adam.” She drew in a
big breath. “I stuffed up and made things awkward between us.”

“Yeah, I didn’t
help.”

“Are we okay?” she
asked.

“We’re okay.”

“Good.” At least that
was something. She had friends, she had family. The rest would sort
itself out.

He lifted the shot
glass and then set it down again. “Um... I actually heard about
Sophie. How is she? I asked Joyce earlier on but she suggested I
needed to clear things up with you first. Of course, she was right.
We’ve got too much history... we were friends and I hated losing
that.”

“Yeah, me too.” She
wiped the counter.

“I would have come
sooner, but—” His gaze strayed over to Mitch.

“Yeah, I know. They
warned you off.” She took a swig of her water. “Sophie’s going to
need a few days to let the dust settle. Maybe longer.” She smiled
as her sluggish brain made the connection. Adam and Sophie? They’d
known each other since... always.

“Okay.”

She shrugged. “She
didn’t see it coming. No one did.”

“I’m not...” He
shifted. “I’m not trying to make a move on her.”

“It’ll be bad timing if
you do.”

“Thanks for the
warning.”

She didn’t think she
had it in her, but she smiled. “See you around, Adam.”

Later that night, after
the pub had closed and she’d tucked herself into bed, she dealt
with all the messages except the one from Theo. Switching the light
off, she plumped up her pillow and turned toward the window to look
out at the night sky. Half an hour later, tired of counting stars,
she reached for her phone and typed a text message.

I’m getting a
puppy.

After pressing send,
she switched her phone off and, easing back onto the pillow, she
closed her eyes.

“Tomorrow will come
soon enough and when it does, I’ll be ready.”

* * *

The next morning, it
was close to midday before she checked her messages.

A puppy? What sort?

One with floppy ears
and big soulful eyes.

A puppy to soak up all
her attention and take her mind off—

“Flowers for you,”
Mitch said as he handed her the colorful bunch. “Where do you want
them?”

“Hand them over.” She
pushed the words past the hard lump in her throat. Was this Theo’s
way of letting her down easy? Eddie called the florist. “Hi, Grace.
Is there any way of stopping this?” she asked.

“It’s a standing
order,” Grace said.

“How long for?”

“Theo sent a message
asking me to extend it. I’ve had to place a special order for more
tulips.”

Eddie knew Grace was
the major supplier of flower arrangements for the hotels up in the
ski resort, but this was the offseason, so business wouldn’t be as
brisk. “Okay. They’re… lovely. Let’s spread the joy around. Can you
redirect the next lot to the hospital?”

“Sure. But… you know
the town funds a display of flowers for the hospital…”

“All right. Never mind.
Keep them coming.” Maybe this was Theo’s way of weaning himself off
her, of appearing to do the right thing by her.

Her phone beeped.

I’ve been meaning to
ask, do you like soufflés?

She could do this. Play
along. Pretend. She willed her fingers to move.

Sure, I’m easy. Thanks
for the flowers.

I’d rather talk to you
in person. Can’t do this via text. Or phone call.

Okay.

She waited a few more
minutes for a response and when it didn’t come, she switched her
phone off.

Over the next couple of
days, most of the messages came through while she slept, so Eddie
assumed he’d already left the country and was now on the other side
of the world. Just because he was out of sight didn’t get him out
of her mind. Especially not as the flowers continued to arrive
right on schedule.

Eddie looked around the
bar, her gaze skipping and skating from one end to the other, and
then she gave a firm nod. “We should set up a beer garden.” Out of
the corner of her eye, she saw Mitch grab his phone and head out.
Markus sunk lower in his chair by the fireplace and Matthew
squeezed her shoulder.

“That sounds like a
plan,” he said. “Start crunching numbers.”

“I’ll do that.” It
would keep her busy. And then it hit her. When she’d broken up with
Roy, she’d thrown herself into giving The Gloriana a complete
facelift. But Theo hadn’t broken up with her. How could he? They’d
only had one night together. That didn’t make them a couple. He
hadn’t made any promises. None that she could think of. He hadn’t
misled her. He didn’t owe her anything. No excuses or
explanations.

She gave another firm
nod. Collecting that day’s delivery of flowers, Eddie strode up to
her apartment. When she’d split up with Roy, the bullet point list
of events she’d drawn up had gone a long way toward helping her put
everything into perspective. He’d gone away on holidays. He’d met
an ex-girlfriend. She’d fallen pregnant. End of story.

Perhaps she could do
the same with Theo.

He’d turned up from out
of the blue. He’d pillaged her heart and then he tried to smooth
everything over with flowers.

That would have to do,
at least for the time being.

Chapter Seventeen

Theo was about to put
half a world’s distance between himself and the place where he
wanted to be and he only had himself to blame. Bottom line, he took
his job seriously. Job. Duty. Obligations. Responsibilities that
tied him to other people’s lives.

“Do they think you’ve
kidnapped me?” Ben asked.

“It’s their job to
check passports. They want to make sure we have all the right
paperwork.”

“Mom said you had to
jump through hoops to organize this.”

“It’s what I do.” He
drew his cell phone out of his pocket and got busy keying in a
message.

Have you found a puppy
yet?

“You know you can’t use
your phone on the plane. Not all the time...” Ben said. “I read
that online.”

Theo rested one hand on
Ben’s shoulder. He was jumpy, in an excited sort of way. This would
be his first time on a plane. Once onboard, there’d be plenty of
gadgets to keep him entertained as well as his choice of movies and
games. Theo, on the other hand, had nothing but introspection to
look forward to. A fifteen-hour flight could prove to be his
undoing. Theo’s heart jolted in response. He ran his fingers along
his collar, pulling at it as if it suddenly felt too tight. He
could only go forward from here. No turning back. Or dwelling on
regrets. His gaze dropped to his phone.

I’m working on a beer
garden.

He tried to decipher
the words. To find some sort of meaning. Eddie was moving on. She
was throwing herself into a new project. As a coping mechanism? Or
simply because life went on?

It had only been a few
days, but he missed chatting with her. Theo knew there were
important issues to discuss, but not over the phone.

What about a
Beagle?

She’d mentioned wanting
to get a dog, but hadn’t said anything else about it. Had it been a
whimsical idea? Had she changed her mind? And if she’d changed her
mind about that, would she change her mind about other
things...

Beagle?

Fits your requirements.
Floppy ears, soulful eyes...

Just looked it up. Yes.
Cute.

Theo pushed out a hard
breath. He’d give anything to look into her eyes and say… nothing.
It would be enough to be near her, to watch her smile.

Why had he had a
one-night stand with a woman he wanted to spend more time with?
And, at the moment, that’s all it amounted to. A lousy one
night...

If life hadn’t
intervened, if he hadn’t had to fly out…

All these days spent in
Melbourne organizing the necessary paperwork for Ben—

He could have asked
Eddie to join him. It would have been a messy few days, snatching
moments together, but at least she would have known he wanted more,
and maybe then she might have changed her mind. Why settle for a
brief fling—a heartbreak—when there were other choices to
consider?

He could call her now,
before they boarded their flight, but what would he say to her?
What did he think she wanted to hear him say? What did Eddie really
want? That brief conversation he’d had with her a few days ago had
felt stilted, the gaps filled with indecision. Everything he wanted
to say to her didn’t make sense because they’d known each other for
only a short time. Nevertheless, he wanted to think of that time as
a beginning of something, but he was about to board a plane…

“Theo, the lady’s
talking to you.”

“Your boarding passes,
sir.”

Theo slipped his phone
inside his pocket. “Thank you.”

“Now what?” Ben
asked.

“Now we head toward the
departure lounge. We can grab a bite to eat there.”

“Cool.”

“You’re easily
pleased.”

“I’m young. My needs
are basic. It’s no fun when things get weird and complicated.”

Out of the mouths of
babes. How many mistakes and wrong decisions did it take to bring a
man to his senses?

Surely, he could have
found another way to get Ben on a plane to L.A.? He shook his head.
This wasn’t something he could delegate...

However, some thing he
could have done differently. Instead of being considerate and
giving Eddie space to deal with her emergency the other night, he
should have thought only of himself and Eddie. Then again, what if
she really did want a heartbreak?

He pulled his phone out
again.

“Theo, come on, put the
phone away. We’re going to miss our flight.”

“Relax, the plane’s not
leaving without us.”

“You say that now, but
those things suck up all your time and make you forget things.
That’s the reason why mom doesn’t let me have a phone.”

“What if she has to
pick you up and she’s running late?”

“That never happens
because she keeps her promises, no matter what. It’s a golden rule
and once I’ve mastered it, she’ll let me have a phone.”

Talk to you soon.

He pressed send and
immediately wondered if he’d just broken the golden rule. Once he
got on the plane, everything could… would change and, there’d be no
going back, no undoing the last few days.