Her Charming Heartbreaker (23 page)

He’d walked out on
her.

He’d walked out on
her.

Theo shook his head and
growled under his breath. He didn’t believe Eddie wanted a
heartbreak. He couldn’t believe it.

Too late now.

He brushed his hand
across his chest but it did nothing to shift the hollow feeling
inside him.

“Okay, let’s do
this.”

* * *

“The flowers are still
coming. I thought I’d get that out of the way, in case you were
wondering. Now, can I have a cup of...” The words trailed off, her
mind emptied of all thought. Eddie had come to Joyce’s café
thinking she needed to get out and about, to resume her life, to
pretend she could function normally.

“Eddie? Are you okay?”
Joyce asked.

Two weeks.

Fourteen days.

She’d been marking them
off on her calendar. Like a countdown. She had no idea what she was
waiting for. For reality to sink in? For all thoughts of Theo to
fade? And then what?

The text messages had
dwindled down to one a day, if that. Was he too busy for her or was
he being mindfully negligent? Weaning her off him... She refused to
call him. She shouldn’t even be thinking about him, but it was all
she did. “I... I never loved Derek or Roy.” She knew that for a
fact because she didn’t remember feeling splintered and broken the
way she did now. “I don’t want coffee.” And she didn’t want a
puppy. She wanted Theo to come and explain to her how he could have
walked away without a second thought.

“Tea?”

She nodded. She missed
his touch most of all, and the way his eyes danced around her face.
“I wish I hadn’t spent so much time getting to know him. Flings are
meant to be spontaneous. You meet someone, and if you’re a
daredevil, you jump right into the fun of having sex, without
knowing much more than the person’s name. And then, you go your
separate ways.” She took a sip of her drink. “Did I order tea?”

Joyce sighed. “I’m
afraid coffee will only mess with your head. How’s the beer garden
coming along?”

“The boys are less than
thrilled with the idea of extra work, but they’ve been too scared
to say no to me. It’ll be up and running in no time. It’s amazing
how much I can get other people to do when they think I’m suffering
from a broken heart, which I’m not. Mitch has perfected the art of
disappearing. Matthew’s been patient. He squeezes my shoulder a
lot. And Markus has replaced his scowling with wide eyed concern.
They’ve put away the darts. I’ve no idea what they think I’ll do
with them.” Her mind was a jumble of thoughts. She tried to cram in
as much as she possibly could, thoughts about anything, anyone
other than Theo, but every now and then, she let her guard down and
relapsed into thinking about him.

Her phone rang, but she
ignored it.

Moments later, Joyce’s
phone rang.

“It’s Matthew. He says
you need to get back to the pub.”

Eddie took longer than
usual to get herself into gear. Nothing felt the same, or as good
as it had when Theo had been around. Even walking down the street
was an ordeal because she knew there wouldn’t be any surprise
sightings of him.

“Okay, I’m here. What’s
the emergency?” she asked as she strode into the pub.

“Markus. Hand it
over.”

Frowning, Eddie strode
toward Markus who was occupying his usual spot by the fireplace,
but even before she reached him, she saw the furry head peering at
her from behind Markus’ shoulder. Big, soulful eyes and floppy
ears.

“It came with a
note.”

You deserve more than
empty promises...

“Congratulations. It’s
a boy.” Markus handed over the furry load.

Eddie stared into its
soulful eyes and instantly fell in love with it.

“It came with a box of
stuff. Food. Toys. Water bowl...”

Theo had thought of
everything. “Come on you, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”
She took the puppy upstairs to her apartment and set it down on the
floor. Perching on the edge of the sofa, she watched it as it
sniffed its way around her apartment. Finally, she pulled out her
phone.

You broke my heart,
Theo. I wish you hadn’t.

She bit the edge of her
lip and considered deleting the message, but instead she pressed
the send button. Sniffling, she blinked back the stinging sensation
in her eyes. And then something inside her loosened and crumbled,
like rubble rolling down a hill.

I’d rather love you
than hate you.

Although, she knew in
her heart she’d never be able to hate him. Her body tensed as if
making a last ditch attempt to pull her back from making a fool of
herself. Pushing out a quivery breath, she hit send. It’s done, she
thought. She had no idea why she’d felt compelled to mention the
word love. Or even hate. She didn’t hate him. She almost wished she
did because then she might feel something other than numbness.

She pressed the tip of
her finger against the edge of her lip and pushed it up into a
smile. “What am I going to do with you?” she asked the puppy. He
peered at her from under the coffee table. “You don’t even have a
name.” His head tilted from side to side. “Something tells me
you’re going to be a handful of mischief. I bet you’re not even
toilet trained.”

Pushing off the couch,
she willed herself to stand. “Come on. Let’s go rummage through
that box of goodies and see if there’s a leash for you. You don’t
want to go wandering off by yourself, you might get lost and then
I’d have to go searching for you and...” Her shoulders rose and
fell. “Just don’t go wandering off. I can’t lose you too.”

* * *

After two days of not
straying further than the corner of the pub, Eddie knew it was time
to rejoin the world.

“Fred.” The puppy
pressed its nose against her boot. “No? You don’t care for the
name? Okay, I’ll keep working on it. Come on, it’s time for your
morning constitutional,” she said as she crossed the street. “Who
knew puppies peed so much. You need to learn bladder control.” The
sound of chuckling had Eddie turning. “Hey, Joyce. We were on our
way over to see you.”

“So this is the little
guy. He’s cute.” Joyce bent down to pat him. “What’s his name?”

“Haven’t got one yet.”
Eddie shook her head. “He’s a bit of a fusspot. The boys aren’t
helping. They keep tossing the most horrible names at him. He’s
getting confused. Aren’t you, Darcy?” The puppy looked away.

“Try it with a firmer
tone,” Joyce suggested.

“Darcy.” The puppy gave
its head a vigorous shake then plonked down to scratch itself. “I
guess not.”

“Give it time. When you
least expect it, he’ll do something to reveal his character.”

“Like now. Pretending
we’re not even here. Oh, I know... Bradford.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Eddie laughed. “Come
on, walk and talk.”

“Can we head in the
opposite direction, please?”

Eddie looked up and saw
Bradford stepping out of Brilliant Baubles. “What have you
done?”

“Nothing. I’m keeping
my nose clean.” Joyce’s brows slammed together. “Someone’s writing
about us.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a blog. It’s
all about Eden. About us.”

“What?”

“An anonymous someone
is blogging about us. She calls herself the Eden Bloggess. I came
across it this morning. There are posts about how you can sit at
the café and read and no one will bother you. She likes the
selection of books,” Joyce shrugged, “The food, the wide variety of
tea and the excellent coffee. Nice little plug for me. But the most
recent posts sound like a gossip column.” Joyce growled softly. “I
swear I’m going to find out who’s responsible.”

“What is she
saying?”

“He’s been mentioned,”
Joyce hitched her head toward Brilliant Baubles, “And me.
Apparently, we’re playing hard to get. I want to know where she got
that idea from.”

“You’re kidding
me.”

“Nope. It’s out there
for everyone to read.”

“What else is she
saying?”

“Nothing about you, if
that’s what you’re wondering. Although, she mentioned Karaoke night
and how no one should miss it because you never know what’s going
to happen.”

“That was eons ago and
Adam and I are okay now. He came by the pub.” Eddie didn’t mention
anything about her suspicions that he might be interested in
Sophie. Best to leave them to themselves. Hopefully something good
would come their way. “Any idea who’s responsible?”

“I’m keeping my eyes
open for queer behavior.”

“That’s casting a wide
net. You might want to narrow it down to people you least suspect.
You know, like my grandmother.”

Joyce shook her head.
“She never comes into town. It has to be someone who hovers around.
Like a nonentity. There, but not conspicuously there. They’re bound
to slip up. I’ll be on the lookout for someone pretending to keep
to themselves. You should do the same at the pub. That’s a hub of
hot gossip.”

Eddie laughed. “I’ve
got my hands full at the moment. This little guy gets into
everything. He’s developed a taste for Mitch’s boots.” Eddie looked
around the street and drew in a big breath. “Thank you for not
asking about... you know.”

Joyce sighed. “It
hasn’t been easy. I still feel responsible.”

“I don’t see why you
should. Actually, I should thank you. At least I enjoyed one night
with him, and—” She bit the edge of her lip. “I need to whip my
thoughts into submission. I keep telling myself to stop thinking
about him...”

“It’s only
natural.”

“I am moving on.” She
gave a firm nod of her head. “While I enjoyed every second I spent
in his company, I can’t dwell on what might have been. I need to
focus on what will be. The beer garden. And this guy here. Getting
him to pee on cue is at the top of my priority list.”

“You sound great. For a
while there, I worried you were texting because you couldn’t
talk.”

“I haven’t been chatty.
In fact, I’ve been avoiding conversations. Whenever I talk to
Mitch, I can see him grinding his back teeth. He’s fuming and wants
to hit someone. Matthew gives me the whole gentle look. Markus is
struggling. I can tell he’s trying not to growl. It’ll take me a
while to stop missing Theo and it doesn’t help that he gave me a
dog because every time I look at it I think of Theo. Please say
something, I’m going down that slippery slide again. Are you even
listening to me?”

“Of course I am.” Joyce
grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Look,” she said
holding up her phone. “There’s a new post.”

“What does it say?”

“What goes up must come
down. It’s about a trip overseas with references to us being down
under.”

Eddie dug inside her
pocket and retrieved her phone. “Okay, I found it. There’s always a
flash of vintage at Brilliant Baubles,” she read. “You think she’s
referring to you? I think it’s more about the stuff you can find in
the antique store. There are stacks of curious objects that aren’t
necessarily antiques. Like the 1950s magazines. And the vinyl
records.”

Joyce shook her head.
“Are you saying I’m being paranoid?”

“Hang on... I’m seeing
red, blah, blah, blah, the color is usually associated with fast
cars, blah, blah, blah... running shorts...” Theo had worn red
shorts and he’d driven a red car. Eddie’s eyes skimmed over the
rest of the blog and then she saw a reference to russet red hair.
“I thought you said there was no mention of me. She’s obsessed with
red and how the color seems to have suddenly disappeared.” Eddie
looked up and down the street.

“Now who’s being
paranoid?”

“I’m going to leave a
comment.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You can’t engage the
enemy. What if they only want to bait us? Stir the hornet’s
nest.”

Eddie chortled. “Hang
on, that’s seriously annoying. I can’t leave a comment.”

“What would you have
said anyway?”

“There’s plenty of red
in Eden. You only have to know where to look. I know. It’s silly,
but it’s true. There’s plenty of red... out there. The color is not
exclusive to red sports cars and jogging shorts.”

“Are you trying to say
there’s plenty of fish in the sea?”

“Yes. At the moment,
I’m stuck liking one particular fish, but that’s my problem. And
the solution is to take fish off the menu.” Eddie gave a decisive
nod. She smiled and looked around her. Everyone was going about
their business as if nothing had changed. And very little had. If
she gave herself another two weeks...

She narrowed her gaze.
“Is that—” No. No. This couldn’t be happening. Again.

“A red convertible,
yes.”

“Murphy strikes
again.”

The puppy thumped its
tail against her leg.

“Hey, I think it likes
the name.”

“Murphy?” No way...

Chapter Eighteen

The roads around Eden
had enough twists and turns to get anyone lost and Theo knew it
would take him a long time to learn the ins and outs and become
familiar enough to navigate them without a map. Then again, getting
lost could redefine a person’s destination and lead him somewhere
he’d never thought he’d want to go... again.

He strode up the front
steps to Claire’s house and let himself in. As eager as he’d been
to return to Eden, he’d actually spent a couple of days in
Melbourne getting over his jetlag. He’d already organized a company
to pack all Claire and Ben’s belongings, and once that was
done—

He stood in the middle
of the living room, his teeth worrying the inside of his lip.

The closest he’d ever
come to possibly pursuing a long-term relationship had blown up in
his face when his partner had fallen back in love with her ex. Theo
had accepted the turn of events, bowing out without a second
thought. They’d been together for close to a year. He’d taken time
out from his crazy schedule, putting everything on hold to explore
the possibilities...