Her Charming Heartbreaker (24 page)

He brushed his hand
across his face.

He’d actually talked
about this with Claire.

The night before
catching his flight back to Australia, she’d drawn him aside and
had asked him point blank about his reasons for wanting to return.
While he’d found Claire a tough nut to crack, when the tables had
turned, she’d quizzed and squeezed him dry, getting him to draw a
complete chronological outline of his life, and in particular, his
last relationship and the year he’d spent living in New York, until
finally, she’d wrenched an admission out of him. He’d invested time
in a relationship that hadn’t worked out, and a part of him felt it
could happen again.

So what, Claire had
said. A man in love would not have accepted being forced into that
second place podium. Therefore, in Claire’s opinion, he hadn’t been
emotionally invested, which meant that he hadn’t lost anything. She
was right. He’d walked away and had returned to his hectic schedule
without a backward glance or second thought for what might have
been. Could it happen again? Maybe. And maybe he had made a
conscious decision to avoid the same experience. So what if he
had?

Theo chuckled. “So
what, indeed.”

Drawing back the
curtains, he pushed open the window to air out the place. Standing
there, he smiled and drew in a deep breath. It filled him with hope
and, despite the overcast sky, brightness.

He’d returned to Eden
because he hadn’t been able to walk away. Even when he’d been on
the other side of the world, a part of him had remained here.

Eddie didn’t hate him.
She couldn’t. That gave him hope.

Yes, but...

He’d broken her
heart.

Theo swung away from
the window. He wasn’t foolish enough to think he could come back
and pick up where he’d left off. He couldn’t be that lucky. In
time, she might forgive him, and if he explained—

That would take some
doing. After all, he hadn’t made her his priority. His thoughts,
right from the start, had been on convincing Claire Muldoon to give
his father another go.

“How do you feel about
Eddie Faydon?” Claire had asked.

“She’s not going to
want anything to do with me.”

Instead of pushing him
to answer, Claire had rephrased the question. “How do you feel
about never seeing Eddie again?”

Theo had surged to his
feet, his fingers curling into tight fists.

“So what are you going
to do about it?”

“Nothing,” he’d said
because at the time, that was all he could do. Nothing about his
life had changed. He was still the middleman. Fixing everyone
else’s chaotic lives. Claire had called him a coward. While he
preferred to think of himself as a pragmatist. Eddie had a fixed
address while his life was... elsewhere. She’d also collected two
other heartbreaks and that meant he had competition.

Claire had lifted an
eyebrow. “So what?”

It would only take one
encounter to trigger a resurgence of emotions, that’s what, Theo
thought.

His back teeth ground
together. This time, he wouldn’t be gracious. He wouldn’t step down
and shuffle over to the second place podium. He’d—

It didn’t matter. Eddie
believed he’d walked away from her. Did she really see him as the
type of man who’d abandon her?

For heaven’s sake, he’d
given her a puppy.

“Why a puppy?” Claire
had asked.

“Because she wants
one.”

Claire had sighed and
with a patience he’d come to appreciate, she’d guided him into
admitting that, in his mind, if Eddie could bond with the puppy
then he wouldn’t be far from her thoughts.

The sound of a car
screeching to a halt had him swinging back toward the window.

A flash of red erupted
from the car.

Eddie!

His heart gave a
thunderous thump.

He stood stock-still
and watched her sweeping up to the front porch, her face set in
grim determination. She knocked on the front door a couple of
times, and then followed it with a succession of rattling
knocks.

Theo closed his eyes
and drew in a breath. He took a moment to steady his thoughts,
making sure they were backing him all the way. He could do
this…

He opened the front
door. “Hello, Eddie.” She looked great. No sign of distress. No
dark shadows under her eyes. He would never have forgiven himself
if…

Her eyebrows slammed
together. “Hello, Eddie? That’s all you have to say?”

He couldn’t remember
what he had to say. He only knew what he wanted to do. Take her in
his arms and kiss her until she had to gasp for her next breath. “I
haven’t been gone that long.” His gaze lingered over her face. Her
cheeks had a tinge of pink. She was straining to keep a straight
face as if battling the urge to unleash her emotions on him.

His attention dropped
down to the puppy sitting obediently at her feet. It was all eyes
and ears, its head tilted as if trying to understand what they were
saying.

“Theo,” she
snapped.

“Yes, Eddie.”

“My brothers are on
their way. They can’t all leave the pub at once, so they’re taking
turns.”

“I’d be disappointed if
they didn’t.”

She shook her head.
“They’re going to beat you up.”

Theo chuckled.

“Don’t just stand
there. You need to get going.”

“Are you telling me to
leave? I’ve only just arrived.”

“It’s for your own
good. I’ll try to hold them back for as long as possible, but
they’re stubborn. And Murphy doesn’t do fierce, so there’ll only be
me standing between you and them.”

He gave her a small
smile. “Murphy?”

“You should have given
me a Doberman. Murphy doesn’t even growl.”

Theo stooped down and
ruffled the puppy’s ears. “Hello, Murphy.”

“Theo.” She stomped her
foot. “You’re not listening.”

Smiling, he rose to his
feet. “You’re concerned about me. I’m touched.”

She shook her head, her
eyes jumping around his face. When her gaze landed on his mouth,
she stepped back and crossed her arms. “I don’t want any trouble.
You should be free to come and go. You’re... you’re probably here
to pack things up for Claire…” She drew her cell phone out and held
it up. “She emailed me.”

“Oh, I asked her to
hold off doing that.”

She frowned. “You’re
very fond of your secrets. We’re losing our only hairdresser. She
thought we needed to know in case we had a bad hair day emergency.
She’s put an ad in for a new hairdresser, but it might be a while
before the position is filled. And that’s only a short-term option
because she’s not coming back, at least not for a while.” She
looked over her shoulder. Then she dug her fingers through her hair
and looked back at him. “I know. You could hide out at my
grandmother’s.”

“Hide?”

“For a while. Then when
the coast is clear, you could make your getaway. You can’t drive
through town again,” she reasoned, “So you’ll have to take the back
roads and they can be tricky.”

“You’re serious.”

She gave him a raised
eyebrow look. “What do you think? Mitch has already given you a
taste of—”

“I’ll take my chances.”
He didn’t have anything to go back to. He’d made sure of that
because, as far as he was concerned, he had everything to look
forward to. Right here in Eden.

Her lips parted. Her
eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not going
anywhere, Eddie.”

“Is this some sort of
male locking of horns, stubborn as a mule—”

“This is about me
deciding what I want for me.”

“You’re going to stay
in Eden?” She chortled.

“I’m glad you find the
idea amusing.”

“What are you going to
do? What am I saying? You don’t need to do anything. You’re
probably loaded.”

“I do well enough for
myself. And while I could kick back and relax, I’d rather keep
myself busy doing...” he shrugged, “I’ll figure something out.”

“We’re both going to
live in the same town?”

He nodded.

“Then...” She gave a
nervous laughter. “I’ll have to leave.”

“Can I come too?”

She held his gaze for a
moment, her eyes unblinking. And then it happened. He saw her take
a deep swallow, as if trying to contain a rise of emotions. Her
eyes shimmered. She shook her head and took a step back.

Theo’s heart plummeted
so low he thought it might sink into the hollowness of his stomach.
Before she could take another step away from him, Theo reached for
Eddie and drew her into his arms. She came willingly, her face
burrowing against his chest.

“
Did
I really break your heart, Eddie? Is that why you’d rather I didn’t
stay?”

“Can you just hold me
for a minute?”

“Gladly.” Relief poured
through him. He held his silence for as long as he could, but there
were too many words pushing and shoving, wanting to be heard. “I
have to admit, a part of me felt elated to have broken your heart.
It meant you had feelings for me.”

“You left a huge gap in
my life.”

“I didn’t do it on
purpose.”

“I felt your absence.
It was both horrible and good. I tried to fill up that empty
feeling by going through the conversations we’d had and the times
I’d encountered you and then I’d snap out of it and notice you
weren’t there.”

“I thought about you
too. And... again, I’m sorry. When I left, everything happened so
quickly. I didn’t know it then, but I had a lot to sort out,
decisions about my life to make. I seemed to be living it for
everyone else but myself. A few moments before you arrived I
thought you might not want to see me again, but I didn’t think
about packing up and leaving. I’m here to stay, Eddie. And again,
I’m sorry I broke your heart.”

“Okay,” she said after
a while. “Well, it’s not really okay. You should never have
listened to Joyce.”

“It’s very hard not to.
But for the record, I never set out to hurt you. And,” he drew her
back slightly, “You should have known better.”

She nodded, and then
she narrowed her eyes. “Hang on, are you trying to make this my
fault? You left—”

“And I sent you flowers
and gave you a puppy.”

“And I was supposed to
read some sort of message into that?”

He sighed. “I don’t
know. Maybe.”

“You don’t sound sure
of yourself.”

“I didn’t know where I
stood with you. What you might want. Really want. As far as I knew,
you were done with me. So I decided to think about what I
wanted.”

“Done with you?”

“When I called to say I
was catching the first flight out, you didn’t have much to
say.”

She shook her head.
“From the start you told me you were only here for a brief stay.
While I wanted you to be the man who would turn his life upside
down for me, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Why not?”

“B-because...” she
floundered. “I couldn’t. I can’t force someone to want me. Some
people can’t compromise...”

“Eddie?”

She scooped in a big
breath. “Remember how I told you I’d traveled once?”

He nodded.

“I went to... meet my
mother.”

Theo didn’t push for
more. He could tell this wasn’t something she talked about
often.

“She left shortly after
I was born.”

“I’m sorry to hear
that.”

“I’m not telling you
this to gain sympathy. After having four children, she decided she
wanted a different life. She’d always put it down to post partum
depression. But a few years ago, she contacted us. After all this
time, she’d come to terms with herself... and her decisions. She
needed to admit to us that she’d only been thinking of herself and
that in a moment of sheer selfishness, she’d packed her bags and
left.”

“That must have been
hard for you to hear.”

“Strangely, no. She
explained that she’d only been able to walk away from her children
because of my father. She knew he’d take care of us. And he did.”
She pressed her hands against his chest. “What I’m trying to say,
Theo, is that she wanted a different life. She wanted to travel, to
see the world. Living here made her miserable. You’re used to
another lifestyle—”

“Eddie. When I got off
the plane in Melbourne, I felt like I was coming home.” He laughed.
“In fact, the moment I boarded my flight, I started breathing easy.
I could relax... I’ve never had that feeling before. It has nothing
to do with a particular place. It has to do with you being here.
I’ve seen the world and I can get on a plane, preferably with you
by my side, whenever I want to.”

“You’re serious?”

“Since I’m the one who
broke your heart, is there any chance I could fix it?”

Her eyes shimmered
again. “And make it better?”

“That would be my aim.
Yes.”

She tilted her head.
“How are you going to do that?”

“I’ll find a way. I’m
hoping there’ll be plenty of opportunities… over lunch, dinner...
breakfast.”

“In that order?”

“In whatever order you
like.”

“Yeah, sure. What about
the plane you no doubt have to catch? You say you like it here
now...”

“There isn’t a plane. I
told you, I’m staying.”

She tilted her head
back. “Until the novelty wears out.”

“Do you think your
heart could mend in that time?”

“Eventually, I guess it
will. But what about afterwards? Once you fix my heart, I’ll need
regular maintenance, so it doesn’t break again.” She shook her
head. “No, I think I should take a chance and patch it up myself. I
can’t ask for lifelong guarantees.”

“Why not? I’d like to.”
He saw a spark of hope light up her eyes. “Eddie, I’ve tried
settling down in the one place with one person. It blew up in my
face when she fell in love again with her ex. I didn’t have any
trouble picking myself up and moving on. But this is different. I
can’t begin to measure how I feel about you. It doesn’t compare to
anything I’ve ever felt. If you have feelings for someone else, if
you’re holding on to a missed opportunity and wondering what might
have been…”