Heather Macallister - A Man for All Seasons

Did he truly want to know what caused Marlie’s broken engagement? Marlie was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. Not glamorous, but solid and reliable. A team player, not a diva. She had “wife” written all over her. A man didn’t mess around with a woman like Marlie.

He studied her familiar, bare face and those eyes that met his with disconcerting directness. He could never lie to those eyes. No matter what he said or how he acted, those eyes saw the truth. Except, apparently, where her ex was concerned.

So, yeah. He wanted to know what happened. “Given our past, I can see why you’d think I wouldn’t care. I didn’t figure it was any of my business. But now, I’m making it my business.”

She didn’t say anything, but some of the hurt left her expression.

“I want to find out what he did to turn you into a hermit who never goes anywhere and doesn’t have any friends.”

“I have friends,” she protested.

“Your online buddies don’t count. I’m talking about living, breathing friends you see in person.”

“They’re back in Seattle where I left them when I quit my job and followed Eric here to Houston!”

A little temper there. “Make new friends.” Anger was encouraging. Wasn’t it one of the stages of grief? He was fuzzy on the order.

She glared at him. “This is about you getting the place to yourself so you can sleep with Axelle, isn’t it?”

Busted. “That’s blunt.”

“But I’m right.”

“If helping you get out of your rut benefits me, I’m not going to complain.”

She smirked. “That’s the Ty I know.”

“Following a guy around—that’s the Marlie I know.” He sucked air between his teeth. “Ignore what I just said.”

She didn’t. “We were engaged.”

“I was out of line. I apologize.”

“Our parents made me stick with you!”

“I know. I’m sorry for the crack. Can we get past it?”

She gave him a sulky look. “You’re not endearing anymore.”

“Endearing’s not my style. Fixing things is my style. C’mon, let’s get this over with. Spill.”

“You are really bad at sympathy.”

“Do you want me to make a lot of ‘oh, I’m so sorry’ and ‘poor little Marlie’ noises, or do you want a guy’s perspective on what was going through your ex’s head?” Ty already had a solid theory. Two theories, but he hoped he was wrong about the second.

“I don’t care what he was thinking,” Marlie said. “I want to know what happened between kissing me goodbye that morning and walking out of my life at noon.”

Ty had theories about that, too. “Did you ask him?”

“I was so shocked, I don’t remember saying anything.” Marlie drew her feet onto the bed. “The bed was a surprise.” She gazed around the interior. “I’d arranged for the carpenters to install it while we were at the closing. Then afterwards, we were supposed to come here and christen it.”

An image of Marlie and the unknown Eric flashed in Ty’s head and his mind rebelled. “Too much information.”

She tilted her chin. “And your love life with Axelle isn’t?”

“Point taken.” He gestured. “Go on.”

“I only told you so you’d understand that I was completely blindsided. He’d never complained or expressed any doubts. About anything. When Eric left for work that morning, everything was fine. Then he got off the elevator at lunchtime and gave his ‘I can’t do this’ speech. He told me he felt tied down. He didn’t like his job and he didn’t like Houston, and apparently he didn’t like me, either.”

“He said that?”

Marlie gave him a look. “He called off the wedding. It’s implied.”

“Did he ask for the ring back?”

Marlie shook her head.

“So he didn’t leave you for another woman,” Ty said, glad that theory was toast.

“How do you know?”

“He would have wanted the ring so he could reset the stone or trade it in.” At least Ty hoped Marlie had the sense not to hook up with a guy who was the type to give the same ring to another woman.

“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “Is that supposed to make me feel better about being dumped?”

“It makes me feel better,” Ty said. “Now I know we’re only dealing with rejection and not betrayal.” Betrayal was messier. Lots of crying and runny noses with betrayal. “If there had been another woman, you would have found a way to make the breakup all your fault. You would have blamed yourself for not being pretty enough or thin enough or whatever enough. Then you would have tried to fix yourself and punished the next guy you dated for being attracted to the ‘new you’ because he’s supposed to be able to see past the ‘new you’ to the ‘real you’ hidden inside. But he doesn’t know that. So you accuse him of being shallow. And then you break up with him—but not until he’s wined you and dined you and paid for a couple of pricey bed-and-breakfast weekends.”

“NOT THAT YOU’RE BITTER.”

Ty so clearly spoke from experience that Marlie wanted to laugh. She actually felt like laughing. Maybe she would. “I hope she was good in bed, at least.”

He met her eyes before giving her a rueful look. “She was okay. Tried too hard.”

“Poor you.” She snickered. It felt good. For the first time, Marlie experienced something other than bewildered hurt and anger when she thought about the horrible day Eric left. And who would have thought she’d be confiding in Ty, of all people?

Astoundingly, he seemed to care. Sure, it was self-serving, but it was genuine caring. And the clunky way he tromped all over her feelings might be just what she needed. She wasn’t ready to admit it, though. He was smug enough already.

“Go ahead and laugh,” he said. “But be glad you’re not That Woman. At least you know Eric’s issues had nothing to do with you.”

Did she know that?

Ty settled back into the bed. Marlie wondered what he’d say if she told him he was the first man to be in it. But she didn’t wonder enough to tell him.

“So he calls off the wedding and then what?” he prompted while he fiddled with the control panel, figuring out which buttons controlled the head elevation and the lights.

“He told me to keep his half of the down payment on the townhouse to cover the deposits I’d lose by canceling the wedding.” Marlie thought of what she went through and got mad all over again. “Like that even began to make up for it. We were within sixty days of the date. The invitations hadn’t been mailed, but they’d been printed. My dress had already been altered. The bridesmaids’ dresses couldn’t be returned and I couldn’t make my friends pay for those, so I reimbursed them. Everybody had bought their plane tickets—”

“Focus,” Ty cut her off. “What else did he say?”

“He just said ‘sorry’ and got back on the elevator.”

“I mean, later. After that.”

“There was no later,” Marlie told him. “I haven’t seen or talked to him since. No text, no email. Nothing.”

“That was it?” Ty stopped playing with the buttons and stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“No,” she whispered, her throat tight. That was probably the most difficult aspect for her to accept—that Eric could walk away as though their life together had never existed.

“Jerk.” Ty looked outraged. “What about his stuff?”

She swallowed past the tightness. “The movers told me he packed his car. He knew I had a couple of appointments that morning before I was to meet him at the title company and he must have come back after I left.”

“So the coward planned it all in advance.” Ty was gratifyingly incensed on her behalf. It helped.

“I thought it was stress. I thought he was having a meltdown and he’d get over it in a few hours. I mean, it happens. Even I— Anyway, they called me in for the appointment and what was I supposed to do? We had to vacate the apartment. The movers were already loading the truck. I had nowhere else to go. This was supposed to be our home. So I bought it. I went in and signed the papers and I bought it. Not that moment, because the papers had to be redone, but I moved in and paid the bank rent for a few days.” Marlie breathed deeply, just as she had after walking into the room and indenturing herself to a mortgage.