“And when you dived underwater to get the garbage up, you were shirtless. Later you said that when a pretty girl...”
Nate nodded. “I said that when a pretty girl watches, I tend to strip off. That was true even in the danger of that water. And by the way, there’s something big down there and it’s not farm machinery.”
“We’ll look into it,” Terri mumbled. All he was mentioning was the physical. What was important to her were their moments together. Their easy laughter and talk. Sharing what was inside their minds. But he seemed to care only about what their bodies wanted. Was that all she had meant to him? Who had the hots for whom?
Terri clamped her teeth together. “I guess it was all a challenge, like a peacock showing off his tail feathers to a pretty hen. And I’m the hen.”
Her tone made Nate look at her in alarm, but she smiled sweetly.
He slipped the fish out of the pan onto the plate beside the potato. “That isn’t it at all. The point is that I take the blame entirely onto myself. I should have been more honest with you from the beginning. And I should have moved out immediately. I shouldn’t have led you on.” He looked at her. “Terri? Are you all right?”
“Considering that you’re making me sound like Della Kissel, I’m just great. Should I put on an old-fashioned negligee and come on to the young bucks around the lake?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“So how did you mean it? Explain it to me.”
He held out the plate of food he’d just cooked for her, but she didn’t take it. They were still standing in the kitchen. “It’s more serious than that. More than once I thought about breaking up with Stacy. I thought...” Nate took a breath. “I’ve done my best to treat Stacy honorably, which meant that I couldn’t give in to my baser urges. If I had, that would have meant that I wasn’t being honorable with you. I made you think... I mean, not that I haven’t thought about...”
“Thought about what?”
“Us. You and me. Together.”
“I think I understand. You’re saying that you’ve been working hard to decide which of us two women to choose?”
Nate’s eyes went back and forth, as though he was trying to figure out if her question was real or a trick. “I guess so.”
“You’re saying that I was a woman living all alone, then big gorgeous you showed up, and I dreamed of having you? But no! You’re engaged, therefore you should have moved out so poor me, a woman who obviously can’t get a man of her own, wouldn’t be heartbroken when you went back to the woman you truly love. Is that right?” She didn’t give him time to answer. “What a dilemma for you.” Terri’s voice rose. “‘Should I choose sweet little Stacy or strong, sassy Terri? Both women want me so very, very much. But I just can’t make up my mind.’”
Nate looked trapped, frantic. “That isn’t what I meant,” he whispered.
“Explain to me what’s so wonderful about you that you’ve managed to make two women fall in love with you. From what Stacy told me, you’re whatever we women want you to be. You’re wine for her and beer for me. Tell me, Nathaniel Taggert, who are you really?”
Nate’s eyes looked bleak. “I’m beginning to think that I don’t know.”
“I can tell you that I d
on’t know.” She glared at him.
Nate took a step back. “I think I should go.”
“You think your ego can get through the door? I sure hope you don’t meet a woman on your way out. You might have to choose from three women, all of whom are, of course, just dying to have you. A decision like that would probably tear your tiny dinosaur brain into so many pieces even sonar couldn’t find them.”
“I better leave.”
“You think?”
Without another word, he left the house.
* * *
For a while, Terri stood there, staring at the space where Nate had been. Part of her thought she should be upset. Shouldn’t she be gnashing her teeth? Wringing her hands? Feeling like she should throw herself into the deepest part of the lake and never come up?
She had just been nasty—really, really nasty—to a man she liked so much that she’d... Well, she’d almost been willing to leave family, friends and all she knew in the world just to be with him. But tonight she had irreparably broken the bond between them. Cut it with a chain saw made of words.
But another part of her felt only freedom. Stacy Hartman had won and Terri had lost. It was over. Again, Terri had lost a man she liked very much. First Billy and now Nate.
Only she’d never actually had either of them. She and Billy had been too young to be serious about the future. And she’d always known that Nate could never be hers.