“The answer is that you’ll be more at ease knowing you won’t see me around the corner. There’s nothing here for me if I’m not going to build a shiny new mall.”
“I thought you said the injunction would lose on appeal.”
“It will, but by then the construction company will be knee-deep in a real estate development on the other side of the city. That’s how these things are played. Timing is everything.”
“Timing,” I say, tasting the word.
He waves a hand. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”
“Are you going to build your mall somewhere else?”
“Maybe,” he says, noncommittal, but I read the answer in the hard set of his jaw. Not right away, because his money is tied up in a building that he can’t touch.
“Mrs. Rosemont told me you were the one who wrote that injunction.” The words spill out of me like a dam has opened. I’m shaking with relief to have them out. “Why would you do that, Christopher? You’re the one who wanted that place torn down.”
“I didn’t want it torn down.”
“Um, excuse me. I think I would remember if you said, ‘Harper, let’s leave the library up and save all the books and priceless architectural details.’”
“I wanted something new built. That’s not the same thing as wanting it torn down.”
“It is when there’s a wrecking ball involved.”
His eyes dance with something like humor. “Fair enough. So it’s not going to be torn down. That’s what you wanted. So why are you here?”
“I’m here because you lied to me.”
One eyebrow rises. “I didn’t lie.”
“You should have told me you filed that injunction. Instead you told the construction people to start tearing it down, knowing, knowing it would be stopped.”
His voice is mild. “Like I said, timing is everything.”
“You wanted me to think Sutton had saved the library.”
He turns away, and I know I’ve guessed right. “Does it matter? He did help.”
I cross the room and stand in front of Christopher. It hurts to look at those dark eyes, knowing what he’s done. Somehow it hurts worse to know he saved the library. “Why?”
“Hell,” he says roughly. “You know why.”
I don’t want to hear this, but I can’t make myself walk away. It’s everything I ever wanted from him. Too late, too late. “Spell it out for me.”
“The only reason I was in this city was for you. Because you loved it here, with Avery. Because I thought you belonged here. Turns out you do belong here—with someone else.”
“Why would that matter to you?”
An uneven laugh. “Because I’ve loved you every day since that goddamned will reading. Every day since I dived into the water after you. Probably from the moment I saw you walking up that dock the first day.”
My stomach pitches. “Then why didn’t you fight for me?”
“Oh, there’s a million answers to that one. Stubbornness. Stupidity.”
“And at the end?”
“At the end, you wanted Sutton to be the one to save the library.”
“So you gave it to me,” I whisper, my heart fracturing.