Long Road Home (The Barker Triplets 4)

“I made a mess of things, Coral. This isn’t Shane’s fault. He has work commitments, and I said something nasty when I should have been glad that my husband has found his mojo and is painting again. I was petty and childish and…” She looked up at the older woman. “Can I blame that on hormones?”

Coral laughed and nodded. “Honey, this is your time. You can pretty much blame anything and everything on pregnancy hormones.” She patted Bobbi on the hand. “And don’t you forget it. Now you should run upstairs and get dressed.”

Bobbi looked down. She’d pulled on a pair of white tights and a pink tank top after her shower.

“No.” Coral shook her head. “No, that won’t do. You’re about to have probably the most important conversation you’ll ever have with your husband. At least up until now. So you go and put on a pretty dress and some mascara on your lashes, and definitely put something on your lips. They look a little pale. Nothing makes a woman feel more confiden

t than a good lipstick.”

Bobbi gave Coral a hug. “Thank you for being here for me. I never thought I’d come all this way to find someone like you.” She paused, taking a moment to gather her scattered thoughts. “I don’t want us to lose touch, Coral.”

“That’s sweet of you, darlin’, but this place, this bed-and-breakfast, is magical, and neither one of us lives in it. We’re just visitors spending a few days in its arms.”

“I mean it. We’ll find a way to keep in touch, even if it means you coming up north for a visit.”

“North? I don’t know if your town is ready for someone like me.”

“They’re not.” Bobbi giggled. “Which is why you have to come.”

“Go on and get ready for your husband.”

Bobbi ran upstairs and had a stitch in her side by the time she reached her room. She had no idea when Shane would be back, so she needed to make quick work of it. She’d already showered, and so once she pulled on a pale blue halter dress and slipped her feet into white flats, she let her hair down and gave it a good brushing until it shone around her shoulders.

She walked into the bathroom and dug through her makeup bag and took some extra time to apply a bit of smoky eyeshadow, mascara, and—she smiled—red velvet lipstick. She stood back and looked at herself, deciding the little diamond stud earrings Shane had given her for her birthday a few years back would be perfect. Her jewelry bag was on the desk in the bedroom, and she dug them out and put them in.

Coral was right. She looked good and felt much more hopeful than she had first thing this morning. She smiled at herself in the mirror, liking what she saw, and then froze when a shadow moved behind her.

Shane.

“Your door was unlocked,” he said gruffly.

She went cold and then hot. His dark eyes never left hers. He moved closer until she felt the heat of him at her back, and when his fingers lightly touched her shoulder, she wanted to cry. Every single cell in her body wanted him. On what planet had she ever envisioned living without Shane?

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“I know. I am too.” He moved closer still, and she closed her eyes as his hard chest pushed up against her back. “We need to talk, Bobbi.”

She nodded and felt like crying when he moved away from her. She gave herself a moment or two to get her thoughts straight and then turned to him. He’d retreated a few feet back, as if he needed some distance or maybe perspective, and she was trying her hardest to think of the right things to say to fill up all this space when he spoke.

“I love you, Bobbi Jo.”

At his words, tears immediately sprang to her eyes, and she made no effort to stop them. There was really no point. There would be more to come.

“We can stand here and dissect the last few years of our marriage if you want. I’ll do that for you because I love you. But I want to say a few things first, if that’s okay?” He was gentle, with none of the anger from this morning. Bobbi nodded but remained silent.

“I’m sorry I let you fall away from me. I’m sorry that my head was so far up my ass, I didn’t see it coming, or maybe I did and I was just too damn arrogant to think I’d lose you. But I was wrong.” He cleared his throat. “I was wrong about a lot of things. When I’d come to bed and you were turned away from me, I was wrong to let that go. When the silence at dinner got so big, I started eating in my studio, I was wrong to allow that to happen. When you brought up anything to do with a baby and I just ignored it or pushed it aside because at the time it didn’t figure into my plans, that was wrong too.”

The knot in her throat was so big, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get her words out. “I was wrong too, Shane. In how I reacted. And how I grew silent and kept all that anger inside. It’s not all you. It’s me too.”

“I know.” Shane took a step closer. “We’re human, Bobbi. We make mistakes and say the wrong things. We take each other for granted, and we don’t look past tomorrow.” He was in front of her now. Right there. So close she could see the flecks of amber in his dark eyes. “But Bobbi Jo Gallagher, you’ve owned my heart since that first night I saw you. I think you took it with you when you jumped off that damn boathouse, and you never gave it back.”

“Shane,” she managed to whisper, eyes flooded with tears.

He wiped them away. “I love you, and I can understand why you’d think that Jane and I had a thing. You and I weren’t talking much, and I was maybe drinking a little too much, and Jane, well, I’ve known her a long time. So have you. That night she came by to drop off some photos she wanted me to make into paintings. They’re going to be gifts for her husband and her daughter. She’s sick, Bobbi, and things don’t look good. Something to do with her heart, I think. What you saw wasn’t Jane seducing me or anything like that. I was asleep on my sofa in the studio because we’d had an argument the night before, and I was up all night trying to paint you out of my mind. Jane was waking me up when you walked in. That’s all it was. I don’t know of any other way to explain than to keep it as simple as that.”

His thumb was on her mouth, gently tracing the curve of her lips. “I love you, and no other woman will ever interest me.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “That’s it. That’s all I got.” She remained silent, and for the first time, Shane looked uncertain. “Unless you need more. If you do, just tell me what you want—”

She didn’t give him that option. Bobbi had her arms wrapped around him and her mouth pressed against his before he could get out another word. She kissed him until her head spun. Until his hands were on her back and down on her butt, holding her where he felt so good.