Cole had gone along with her sister’s wishes and left, left Amelia when he’d asked her to wait for him. Why? If he’d really cared, would he have agreed to just walk away?
Perhaps. If he’d been afraid of his feelings.
Perhaps. If he wasn’t sure of how Amelia felt about him, if he wasn’t sure if she could ever get past the fact that he’d once been engaged to her sister, if he’d felt as confused as she had.
“What?” Suzie asked, eyeing her oddly. “What?”
“I…” She shook her head, wiped her hands down her pants. “I’ve got to find Cole.”
She needed to ask him why he’d come back that night to her dorm. To ask why he’d arranged his assignment on the USS Benjamin Franklin. To ask what he felt for her.
But she knew.
Cole cared for her. He had to. He wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble otherwise. Did he love her? Hope bloomed deep in her soul. He just might.
Suzie winced. “That’s not going to be as easy as you might think.”
“Why not?” Please, don’t let him have already left the ship. Please, no.
Please, don’t let him have left me again.
Suzie hesitated, her olive skin wrinkling into a grimace. “He said his goodbyes this morning and was leaving immediately afterwards.”
“Said his goodbyes?”
“He came by the dental office.” Suzie looked stricken. “He didn’t say goodbye to you? Really? He left without saying a word? After, well, everything?”
Amelia’s heart shattered. She closed her eyes to hold the millions of pieces inside. Although Suzie didn’t know about earlier in the week, she knew some of what had happened between her and Cole.
“Apparently so.” Cole had left her. Again. Knowing they might never see each other, that she’d never forgive him for leaving her a second time, he’d left. If he’d really loved her, could he have done that? Could he really have just walked away without seeing her one last time?
Of course he could. Obviously without even a backward glance.
Very simply, she’d been mistaken. Cole hadn’t loved her. Maybe he had feelings for her, but not enough. Not nearly enough.
She’d been such a naïve, love-sick fool.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” Suzie wrapped her in another hug. “How could he just leave without saying goodbye? I can’t believe he’d do that. I really thought he cared about you.”
“Me, too.” But they’d both been wrong because if Cole cared he wouldn’t have left. Not without saying goodbye. Not knowing how that would devastate her and flash her back to the past.
Back to the first time he’d left her with a broken heart.
“Maybe he had his reasons,” Suzie offered.
“I’m sure he did.” But none that Amelia would ever want to hear. If she had to cut her heart from her chest, she was finished with Cole Stanley.
Finding Cole and Peyton’s room empty didn’t surprise her, only confirmed what she hadn’t really wanted to believe.
Cole had left her without a word.
Amelia’s parents lived a few miles outside the base. Amelia had been surprised her father hadn’t come to see her off the ship. Her mother had picked her up from the naval port, claiming the need to stop by the grocery store prior to going home to pick up something for the Admiral, who’d been indisposed at home.
Amelia had wanted to protest, but had decided to be grateful that her mother seemed too distracted to notice her daughter’s broken heart. She wanted to be home and curl up in the comfort of the familiar and pretend everything was going to be okay even when she felt as if things would never be okay again.
She knew she was being overly dramatic, that time healed all wounds. Even ones the size Cole had left in her chest. But right now it was hard to remember that.
“Amelia?”