But he also realized he had no choice.
He’d meant it when he’d said he’d protect her. Even though he never realized he’d have to protect her from himself.
He got out of bed before dawn, showered and went down the hall to Conner’s room. He got his son out of bed and dressed and then left a note for Gabi on her pillow in her room.
He got in his car and drove with no destination in mind. Conner was quiet in the backseat, not sure what was going on, and for once Kingsley knew he had no answers for his son. He only knew that he couldn’t tell Gabi goodbye in person.
* * *
Gabi woke up alone in Kingsley’s bed and knew before she got down to her own room and found the note on her pillow that he was gone. He’d said goodbye to her without words last night. She left the note on her pillow and went to take a shower.
He was letting her go. She had to be honest: she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
Hell, she thought as the hot water pounded down on her, she knew she wasn’t ready. She’d spent the last month and a half falling in love with Kingsley. He was complicated and stubborn and way too fixated on the past, but she’d been confident she could change him.
Fix him.
Dammit.
She turned off the shower and toweled herself dry. She got dressed in a pair of linen pants and a long tunic shirt before blow-drying her hair. She took time with her makeup because focusing on that made her feel as though she was busy. But her mind just kept circling around and around.
He had rejected her again.
This time it hurt far worse, because she knew it was final. And she had loved him as a woman, not with the first crush of infatuation as she had before.
She took as long as she could in the bathroom and finally went to sit on her bed and opened up his note.
His handwriting was scrawling and masculine. She ran her fingers over it without really reading the words. Just putting off the inevitable a few moments longer.
Finally, she settled in and read.
Gabi,
Thank you for all you have done for Conner. You truly deserve all the accolades you’ve received from parenting blogs and magazines. But then I’m not surprised, since the woman I knew had a kind heart and a happy smile. I’m so glad to see you haven’t lost those.
Our time together, as lovers, healed wounds I didn’t know I had from the past. I thought that we had said everything we needed to that day at the jail, but I realize now that we hadn’t.
Saying goodbye is hard. Harder than anything I’ve done before, and so I took the coward’s way out and put my words here in this letter.
You were right when you said there was no way to put aside the past and not have it affect my future. And I see now there is no way to protect you, either. Well, there is one way, and I’m doing that now.
Please take good care of yourself and know I wish you only the best.
Kingsley
That bastard.
He was leaving like this to avoid...what? Her? The truth of the emotions between the two of them?
She wouldn’t let him do that. If he wanted to dump her, he was going to have to do it to her face. None of this leaving a note.
She grabbed her purse and walked through the house, finding Mrs. Tillman in the kitchen drinking coffee and playing that game on her phone she loved.
“Have you seen Kingsley?”
“No. He was gone when I arrived,” Mrs. Tillman said.
“I’m going out, but I will be back later. When he comes back, would you mind asking him to call me?”
“Not at all, Gabi,” Mrs. Tillman said.
She got out to her car and dialed Hunter’s number and got his voice mail. “It’s Gabi. I’m looking for Kingsley. Can you call me?”
Then she drove to her office in Carmel. Abby was sitting at Melissa’s old desk and smiled when Gabi walked in. Melissa had moved into an office now that she was assistant manager. Gabi went down the hall to her own office and pretended that it was a normal day. She wrote her column. But she was distracted. Where was he?
Did he really just think she would walk away without talking to him?
Her intercom buzzed.
“Yes, Abby?”
“Mr. Ortiz and Mrs. O’Malley are here to see you.”
The county commissioners? She was surprised. Though she had expected a response to the email she’d sent them.
“Send them down.”
A moment later her door opened and she stood to greet her visitors.
“Hello. What can I do for you today?” Gabi asked, gesturing for them to take a seat in the guest chairs in front of her desk.