Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

Grace nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately. And now you’re pissed off, so... What? You just told him to go away?”

“Um. Kind of. I told him I couldn’t give him another chance.”

“And?”

Eve squirmed. She picked at rough edge of her thumb nail.

“Spill it.”

“I told him we could have one night. That’s it.”

Grace squealed and slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my God,” she gushed past her fingers. “You dirty little slut. You granted him one night in your bed?”

“Not quite like that. And not in my bed. I went to his hotel.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, but just one second.” Grace jumped from her chair and danced around the room with a frantic little step that didn’t seem possible in her clunky black boots. “Oh, my God, I knew it. You look transformed.” She dropped back into the chair. “Was it that good?”

“Oh, God. Grace. I don’t even...” She let her head fall back and stared at the ceiling. “It was so good.” She didn’t realize she’d started crying again until she reached to scratch her temple and her hand came away wet. “It was the best. Another reason to hate him.”

“For making it so good?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

Grace’s smile turned sympathetic. “Shit. I’m sorry. He’s a bastard.”

“He is,” she said, not meaning it. She could hate him, but he wasn’t mean or cruel or a liar. He’d hurt her with complete honesty.

She didn’t want to talk about this anymore, so she cleared her throat and reached out to straighten a vivid blue strand of Grace’s hair. “Will you let me take some shots of you this weekend?”

Grace groaned.

“Come on. I want to get it done before the spring colors start blooming. Your hair will be perfect in a grove of winter aspen. All that black and white and gray. And then you in the center of it.”

Grace tried to shake off her hand. “Fine. Okay. But stop trying to change the topic. Is he leaving?”

“Brian?” she asked.

“Yes,” Grace answered drily. “Unless there’s more than one guy.”

“I don’t think he’s leaving. Not yet.”

“Good. You need to think carefully about this. You can’t throw something like that away. Not even over a broken heart.”

Eve crossed her arms. “I can.”

“Well, you shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

All the hard humor she normally showed fell away from Grace’s face. She met Eve’s gaze and she held it. “Because he makes you want everything, and you deserve that. You’ve earned it, Eve. Everything.”

“I can’t,” she said, shaking her head, but something that had been sleeping inside her seemed to wake and raise its head. Something strong and proud. “I can’t,” she repeated, and that animal inside her growled.

Because...what if she could?

CHAPTER FIVE

BRIAN WALKED ALONG the boardwalk, watching his shadow stretch in front of him. He walked toward Eve. Toward what he wanted.