In Full Bloom (Second Chances 1)

“Christ,” he complained. “Do you have radar or something?”

“Well,” she demanded.

“She stopped by earlier to ask about a note I left on her door. I’m having a contractor come in and give me a bid on the renovations that I wanted to do originally.”

“And?”

“That was the extent of the communication, detective,” he said, feeling irritation creep up his neck.

She gave a long pause, so he concluded, “Mostly.”

When he sighed, she said, “Evan.”

“I wasn’t very nice. You don’t even have to give me crap about it. I already feel bad. She asked me if I had a minute to talk and I basically closed the door in her face,” he said.

“Evan!”

“I’m just so pissed off about all of it. She slid a note under my goddamned door.”

“Put your anger aside for a minute. What do you want? Do you want her to go?”

Evan ran a hand through his damp hair and said, “Shit. I’ve gotta go, Mom.”

“Love you, baby.”

“Love you, too,” he said as he disconnected the line.

He tossed the phone on the bed, and moved to go get dressed. He had to go talk to Taryn, to hear whatever it was that she had to say. Maybe it would amount to something, or maybe she just wanted some closure.

Not bothering with shoes, he walked across the hall and knocked on her door.

Chapter 19

Taryn blew her nose again as she flipped channels. She’d been crying off and on for the last half hour. She’d fucked things up with Evan royally and it was entirely her own fault. Feeling her eyes begin to water again, she took a deep breath. Her head hurt and crying about it wouldn’t change anything.

She’d let him know she was leaving by sliding a notice to vacate under his door. She hadn’t been trying to break up with him, but that was the way he had taken it. Honestly, what did she really expect, though? He told her that he loved her and she told him she was moving out.

It hadn’t been her finest moment. Even now she couldn’t recall why she ever thought that would be the best way to do it. She had wanted to put some space in between them, maybe take a step back and figure out what she was capable of dealing with.

She was afraid to trust in people. Given her previous experiences, that completely made sense. Everyone that she’d ever loved had left her. Her mother, her father, Betty, Joe. Even after all of this time she still held Cora at arm’s length. She sighed. That was another apology that she needed to make.

Hopefully Cora would speak to her when she called. Cora hadn’t tried to talk to her since they’d had the fight the other night. Taryn felt absolutely gutted. The worst part is that she’d done it to herself.

Her sister was pissed off at her. She’d fucked things up with Evan so irrevocably that he wouldn’t even speak to her. She thought that she’d feel some sort of relief. Not having to wait for the other shoe to drop, but all she felt was an ache in her chest. She’d never been filled with such an intense feeling of loneliness.

She felt another wave of tears come on. This time, she let it. Tomorrow she’d get her shit together and call Cora. Cora was the only family she had. She’d pester her unmercifully until she was forgiven.

Evan was a different story though. She’d never seen such a blank look of disinterest on his face before. She couldn’t force him to listen to her. That would be just selfish. She couldn’t do that to him on top of everything else she had done. He was done with her. That was just something she’d have to live with.

Tears ran unchecked down her face now. She didn’t bother to wipe them. She just headed into the kitchen and grabbed the chocolate ice cream out of the freezer. Grabbing a spoon out of the dish drainer, she pulled the lid off and tossed it on the counter. She settled back down on the couch, wiped the tears off her face and ate the whole damn pint.

Twenty minutes later she felt more calm and vaguely sick to her stomach. There was no sense in staying awake to feel like this. She would take a shower and go to bed. Tomorrow would be better. She hoped, anyway.

As she started to scoop up the tissues from the coffee table, she heard a knock at the door. Taryn’s heart leaped into her throat. She tried valiantly to make herself look at least somewhat presentable, but gave up. She knew she was a mess.

She cleared her throat and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Taryn. Got a minute?” Evan’s voice carried through the door.