veiled excuse to see her, but he didn’t much care at this point. She’d dodged him twice, and while he probably deserved it, he’d been hurt that she’d broken her promise to stick around at the coffee shop. He was preparing what to say to her as he drove, speaking the words aloud to the silence of his rental car.
“Rory, I know I don’t deserve it, but I would appreciate it if you could respect the relationship we had enough to hear me out.”
He cringed, considering how she’d respond to that little speech. It wasn’t as if he’d exhibited a lot of respect for their relationship when he’d dumped her. He drew a breath and tried again.
“It would mean a lot to me if you’d just listen to what I have to say.”
No better. He didn’t think she was much interested in what would mean a lot to him.
He cleared his throat and considered how to rephrase his request, then stopped as he noted a lone figure, striding briskly down the sidewalk ahead. He’d know those stiff shoulders anywhere. He accelerated a few feet ahead and slid the car into an empty space on the street. He killed the engine and exited the driver’s side just as Rory came abreast of the truck. She took one look at him and her jaw went slack.
“You followed me?”
“Hardly. You didn’t give me much of a chance to follow you anywhere after you bailed back at the Lighthouse.” He tried to keep his tone even, but a note of accusation still leaked through. “You promised you’d stay.”
She shifted from one foot to the other, and he recognized guilt in her expression. “I did stay,” she protested. “I stayed for your entire performance. Although if I’d known you planned to ambush me into taking the stage with you—”
“Which was not so different from what you did to me,” he pointed out. He had her there, and he could tell she knew it, too, by the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Her shoulders remained set, however.
“Rory, can we please talk?”
“You mean can you talk? I don’t imagine I’ll have much to say. And even if I did, it’s not as if you asked my opinion the last time we talked.”
He grimaced. Okay, so she was still hurt. Not that he could blame her, but maybe it had been a touch of arrogance on his part to assume she’d welcome him back, if not exactly warmly, then at least not with this degree of vehemence.
He glanced down the street. “Look, your apartment is only a few blocks from here. Let me drive you home. I’ll talk on the way. If you don’t like anything I have to say by the time we reach your place...” He drew a breath, afraid to gamble away his chance but knowing he couldn’t exactly keep showing up where he wasn’t wanted. “Then I’ll leave you alone. For good. Deal?”
She didn’t answer him right away but scuffed her heels on the pavement as she considered. After a long minute, during which he was pretty sure he’d held his breath for the entire sixty seconds, she nodded.
“Fine. Just until we reach the apartment.”
He should have felt relief, but he only experienced a wave of apprehension. He had less than five minutes to convince her.
He would have to talk fast.
“FIRST OF ALL, I apologize for the way I treated you.”
Rory had to admit, it was a good place for him to start. She kept her arms crossed over her midsection and looked out the window as he drove. It felt as if the vehicle was moving well under the speed limit, but she decided not to push him about it. She’d agreed to hear him out, so she might as well let him talk. She was determined that nothing he said would change her mind anyway.
“The way I left you was wrong. I wish I had never have broken things off the way I did. We should have at least talked. You deserved the chance to be heard. And I regret that I didn’t give you that. You can’t know how much.”
She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. He paused as though waiting for a response from her.
“Keep talking.” It was the most encouragement she was prepared to give. Besides, it felt good to hear him admit he was wrong. She never thought he would.
“It was a dream come true for me—which doesn’t excuse what I did,” he added as she stiffened again. “I was so distracted by the opportunity that I didn’t consider what I was giving up in exchange.”
She frowned. “What was it you were giving up?” She asked the question so softly that she thought he might not hear her. But he did.
“You. And everything you are to me. More than just my girlfriend, but my soul mate. The person who’s always been there, the one I wanted to protect and cherish for the rest of my life.”
The words caused her heart to catch in her throat as tears threatened. She’d dreamed of hearing him say these things. But it had been too long. “It’s been almost two years, Sawyer. Why didn’t you come back before this? You never called. Not so much as a text or email to see how I was doing.”
“I know. At first, I thought a clean break was better, that it would only make things worse if I got in touch. And I admit, there was so much going on that it was easy not to think about it. But you have to know that even in the midst of this whole new life I was experiencing, you were still in the background of my every thought. Before I could stop it, I’d often find myself wondering, ‘What would Rory think of that?’ Or ‘I can’t wait to tell Rory about this.’ That should have been my first clue that I’d made a horrible mistake in giving you up.”
“I’m sure the recording deal and fan base made up for it.” She didn’t mean to sound so bitter. When had she let her emotions become so ugly?
“Those things distracted me from what I was feeling, but they didn’t make up for it. And like I said, there were so many new experiences for me that when I did begin to miss you, I could force it to the back of my mind.”
She wanted to make some sarcastic remark like “out of sight, out of mind” or “glad to know I’m so easily forgotten.” But she knew that wasn’t what he meant, and it wasn’t fair to mock him when she sensed he was being sincere.
“I’ve been lonely without you,” he went on.
She couldn’t help herself this time. She scoffed.
“I’m serious.” He turned his head in her direction. “There’s always someone around, it’s true. I have fans and my band, makeup artists and stylists, executives and management teams, collaborators and fellow musicians. I’m surrounded by people almost twenty-four-seven.” He blew out a breath. “But none of them really know me. Not like you do.”
“Not like I did,” she replied. “I don’t know you anymore, Sawyer.”
“But you do. I haven’t changed so much. I’m still Sawyer Landry, deep on the inside.”
“Except now you’ve got millions of fans the world over, and your face is instantly recognizable wherever you go. And don’t forget the house in Nashville and your ranch in Texas. And that starlet you were dating for a while...what was her name?”
He held up a hand to stem the tide of facts, which she knew sounded more like accusations than observations. “Okay, okay. So life is different for me. My situation is different. But I’m still Sawyer Landry, son of Ford and Olivia Landry. Brother to Chase, best friend to Gavin...and if I had my way, boyfriend to Rory Callahan.”
He fell silent after that last part. She had the feeling he hadn’t meant to speak that possibility aloud. Probably because he didn’t want to scare her off. But she wasn’t scared. In fact, him speaking those words gave her a tiny thrill of hope—hope that part of her wanted to smother. But even if she did, she knew it would just resurface.
“How