She grabbed her clutch off the table, but she didn’t stand. “You think I hate myself enough to let you torture me. I can’t for a moment imagine what this is like for you, but if you think I’m so self-destructive that I’d let you destroy me, keep this in mind. I made a promise to my father too, and unlike you, I intend to keep mine.” She stood then, still holding his eyes harshly, and when she finally turned from the table, it was right into his parents, who had magically appeared at the side of their table. “Oh! Oh. . .”
“Bailey.” His mom’s voice was shocked and shaky.
“Mrs. Cory.” He’d never in his life heard her call his mom Mrs. Cory. “I . . . I have to go. I’m sorry. I just. . .” She turned and bolted quickly for the door as they watched her leave. He also watched as she opened the back of his SUV and grabbed her bike, flashing one last look toward the restaurant before she pedaled off.
When his parents’ attention shifted back to Darren, they were glaring. They scooted into the side of the booth Bailey had just vacated, and the glare was held on him. “What was that all about?” His father’s brow was flinched in a harsh line.
“Well, it was supposed to be dinner, but things got . . . strained.”
“And you’re having dinner with Bailey why?”
“And here I thought you’d be happy I was trying to cope with her.”
“If I thought you were doing it for the right reasons—”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Mom?” She was passing judgment she had every right to pass. She’d witnessed his spiral into anger over the past years, and she didn’t trust his intentions with Bailey.
“You didn’t tell us you were spending time with her.”
“I also didn’t tell you I was employing her just so I could get her to stay in Savoy rather than following her mom to Memphis, because I thought I was going to lose my mind when I found out she was planning to move there.” The admission came out in an emotional and angry rush, and his mom gasped. “I didn’t want her to leave.” He looked at his parents, whose expressions were now completely concerned, not to mention confused. “I’m also not sure I can deal with her here.”
His mom put her hand on top of his, and they said nothing. He said nothing, either, and he stared at the tabletop. Sally showed up to take their orders, and they sent her away empty-handed, him still just staring at the tabletop.
“Darren, how do you feel about her?” His mother again.
He sat silently for a long time, trying to figure that one out. “Six years ago. . .” He looked out the window, not sure this was a conversation he wanted to have with his parents. He finally shook his head and looked back to them, deciding to hold his tongue. He wasn’t willing to lay his heart on the table in front of them right now. He shrugged. “We were friends once. And now. . .” He shrugged again. What he wasn’t saying was how in love with her he’d been six years ago—how obsessed. Of course, he’d never told anyone that.
“We know that. But why do you want her here—”
“I don’t know.” He was lying, or at the very least he wasn’t being completely honest.
It was silent for a while, and when Sally arrived again, they managed to order their dinner that time.
“What are your intentions with Bailey?” His mother was all business now.
He shrugged.
“You need to figure it out.” He was a child being chastised again, but they were right. “And if you can’t treat her with respect and move past this thing, really move past this, then you need to let her move on with her life.” Her words hit like a fist to his gut, and his breath left him in a rush at nothing more than the thought alone. Panic was welling up inside him again, and he could barely take a breath. All he could do was nod.
Their dinner was utterly silent. The dinner crowd hadn’t stopped looking at him, but he ignored it. He was used to the attention, and he was too busy thinking about Bailey to care if the fine folks of Savoy wanted to study him. He said good-bye to his parents after dinner and drove home. His house still smelled of smoke, and she’d completely destroyed a casserole dish with her disastrous dinner. He smiled as he gave up and chucked the whole dish into the garbage.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Six Months Before
“She’s getting out in a couple months, Darren.” His parents were sitting across from him at the restaurant table. It was their Sunday dinner, but this wasn’t what he’d expected to hear them say.
“What happened to ten years?”
“Out early for good behavior. We assumed this would happen. It’s not really a surprise.”
“Is she coming back here?”
His dad shrugged. “I don’t know. Her mother is all she has left, and she still lives here, so I would assume so.”
“I wish she would just stay away forever,” he muttered as he set his fork down.
“Well, there’s a good chance she won’t. And that means there’s a good chance you’re going to run into her at some point. You’ve struggled with your anger toward her—”
“I’ve struggled with a lot of things, but my hatred for Bailey isn’t one of them. I hate her. It’s really pretty simple.”
“You two were friends. That comes with a lot of baggage in a situation like this.”
Friends with Bailey. Yeah. She’d been everything to him, inappropriate or not. Her friendship had meant more to him than just about anything. But there wasn’t a chance in hell of reclaiming that. Not the friendship, not the desire, not his feelings for her. He wasn’t conflicted in the least. He just plain hated her, and he hoped she knew just how much.
“As long as she stays away from me, we’ll be just fine. I have no interest in seeing her. She’s nothing to me anymore.”
“You sure about that?” His mother was being incessant. Hell yes, he was sure.
He was finally at a place where he could tolerate his life. He was in his own home at last. It was peaceful, and he could escape there and ignore the world. He was busy at the hospital, but it was a far cry more manageable than the time constraints of residency. He was at a point where his life was finally not a painful chaotic thing that felt like it was two seconds from unhinging and throwing him into a tailspin. Sure, he was still angry. He focused on it far more than he ought to, but it wasn’t all-consuming anymore. There were even times when he felt like the man he’d been before his sister’s death. He thought about his future—a real future with a wife and children someday. A real life. Maybe real happiness too. He was close, and there was no chance in hell she was going to fuck that up for him. He’d fought through the past few years of his life, and that was her fault. He wasn’t going to fall apart again.
Bailey Trent was nothing but a bad memory, and he wasn’t going to see that memory take him down now.
“Yes, Mom. I’m sure. Bailey’s nothing to me.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Now
She’d avoided him for the last week by showing up after he left in the morning and leaving before he came home at night, but it became impossible when the hospital was down a doctor.
“Hi.” She hadn’t heard his voice since their almost-dinner at Harry and Sally’s the previous Wednesday.
She’d instantly gone home and called Michelle, who showed up at her door less than fifteen minutes later. “So, I’ve said nothing about the fact that you accepted a job offer from the man, but this? Bailey, what the hell?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”