Free February Lover by Rebecca Royce Page A

He’d denied her request, leaving her standing there an emotional mess. Of all the things he’d ever done wrong, causing her pain had been the worst. Maybe if Dr. Who ever came to visit him, he could convince the doctor to take him back in time so he could be a little bit gentler to a girl who had done nothing wrong.
    “I did.” She motioned to the other door. “Jump in. I’ll take you to your mama’s.”
    “I think I’ll keep at the pace I’m going. It’s good for the soul.”
    “No.” She tapped her hands on the steering wheel. “You’re delaying the inevitable. You’ll be a sweaty mess when you get there.” She waited a bit, her eyes narrowing. “Unless you’d rather not chat with me.”
    The polite manners of his upbringing kicked in, and he rushed to get around to the other side of the car. Shoving his duffel in the trunk, he took a seat next to Stacey and shut the door.
    She waited a second for him to buckle up before she pulled back into traffic. Cars screeched and honked when she did, indicating one thing about Stacey had not changed. She still couldn’t drive worth a shit. The girl lived in her own world.
    This close to her he could see she didn’t wear a wedding ring, a note he’d file away for later.
    Not that she’d ever sleep with him again. And sometimes people didn’t wear wedding rings.
    His mother would know if she’d wed. Oh hell, he’d gone and gotten way too invested in the question.
    “So, you’re home. I couldn’t believe it when I heard you were on your way. All bets were on you never coming back here.”
    “My mother asked me to return home this year.” And he’d already let her down so many times. How could he say no for a week? Not when he’d left the army only a few weeks before. It wasn’t like he had so many plans made that could keep him away.
    “We were all shocked just the same.” She came to a stop at a light, her brakes squealing when she slammed on them. Stacey always drove like she wanted to cause a wreck. Still, something must be looking out for her because when he’d known her, she never actually hit anything. Just came really close. A lot.
    But what did he know? Maybe she’d smashed up half of New Orleans in the last fifteen years.
    “So. You’re a doctor.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Your mama is so proud of you. We all are. You always wanted to be one.”
    “I am a doctor.” He rubbed his forehead as he wondered if she regretted picking him up. Making small talk with a person who once broke your heart couldn’t be easy. “The army helped me out. Glad to hear everyone is happy about it.”
    He really didn’t know what else to say on the subject. Aidan had spent so much time not thinking about all of them over the past fifteen years, hearing they’d been talking about him was weird.
    “Right.” She pulled over to the side of the road, and he gripped the seat.
    What the hell is she doing?
    Stacey placed the car in park and stared at him. “Look. We’re going to see each other a lot for the next week or so. I don’t want things to be this weird between us every time we get together.”
    “Are they weird?” He took a deep breath. “Look, I guess I shouldn’t pretend they’re not. It’s good we ran into each other. This way I can tell you how sorry I am about what happened fifteen years ago.” He cleared his throat. Never, not once since he’d joined the army, had he been such a bumbling fool. “The way I left, how I left, all of it was very dramatic and awful. The only thing I can say is I was going through a lot of shit at the time and I didn’t know how to behave. I was a kid. We both were. Anyway, I’m really sorry.”
    She reached out and touched his hand. Surprised by the contact, he stared down at her small fingers clasping his own.
    “It’s okay, Aidan. I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago, practically the same day. You had to do what you needed to do. And look at you. It was clearly the right thing for