Free You Can't Hurry Love by Beth K. Vogt Page A

combat . . .”
    â€œWow.”
    â€œThinking about all of that scared me. I didn’t think I could do it.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you talk to me?”
    â€œI didn’t know how.” Her gaze met his for a moment, a shadow darkening them. “And then there was something else I’d have to tell you . . .”
    â€œWhat else, Elisabeth?”
    â€œThere was this guy in my classes. We kept running into each other. He was funny and smart . . . and he asked me out a couple of times. I told him I had a boyfriend.”
    â€œBut that didn’t matter, did it?”
    â€œHe said he understood. That he’d respect my relationship with you. That we’d be just friends, but . . . something happened and one night he kissed me. I didn’t stop him, Jamie. I should have, but I didn’t.”
    Something hot seemed to seep into his veins, catching him off-guard and heating his words. “So you were dating this guy while I was at the Academy?”
    â€œNo!” Elisabeth reached across the table and then pulled her hand back. “No. It was just that one kiss . . . but that was bad enough. I couldn’t tell you what I’d done . . . even if it happened because I was lonely and I just transferred my feelings for you onto him. And I couldn’t tell you that I wasn’t sure I could be the kind of wife you needed . . . I was just so confused.”
    â€œSo you wrote me a letter.”
    â€œIt seemed like the best thing to do.”
    â€œYou mean it was the easiest thing for you to do.”
    â€¢ • •
    Jamie’s words were ground out, guttural, his jaw tight. He was looking right at her, but it was almost as if he didn’t recognize her.
    This was exactly what she’d been so afraid of all those years ago. His anger . . . that was a shield for his hurt.
    Elisabeth wasn’t going to argue with Jamie. She’d taken this opportunity to explain her actions seven years ago—not to defend them.
    â€œI’m not saying it was the right thing to do. I know it wasn’t. I was young. Immature. I’m talking to you now because I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”
    Jamie took a gulp of his coffee, staring past her.
    â€œDid you hear what I said? I’m sorry.”
    â€œOf all the things I imagined back then, I never thought there was another guy.”
    â€œThere wasn’t another guy—”
    â€œYou let another guy kiss you, Elisabeth. You must have given him some sort of hint that you were okay with that. My roommate and some of the other guys in the squadron told me that was what was going on—that you were dating another guy.” Jamie shoved his chair back from the table, jostling the empty chair behind him. “And I defended you. I said no way. That I knew you and they didn’t. And that even if I didn’t know why you wrote the letter I knew you wouldn’t cheat on me.”
    The air seemed to be disintegrating between them. She grasped for words to rebuild the comfortableness they’d rediscovered over the weekend, but Jamie’s hard stare silenced her.
    This verbal act of contrition had been a mistake.
    â€œYou want to know what’s funny? I thought maybe you and I could reconnect after all these years. That maybe God was in this random meeting. Could he be giving us the opportunity of a second chance?” His brief laugh lashed out across the table. “I guess he was just letting me know that the end of our relationship—no matter how painful—was the right thing.”
    â€œJamie, I’m not that girl anymore—”
    â€œReally? I’m supposed to believe that?” He stood, tossing a couple of crumpled dollar bills on the table. “I’ve got to pack. Have a safe drive back home.”
    Elisabeth stood, too. “Can’t we talk about this?”
    â€œThere’s