Free Accidental Heartbreak (The Accidental Series, Book 2) by Tina Martin Page A

offered Shayla some.
    “Oh…my. This is so freakin’ good,” Shayla
exclaimed.
    Donovan smiled at her.
    The sound of seagulls squawking added to the
ambiance of the restaurant. Shayla looked around, noticing the
couples sitting on the deck and walking along the shoreline. This
was a romantic place, somewhere people would come to celebrate
anniversaries or to have fun date nights. Why did he bring her
here?
    Donovan didn’t like the amount of silence
between them so he asked her, “Are you happy that you moved here,
or are you having second thoughts?”
    Shayla’s eyes met his. “Why do you ask?”
    “Well, you seem so sad all the time, like
you don’t want to be here. Either that, or something or someone has
taken all of your happiness away.”
    He was right, but that had happened long
before Carter came in the picture. She couldn’t blame Carter for
everything wrong in her life.
    The waitress set their food on the table,
refilled their water glasses and walked off. They both had fried
fish, oysters and shrimp.
    Shayla took a bite of fish, tasting a blend
of seasonings and freshness.
    Donovan dug in too, eating the oysters
first. “So tell me,” he said looking at her.
    “Tell you what?”
    “What’s taken your happiness away?”
    “It’s a combination of a lot of things,”
Shayla said generally, because she didn’t really want to offload
her personal woes on him.
    “I got all night…don’t have anywhere to be
except right here with you.”
    Shayla took a sip of water. “Donovan, I
really don’t want to talk about it if you don’t mind.”
    He didn’t like it, but he respected it.
“Okay,” he told her and resumed eating.
    A couple of minutes passed. Then five. Ten.
Things were awkwardly silent between the two of them and they just
sat eating, hearing bits and pieces of other people’s conversations
but having none of their own.
    Donovan intentionally wanted this silence
between them, hoping it would rattle her nerves to the point where
she’d want to talk.
    “A lot of things started from childhood,”
she admitted, breaking the silence.
    Donovan smiled. His plan worked.
    “I never knew my Mother,” she continued. “My
Grandmother raised me. Um…my life pretty much was blah until
I met my fiancé. Then he died last year and I lost everything. I
was actually homeless for a while.”
    “Wow.” Donovan wanted to know more. “You
were homeless?”
    “Yeah…don’t know why I’m telling you this
but yes, I was homeless.”
    “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
    “Don’t try to make me feel better,
Donovan.”
    “No, seriously. Like I told you before, we
all have struggles, but we work through and endure. Look at you
now. You have a great job…in good health.”
    Shayla shrugged. “Yeah…I suppose.”
    “So when you told me that you struggled with
not being wanted…”
    “I was talking about my Mother. Then my
fiancé. Nobody wanted me.”
    Donovan frowned. “I thought you said your
fiancé died?”
    “He did.”
    “Then how do you conclude that to mean he
didn’t want you? My wife died and we were very much in love.”
    “Well, um…he didn’t just die. He…um,” she
stammered, watching the puzzled look on Donovan’s face as he waited
for her to say whatever it was that she was hesitant to speak. “He
committed suicide.”
    A look of understanding flashed across his
face. Now he understood why she felt her fiancé didn’t want
her.
    “Sometimes, I just watch people,” Shayla
said. “For example, look at the couples and families out here.
They’re happy. They have the perfect marriages, careers, kids and
probably have very nice homes…just generally happy. I often wonder
why that has never happened for me…why happiness never finds
me.”
    Donovan wiped his mouth. “It does find you.
The thing is, if you’re always comparing your happiness with
someone else’s then you’ll never see it. You won’t even recognize
it’s there.”
    Shayla nodded.
    “What will