Free Dancing in the Dark by Sandra Marton Page B

going....
    “Liar,” he growled, dropping back as the brake lights of Gina’s blue Volvo blinked.
    He’d gone to ask her the question that was still stuck in his craw after all these years. Why? Why had she treated him like dirt when he’d flown to Norway to be with her? Why had the flame that had burned so brightly between them turned to cold ashes? What had happened to all the plans they’d made?
    He’d deserved better than Wendy’s refusal to see him, that cold note of dismissal and the endless silence ever since.
    He’d gone to see her for answers, answers she damn well owed him. Instead, she’d stood on those steps, looking down at him with ice in her eyes, and what had he done about it? Nothing.
    “Nothing,” he said, his jaw tightening.
    Instead, he’d stomped out to his truck and slammed the heel of his hand against the steering wheel with frustration. His cell phone had rung just then and a good thing, too. It was Rod Pommier, phoning to ask if they could meet this afternoon instead of this morning. Yes, Seth had said, that was fine.
    It sure as hell was.
    How could he have talked intelligently about beams and ceilings and rebuilding a chalet when all he wanted to do was go back to the Monroe house, confront Wendy and ask her if she really thought she could screw around with a man’s head and get away with it not once, but twice in a lifetime?
    Just about then, Wendy came down the steps, opened the garage door and drove out in Gina’s Volvo wagon. Without thinking about it, Seth had started his truck, waited until she reached the end of the block, and pulled out after her. He’d been following her ever since while she drove, seemingly without plan. They’d gone through the village, turned onto Route 7, driven north for a while....
    The Volvo’s brake lights winked. The right turn signal went on. She was pulling into the lot at the Burger Barn, a place he hadn’t been in since...was it really that long? Since they’d dated.
    He checked his mirror and turned in after her. She wouldn’t recognize his black pickup, but it was just a little past 11:45, too early for the safe anonymity of the lunch crowd that would start flocking here pretty soon. Seth kept his head averted when he drove past her and parked at the far end of the almost empty lot.
    What now? She didn’t seem to be getting out. Yeah. She was. He saw her door open, saw her step out, shut the door and pull up her hood.
    His heart climbed into his throat.
    The snow had changed to big, lazy flakes that left a white layer on the ground. There could be ice beneath it. He’d watched Wendy in town the other day and seen how she limped. The footing was probably dicey, but he could just imagine her reaction if he suddenly came barreling out of nowhere, grabbed her arm, told her to hang on to him for support.
    He sat still, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened, watching her make her way toward the Barn, his entire body on alert in case he had to throw open the door and race to her side. When she reached the restaurant and went in, Seth let out his breath, cursed himself for being a fool, reached for the key still in the ignition...
    And stopped.
    What was he doing? He’d gone to see her this morning, followed her through half the valley after she’d told him to get lost, and now he was just going to turn around and drive away? The hell he was.
    He wanted closure.
    Nine years before, he’d taken every dime he’d managed to save, sunk it into an airplane ticket and flown straight to Wendy because he’d thought she needed him.
    She hadn’t.
    It had taken him a long time to get his life back together after that. It was a hell of a thing to think a woman loved you and then have her send you a note—a note, damn it—that told you she didn’t.
    Closure, Seth thought, his jaw tightening. He not only wanted it, he deserved it.
    He took the key from the ignition, got out of the truck and strode toward the restaurant. The warm