Free Unlucky in Love by Maggie McGinnis Page B

paradise. But once school lets out, get
off
the roads. It’s bumper-to-bumper insanity.”
    “That’s it? The tourists?”
    He had no idea why he was pushing for a different answer, like he didn’t believe the first one. Except that he didn’t. He didn’t even know why.
    She sighed, looking over his shoulder at what he assumed must be a gaggle of toddlers in the park across the street, given the noise. He watched emotions fly across her face, like she was trying to decide whether to say anything more.
    “I’m not…not just running from the tourists.”
    “Figured.” He sat back, sipping his coffee like he could care less who she was running from. “You on the lam? Witness protection? Ex-boyfriend with a grudge?”
    She laughed shortly. “Ex-fiancé, actually. With a sudden desire not to be married.”
    “Oh.” He sat forward. “Well, that sucks.”
    Jesus. She’d been
engaged
?
    “Yeah.” She forced a smile. “It definitely does.”
    “Is he back in Maine?”
    She shrugged. “I’m really not sure. He didn’t think—I guess he decided it wasn’t important for me to know.”
    “Wow.” Gunnar shook his head. “I’m sorry…which seems like a really lame thing to say, considering the circumstances.”
    Lexi took a deep breath, and he could practically feel the pain vibrating from her body as she let it out slowly.
    “Thank you.”
    “What happened, if it’s not too personal a question?”
    He shook his head.
Shut the hell up, Gunnar. Of course it’s too personal a question.
    “I think…I don’t know. He wants a bigger life, I guess maybe you could call it. He wants someone who’ll sparkle at his fundraisers, someone who’s always wanted to hike into the rainforest in Belize, someone who thinks it’d be fun to skydive.”
    “And that’s not you?”
    She shook her head firmly, then seemed to be trying to stop herself from doing so. “It’s not me…yet.”
    Gunnar tipped his head, strange alarms pinging in his gut. “What do you mean,
yet
?”
    She sipped her coffee, looking like she was a million miles away. Finally, she put down her mug, like she’d made a decision. “Okay, I’m only telling you this because it already seems clear I might need some help, but…I’m actually out here on a mission.”
    “A mission.” He nodded, but the alarms just increased in volume. “What
kind
of mission?”
    “One that helps me get Tristan back.” She let the words drop like she wasn’t really sure she’d meant to say them, but he felt like they weighed an absolute ton, anyway.
    “Tristan, the fleeing fiancé?”
    “He didn’t really…flee. He just wasn’t ready.”
    Gunnar felt his eyes narrow. “But you don’t even know where he is.”
    “Well, no, but—” She broke off. “I know how it sounds.”
    He took a long breath. No, she didn’t know how it sounded. At all. “So what’s your plan? How are you aiming to have Tristan begging at your feet?”
    “That’s the part I need help with.”
    Oh. Great.
    Gunnar put up one finger. “Question. Why would you
want
him back?”
    “Because it’s my fault he left. He wants bold, courageous, adventurous, you know? The kind of woman who can just embrace new things, go with the flow, live in the present, find the bliss. You know.”
    “And you’re thinking you can just…become that?”
    “I know it sounds a little ridiculous, maybe. But yes. I mean, why not? People change. I’m determined to figure out how to be—you know—all of those things.”
    “So you can get Tristan back.”
    “Bingo.” She smiled. “I want to be…different.”
    He swallowed. He’d only known Lexi for twenty-four hours, and even
he
could tell that Tristan-the-Idiot didn’t deserve her, if he’d ever given her up in the first place.
    “So…your plan to be
different
is what?”
    “I haven’t quite worked that part out yet. I was kind of hoping the horse thing might have gone better this morning, for a start.”
    “Because that would have