Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
“Ah… You’re wondering if I was aware what my husband was doing or if I was in on it with him?”
Feeling an unexplainable closeness to Tink’s mother, he really hoped she hadn’t participated in the plan.
“I didn’t. My husband can be impulsive sometimes. Arden may be like me, but she does share that characteristic with her father.” Her gaze didn’t detour away from his when his sharpened.
“When he makes these mistakes, what do you do?”
“Depends on how bad it is. Usually, the mistakes work for the better. Would I have had the opportunity to meet you if Carter hadn’t sent the texts?”
“Probably not.”
“I like having a face to put to the man my daughter has been telling me about. You’re aware Arden is in love with you?”
Doom looked toward a family photo sitting next to her chair.
“Yes, you know.” She gave a soft sigh, drawing his gaze back. “Don’t worry; Arden is very cognizant of the fact you don’t return her feelings. She may have inherited Carter’s impulsiveness, but she did my common sense. Usually, it keeps her from jumping headfirst. I can see why she couldn’t resist you. Unfortunately, my common sense didn’t prevent me from falling in love with Carter. I knew we were too young to get married. The statistics were against us from the get-go, especially with him going into the service and me determined to go to college. I let Carter convince me to marry him. That was before I realized he had a habit of being impulsive.” Soft laughter hit him in the chest, seeing the bittersweet pain in Arden’s mother’s face. “I convinced myself love could conquer all our problems, so I went ahead and married him.”
Doom expected her to say more, so when she went back to working on her crossword puzzle, he didn’t leave.
“Yes?”
“That’s it?”
“What else should I have said? Love did conquer our problems.”
“But…” Doom broke off. If she had dozed off during the part when Arden’s father had talked about cheating on her, he damn sure didn’t want to bring it up.
“Carter cheated on me. Is that what you’re being too polite to say?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t say our marriage hasn’t been without our share of problems, only that we had to work through them.”
“How did you find out?”
She gave him a wry smile. “Most women know. They may lie about it to themselves because it’s too painful to acknowledge, but I’ve never been good at lying to myself. The pain was intangible.”
“Yet, you didn’t leave him,” Doom stated.
“Why? Because he made a mistake? I could tell he was just in as much pain as I was. I think it surprised him how much breaking his vows shook him. I came to the conclusion he punished himself more than I could have guilted him into. I never wanted to marry a man I could put on a pedestal. I wanted a man who stayed through the good and bad times. If I couldn’t stick with him when he had a lapse of judgment, how could I expect the same in return? Marriage is about give and take. At this point in your life, you want to take, but you’re not ready to give your heart.
“Arden is smart enough to recognize that you’re not at the point when you’re ready to settle down. Once you’re gone, her heart will take time to recover, but she will find someone at the same place, at the same time in life, and what she feels for you will turn into a memory that dies as surely as I will.”
The atmosphere in the room became claustrophobic. With a polite goodbye, Doom left, regretting he had ever stepped foot inside the house. He had been prepared for dealing with a protective father, but Tink’s mother had given him the willies. She was as gracious as a lace doily that lulled you into missing the fact that you had a knife pointed at your nuts.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he was determined to wake Train from his nap and put Ohio in the dust. He didn’t need or want a going away party. Planning to stay until the church meeting was over to discuss whether Tink, Puck, and Buck had lied made it feel like he was one snare away from never leaving.
He got on his motorcycle and started zipping up his jacket but stopped when the zipper became entangled with the necklace. He untangled the cord, and the words hit hard, as if someone had piledriven him from behind. Tucking the necklace under his T-shirt, he finished zipping his jacket.
Andy’s gift couldn’t have come at a better time. It only served to reinforce what he already knew.
To Thine Own Self Be True.
Doom was going to do exactly that.
CHAPTER 56
THE SWITCH
Arden stood nervously in front of the stern-faced members of The Last Riders. Afraid any nervous movement would be a dead giveaway to her guilt, she remained motionless.