Stay with him? What was he asking?
Tears threatened to rain down, flooding Jennifer's heart, drowning her in deeply embedded sorrow. "Asking me if I want kids isn't the kind of question a man asks a fling."
Kids were the one thing she'd never have.
"I'm asking you to stay because you're more than a fling."
She took a deep breath. "No, Garrett, I'm not."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" His brows furrowed angrily.
"As soon as my mother can look after herself, I'll return to Madison."
He pulled back. "You're really going to leave? Just like that? As if we never happened?"
"I don't understand. You've known that's what would happen all along. Nothing could convince me to move back to Huntsville."
Hadn't she only earlier today run into one of Jeff's cousins? Did she know that Jeff's new wife had given birth to their second child? A perfect little girl to go with the perfect son Jeff had conceived while still married to Jennifer. Did she know what a great mother Jeff's new wife was?
"I like my life," she assured. Sharp pain zig-zagged across her chest. "I'm a career girl."
Maybe if she said it often enough she'd seal the cracks in her heart.
According to the OB-GYN who'd delivered Carrie, Jennifer had as much chance of getting pregnant again as she did of winning the lottery. Until Garrett she hadn't even been buying tickets.
Jennifer was so caught up in her own misery, she didn't notice how stiff Garrett had gone. Not until she saw the disappointment in his eyes.
Hating the tension, she touched his cheek.
He flexed his jaw beneath her fingers. "You don't want children? To someday have a family?"
Her heart shattered into a thousand pieces. Unable to speak, she shook her head, eyes closed, chest gaping. "Medicine is my life."
***
Garrett should go. Jennifer didn't want children.
He had two.
Not that she'd said she'd stay. She'd said nothing could convince her to stay in Huntsville.
That included him.
He blew out a long breath.
He needed to go home.
He wanted to be a family with his boys. To see them laughing and smiling like the rambunctious four-year-olds they were.
That's where he should have been the past week. Not burning up the bed sheets with a woman who planned to leave and never look back.
"Garrett, this is crazy." Jennifer rolled on top of him, staring down. "You're acting as if you wanted more than an affair."
He did. Lots more. But what was the point in telling Jennifer? She'd made her views clear. He was someone to pass the time with while she was in Huntsville. Nothing more. She'd go home and forget about him.
He'd find someone who'd be a good mother to his boys, a good wife to him, and he'd forget about the woman who set him on fire.
At least, he hoped he'd forget Jennifer. No way did he want to measure every woman to the standard she'd set.
It wasn't just sex.
He liked her. Really, really liked her. She made him smile, made him feel alive.
"Garrett?"
"I know you're leaving." He smiled up at her, knowing he should end things. Knowing he couldn't. "But we still have a few weeks before you go."
No comments:
Post a Comment