Page 109 of Upon an April Night
“Well, it didn’t feel good.”
“I’m so sorry it all went down like that. I hope you can forgive me.”
Disappointment crossed her face, and he reached across the table and took her hand.
“I want to be with you, Jamie. More than anything. Please, tell me we have a chance.”
She stared down at her coffee cup before looking at him again, and he thought he saw sadness there. “Do you want to know what hurt the most, Duncan?” She glanced out the window. “I wasn’t good enough for you, so you found someone who was.”
“That’s not—”
She slipped her hand from his grasp. “Don’t deny it. I know you wanted someone who shared your faith, and I don’t fault you for that. But I felt used, like all the other guys I had ever been with. And I never expected that from you. I never expected that night to happen in the first place, but I never thought you’d blow me off because I wasn’t a Christian. I never thought you’d come home two months later with a fiancée, who was the epitome of the perfect Christian woman. I know that was the farthest thing from who I was and you wanted someone better, and it hurt that I wasn’t enough for you. It still hurts.”
“Jamie, I …”
“And now, what, I’m supposed to drop Max and be with you, just like that? You think because your fiancée dumped you, I want to be your second choice?”
“That’s not what this is.”
“That’s what it feels like. Max is a good man, and he has never judged me for my past. He accepted me and wanted to be part of my life, even though I’m having this baby. When I’m with him, I know I’m the one he wants to be with. But I’ve spent months sitting on the sidelines of Duncan and Dréa’s great love story, and now I’m expected to just fall into your arms and pretend none of that ever happened?”
His mouth went dry, and he couldn’t find the words to say.
After long moments of silence passed, she stood. “I need to get back.”
He nodded, staring at the table in front of them.
She took a few steps then stopped. “Why didn’t you ever share your faith with me, Duncan?”
He turned his head, their eyes meeting.
“We’ve known each other for four years. You could have at least invited me to church or something.” She stood still as if awaiting his reply, and when he didn’t speak, she turned on her heel and headed back to the studio.
His head fell forward into his hands as the door closed behind her and his hopes for a life with Jamie crumbled around him. He had hurt her more deeply than he’d known, and he didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t going to choose him. She was going to choose Max. And he didn’t blame her.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled as a tear slipped down his cheek.
Chapter 42
What are you doing?” Shannon marched across the kitchen and smacked Duncan across the back of the head.
“Hey!” he cried.
Mama and Nana both gasped.
“You’ve been moping around this place for the past five days.”
“Mind your own business,” he snapped.
“It’s true,” Nana said.
“You have,” Mama added.
He gave them both a glare.
Shannon sat down across the table from him, and he could feel her stare, but avoided eye contact and poked at the grilled chicken Mama had made him for lunch.
“Fine. Don’t talk to me. But you’re making a big mistake.”
