She frowned, watching as he went back to the door and outside. She went to the bank of windows and closed the drapes just in case, finishing the act as Elias reappeared with a plastic bin that looked to be loaded with food stuffs, and a large cooler on wheels, rolling both inside and turning to lock the door behind him before bringing them to the kitchen as well.
Still more than a bit confused, she glanced down at the medium-sized duffle in her arms that was squishy enough to reveal it to be clothing and frowned at the large duffle and box and cooler Elias currently opened and began to unpack. “Um…need some help?”
“No, I’ve got it. It’s late, and you’ve had quite the day. Go on and head to bed. Both bedrooms are supposed to have their own bathroom, so pick whichever one you want. After I unload this, I need to text Cole.”
She didn’t move, couldn’t when she thought of Cole and Ana and—Rhys.
“Something wrong?” Elias paused briefly in his unloading and unpacking to shoot her a long stare.
By now he had to be tired of her drama, so she said, “You have a lot of food. More food than clothes.” She waved a hand at the duffle she’d set on the couch. “I take it you like to cook?”
He glanced around at what he’d done so far and shrugged. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Realization dawned, and she frowned. “Are yousureyou’re not expecting someone to join you?”
He blinked once before opening an upper cabin to shove boxes inside. “I burn a lot of calories, so I eat a lot. You’re fine to stay here for the night.”
So maybe she hadn’t barged in on a hookup, but his words gave her pause because why wouldn’t he? He was a healthy, very attractive man in his prime and alone on vacation. The odds were forever in his favor. “I…I need to call Rhys. I think. I can’t put it off any longer. But to be honest, I’m not sure what to say other than I’m sorry. I wonder if he’ll even take my call. Not that I have a way of calling him,” she rambled as she tended to do when trying to sort something out in her head. She’d always been a talk-it-out kind of person, even if she was alone with the one plant she hadn’t managed to kill yet. “If I use a landline…his people will be here the moment they’re able.”
Elias paused again and then walked over to where she stood, his gaze shifting to the bags of food stuffs still in her hands. He took hold of them and carried them to the kitchen island, digging into the heaviest one she hadn’t explored beyond grabbing the package of Oreos and chips, and pulling something out before handing it over to her. “It’s a burner. Prepaid. That’s what took so long at the gas station. I figured you’d want something to use and wouldn’t want my name showing up whenever you contacted someone.”
She wouldn’t want it—or he wouldn’t? Either way, same thing, right? “That’s— Thank you. I’ll repay you for this and a night’s stay here at the cabin, the gas, all of it, as soon as I get back.”
“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a…nonwedding present,” he said with a handsome quirk to the corners of his otherwise eternally serious expression. The man had uptight and stony down to a science. What would he look like letting loose? A small, feminine part of her really wanted to know just out of curiosity.
She sank her teeth into her lower lip and squeezed hard and then reminded herself of the calls she needed to make.
Was she ready to make them? What would she say? Whatcouldshe say?
“Quinley, the calls can wait until you’ve gotten some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough.”
Was it though? She blinked up at him and nodded, shrugging. “I know, it’s just… I hurt a lot of people today. I don’t deserve to be let off the hook that easily.”
“You made a decision that was right for you. That’s all they need to know.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how to make things right again. I don’t know that I canevermake things better.”
He moved back behind the island into the kitchen area and continued putting stuff away.
“Maybe you can’t. Right for you might not be right for someone else. Probably won’t be,” he stated firmly. “But do you regret not getting married?”
She gave the question the serious consideration it deserved, and her stomach pinched, torn with awareness and sadness, even heartbreak. “No, but it’s complicated,” she said softly, firmly, knowing that at least. “I care for Rhys, but I made the right decision, even if…even if my ways of going about it suck and I handled things badly.”
“My opinion, for what it’s worth, is if you know that for certain, then everything else can be figured out based on that. But it doesn’t have to be done tonight.”
She clutched the phone in her hand and then stared around the room. “I know I should be tired, and I am but— Do you mind if I turn on the television?”
He stilled in the act of puttingpoundsof chicken and steak in the fridge and freezer from the cooler layered with dry ice. Apparently the man knew how best to keep things frozen while he filled in as a limo driver. Talk about planning ahead.
Up next were frozen vegetables, packed just as well and still frozen solid.
“Do whatever you like. But I’d steer clear of junk TV stations and the news if I were you.”
Because how much of the fallout did she want to see?
He had a point, but maybe sheneededto know what was being said considering she’d have to make a statement that would combat the gossip and address the situation.
Sighing, she moved around the large couch and found the remote, standing off to the side as she clicked the television on only to find it on a Hollywood gossip channel showing video of her and Rhys on his yacht in the Caribbean from last year. He’d taken her for her birthday.
