She sighed. He wasn’t like a stranger. He was a stranger.
Beth made small talk after that, with Matt adding the odd comment when he was directly asked. Dani shifted in her seat. She wasn’t uncomfortable; there were no bad feelings between them. Mainly because there was nothing between them at all. But she also realized that she didn’t feel too bad about that. Maybe deep inside, she’d felt a lingering guilt that she hadn’t tried harder. Now that dissipated, leaving a sense of lightness.
She was glad she’d come here. Glad she’d seen him. Now she wanted to go. She put her half-empty cup down on the table.
“So how long are you in town, Dani?” Beth asked brightly.
She’d made no plans, hadn’t looked past this meeting. She needed time to process this, see where to go next. “I’m not sure. Probably just tonight.”
“Do you want to stay here? Spend some time…”
Reminiscing about the old days…? She didn’t think so.
“No, thank you. I’ve already booked a hotel.” She rose to her feet, wiped her palms down her pants legs. “You’re a nice lady,” she said. “And Matt’s a lucky man.” She could have added that he didn’t deserve her, but why be bitchy?
“Well, now you’ve broken the ice, keep in touch, won’t you?”
Would she? She didn’t know right now. But she nodded and headed out. To her surprise, Matt rose to his feet and followed her. At the front door, she stopped and turned to face him. He drew himself up. He was going to say something. Did she want to hear it?
“I never blamed you,” he said. “I just didn’t know how to cope. And I let you down.”
“Yeah.”
His eyes widened, and he jerked back a step. He obviously hadn’t expected her to be so blunt.
“But it looks like we both came through okay,” she added. “So don’t worry about it.”
Well, he’d come through okay. She was guessing once she’d been out of sight and in the army, he’d been able to start forgetting and build a new life. Good for him. She didn’t resent it.
She just wasn’t sure that she’d done as good a job.
On an impulse, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Be happy,” she said and walked out.
Maybe she’d get a Christmas card this year.
As the door closed behind her, she glanced back once, then walked away. That part of her life was over, but it no longer had the power to hurt her and the feeling was liberating. Zach had given her that. If she had gone to visit her father before going to Spain and meeting Zach, the outcome of this meeting would have been totally different. She would have been devastated, broken all over again by her father’s obvious lack of any real feeling for her.
Now she was free to move on. But to where?
On the way back to the hotel, she ducked into a liquor store and bought a half bottle of scotch. Once back in her room, she made a quick call to Jess—found out Zach was fine and he’d already left the country. She ended the conversation before Jess could ask anything personal, then switched off her phone and spent the evening getting drunk, watching crappy movies, and not thinking about anything.
She slept the night through and woke up in the morning, reaching for Zach.
…
“You’re an ass. You know that, don’t you?”
Dani rolled over on her lounger and squinted into the sunlight. Jess stood at the edge of the pool, staring down at her, lips tight with disapproval.
“Why?”
“Because we all presumed you’d gone to find Zach and instead you’re lying around here looking absolutely”—she gave Dani a searching glance—“fantastic.”
Dani glanced down at herself. She was wearing a bright pink bikini, which matched the pink sun lounger and clashed beautifully with her hair. Her tan was golden and the scar had faded. Her hair was piled on top of her head.
“Did you get your ears pierced?” Jess asked.
She nodded.
“I expected to find you wallowing in misery.” Jess shook her head in obvious confusion. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
She sounded so forlorn that Dani grinned. “Why don’t you go put your bikini on and join me?” She patted the lounger next to hers. “There’s room for two.”
“I didn’t bring a bikini. I wasn’t expecting a goddamn vacation. I was on a rescue mission.”
“Well, there are plenty in the pool house. Go pick one. I’ll make a drink, and we can talk.”
Jess opened her mouth, no doubt to argue, then she nodded abruptly, turned, and stalked away.
Dani got to her feet and headed into the house. In the kitchen, she made a jug of sangria, adding oranges and lemons and a sprig of mint and then stuck a paper umbrella in the top.
She’d been here for a week now, and in that time, she’d left her cell phone switched off, and she’d ignored the house phone when it rang at regular intervals.
She’d known when she woke up the morning after meeting her father that she would go after Zach. She wasn’t a coward, after all. But she’d still been pissed off with him and needed to cool down before she forgave him totally. So she’d come back here to sort out flying Angel and Spike home to the U.K. and to pick up Skip. But the Dobermans were already on their way home—Gary had arranged it. And Skip was gone—whisked away to a life of luxury in L.A.
Part of her had hoped she would meet Zach here, but he’d come and gone. Jake had lent him the private plane, though Zach had stopped off on his way to the States, making a detour to pick up the little dog—Dani would have loved him for that alone if she hadn’t already loved him.
In the end, she’d decided to stay here for a while. Give herself some time and space. Something she’d never had before.
Zach had apparently told Gary and Simon to make use of the villa if they wanted a vacation before heading back to the U.K., but they’d both wanted to get home. She’d asked them not to tell anyone where she was—and as they were both going on leave, she doubted anyone would ask.
It had seemed strange at first being alone—you didn’t get much alone time in the army. But then she’d relaxed and started to enjoy her solitude. She was in no rush. Zach loved her.
Okay, maybe she was a bit of a coward. What if she really couldn’t fit in to his lifestyle? What if she hated L.A.? What if she got bored with nothing to do?
So she’d pushed the worries aside and enjoyed the vacation. Eating pizza, drinking sangria and bottles of cava, the local champagne. Lazing in the hot sun.