Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

door.
    “Go away!”
    He tried the knob, and found she hadn’t locked it. He poked his head into the room and saw her face down on the bed, crying.
    “Sweetheart, what happened? Are you all right?”
    Claire jerked her head off the pillow and glared at him. “I told you to go away.”
    He shook his head. “Not until you tell me why you’re so upset.”
    She glared at him some more. “Why are you all dressed up?”
    He’d put on a suit and tie for dinner. “I was planning to take you out to a restaurant in the city. But we don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”
    Her face crumpled up, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. He went over and sat next to her on the bed. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”
    Maybe she was sad because she was leaving. Maybe she didn’t want to go back to Florida. Maybe when he asked her to stay, it would make everything all right.
    She sat up, scooting back so she could lean against the headboard. “I had a fight with Ellie.”
    So much for his theory. “What happened?”
    She swiped the back of her hand across her damp face, and he looked around for a tissue. There was a box on her night stand and he handed it to her.
    She blew her nose and took a deep breath. “You know how her parents were supposed to be on vacation? It turns out they were seeing a counselor. To try and save their marriage or something. Only, it didn’t work, and they decided to get a divorce.”
    His heart went out to the family. “Poor Ellie.”
    “I know. It’s a huge suck. She just found out today, and when I went over there she was crying like crazy. I stuck around because she asked me to, and we talked about stuff for a long time. Mostly she talked and I listened, because it seemed like that’s what she needed, you know? But then I wanted to show her I understood, so I told her about you and mom getting divorced, and then, you know, how mom died, and—”
    She gulped. “She started yelling at me, saying that it wasn’t the same thing at all, and how her parents could still decide to get back together. And I...” Her eyes filled with tears again. “I told her that probably wouldn’t happen. Because it probably won’t, you know? I was just trying to be realistic. I didn’t want her to get her hopes up and then...”
    She trailed off.
    “You know she was just upset. She wasn’t really mad at you. She just—”
    Claire sighed. “I know all that, Dad. I just...God, I miss home.”
    It took him a moment to realize that by home, she meant Florida. And just like that, the bottom fell out of his heart.
    “You’re...looking forward to going back?”
    She blew her nose again. “I miss my friends. My real friends. I thought Ellie was a friend, but...” She shook her head. “And I miss Nana. I miss her so much. And...and...I miss Mom.”
    There was no fixing that. “Oh, sweetheart.”
    And then she was glaring at him again. “Just save it. Okay? I know you hate it when I cry, and I swear to God if you draw a diagram of a tear duct or something I’m going to kill you.”
    “I wasn’t going to—”
    “Why can’t you just leave me alone? That’s all I want. I told you to go away and you didn’t listen. Nana would listen. Mom would have listened.” Her lower lip trembled, and then suddenly she was shouting at him. “I hate you. I hate you! God, I wish you were dead instead of Mom. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn’t it have been you?”
    He tried not to let her words draw blood, but they did.
    He didn’t know what to say, what to do. He never had and he never would.
    “Okay,” he said. “I’ll leave you alone.”
    He went back downstairs. He paused in the foyer, looking at the front door. He hesitated just a moment before he left the house and headed for Jenna’s.
    His jaw was set as he strode across his lawn and hers. She’d gotten him into this and she could damn well give him some advice now that it was all falling apart. If it wasn’t for Jenna, he never would have thought about asking Claire to move here. And now that she’d gone back to hating his guts for no reason that he could see, he needed to talk to a member of her species to get a little perspective.
    He raised his hand to knock on her back door when it opened. Jenna was there, staring at him in surprise—and she wasn’t alone.
    Derek. This had to be Derek. He had shaggy blond hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing jeans and a tee shirt. He had a tattoo that started at his left wrist, disappeared