Perfect Partners

finally came back.”
    “Don’t worry, it’ll be a short visit.”
    “Just long enough to let us know that you’re the one who engineered the destruction of Copeland Marine.”
    “I didn’t exactly engineer it, Diana. Your father had already started to sink it. I just gave him enough rope so that he could hang it and himself.”
    “Very clever.” Diana blinked but not quickly enough to stop two crystalline tears from coursing down her high-boned cheeks. “You’re going to destroy Daddy because he wouldn’t let you have me all those years ago.”
    “Diana, I really am not in the mood for a lot of drama, okay? I lost my taste for that kind of thing about fifteen years back. But while we’re on the subject, let’s try a little honesty. We both know it wasn’t your father who kept us from getting married. It was you. I asked you to leave town with me. You refused.”
    “Joel, I was nineteen and I was scared.”
    “Sure you were scared. Scared to make your father mad by running off with me. Scared you’d lose the Copeland money. Scared you’d lose everything that went with being Victor Copeland’s daughter in Echo Cove. Believe me, Diana, I understand exactly what you went through.”
    “Oh, Joel, I’m so sorry. You’ll never know how sorry I am.” She swung around, the tears spilling from her eyes in earnest now. “When I looked up and saw you last night in the restaurant, I thought I was seeing a ghost. It’s as if you’ve been haunting me all these years and now you’ve come back.”
    “Not from the grave,” he assured her.
    “Joel, please don’t torment me like this. I know you’ve come back because of me. Because of us. I know you want vengeance for what happened. But you have to understand why I couldn’t run off with you fifteen years ago. I was too young to handle the situation between us. Too young to make such a serious decision. I was afraid. Surely you can make allowances for that?”
    “Sure. Why not?” Joel dropped into the nearest chair and leaned back, legs spread. He wondered what lies Copeland was feeding to Letty at that moment. “You were a kid. I was only twenty-one myself, and I didn’t have more than fifty bucks left from my last paycheck at Copeland Marine. Hardly enough to put you up for one night at the kind of hotel you expected, was it?”
    Her eyes filled with tears. “You’re so bitter. So angry. I can’t blame you.” She started across the room.
    Joel realized her intention about three seconds too late to get out of the chair. Before he could move, Diana was right in front of him. She threw herself down on her knees between his legs, grasped his thighs, and lifted an imploring face.
    “Joel, please, listen to me. I want you to know that if I had it to do over again, I would have run off with you all those years ago. You have no idea how much I’ve regretted making the wrong decision.”
    At that moment the connecting door between the two rooms opened without warning. Letty stood there, staring at the scene in front of her.
    Joel looked up and saw her eyes widen in shock as she took in the sight of Diana on her knees between his spread legs. He knew what was going through Letty’s mind just as surely as if she’d spoken aloud. She was remembering how she had walked in on her ex-fiancé and found him with a grad student between his legs.
    “Jesus.” Joel shot to his feet as if he’d been burned. The sudden action tumbled Diana to one side.
    “Joel, no, wait. You must listen to me.” Diana stretched out a hand in a beseeching gesture. “I’m begging you on my knees. I want you to understand.”
    Joel reached down and yanked her unceremoniously to her feet. “Damn it, Diana, stop acting as if you’re on a stage,” he snapped.
    “Excuse me.” Letty’s voice was ice. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to tell Joel that we’ve been invited to tour the Copeland Marine facilities this afternoon.”
    Diana glanced at her and then apparently lost interest in the new arrival. She turned back to Joel. Her small hands doubled into fists. The tears pooling in her eyes started to fall.
    “You were supposed to come back, Joel,” Diana whispered. She raised her clenched hands and struck his chest. “Damn you, you were supposed to come back and rescue me. I waited for you.”
    She rushed past him to the door, jerked it open, and fled.
    The sound of Diana’s receding footsteps echoed in the sudden silence that filled the motel