She wasn’t sure she did. “What’s the point?”
Laura pulled up a seat next to Smoke. “The point is that you’re not going to be able to avoid him in this town. So, you either need to find yourself some closure or …”
“Or …?” Leanne’s heart was racing, wondering what her friend might see as an alternative.
It was Smoke who answered, though. “Or you need to figure out if there’s still something there that’s worth fighting for.”
She stared at him and then shook her head. “I lost that fight a long time ago.”
~ ~ ~
Ryan couldn’t help looking around the restaurant when he and Manny got there. Leanne was staying right here at the resort, so it was a fair assumption that she might be here.
Manny raised an eyebrow at him as they took a seat at one of the high-top tables. “Are you sure they didn’t kick you out?”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve obviously lost your touch. If this were a covert op, you’d have blown our cover before we even sat down.”
Ryan gave him a rueful smile. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I knew you were rattled. I didn’t know you had it this bad.”
He shrugged, but didn’t answer because he saw Ben, who owned the place, approaching with a carafe of coffee.
“Good morning, guys.”
“Morning, Ben.” Ryan turned his mug over and took a drink as soon as Ben filled it.
Manny laughed. “You’ll have to excuse him. They don’t teach table manners where he comes from.”
Ben smiled. “Not a problem. Sometimes caffeine is more important than anything else.” He met Ryan’s gaze. “How are you doing?”
It wasn’t an innocent question. He and Ben had hung out together when they were all in Vegas for Dan and Missy’s wedding. At least, they’d hung out some of the time. Ben had done a lot of hiding because his ex had been there, too. Charlotte. Vegas had been a turning point for them, though. Ben might have commiserated with him at the time about how tough it was to have to be around the woman he’d loved and lost. But Ben and Charlotte were married now. He must know that Leanne was here.
“Yeah. I’m good, thanks.”
Ben nodded. He wouldn’t push it and Ryan was grateful for that.
Manny would, though. He looked at Ben. “Do you know Leanne, too?”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
“Yeah. Not very well, but I’ve known her for a few years.”
“And what do you think this guy should do?”
“Talk about me like I’m not here, why don’t you?”
Manny chuckled. “I know what I’m about to tell you. I’m hoping that Ben will say the same thing first and then you might actually listen.”
Ryan looked up at Ben. “I know what he’s going to say. What about you? I’m not sure about you.”
Ben set the carafe down on the table. “I wouldn’t say anything, if Manny hadn’t put me on the spot.” He smiled. “If you hadn’t asked me yourself, but since you did …”
“What?” Jesus. What had gotten into him? What did it matter what they thought? Whatever he and Leanne had shared had ended years ago. His emotions might be a bit stirred up at the moment. But even if he were stupid enough to think about acting on them in some way, it still wouldn’t matter. She still hated him for being the lying, cheating bastard that she believed him to be. And he … no, he didn’t hate her. He never had. He still resented her. He was still angry at her for not trusting him enough, for not believing in him enough, for not … for not loving him enough. There. That was the kicker. If she’d loved him enough, she would never have bought the lies. And even if she had, if she’d loved him enough, she’d have stuck around to work through it together.
Ben was watching him.
“What?” he asked again. “What do you think I should do?”
Ben smiled. “Talk to her. Sit her down face to face and talk your way through it all. That’s what Charlotte and I did. There was so much we each didn’t know. So much that we believed the other had done or hadn’t done—that just wasn’t true. When we finally talked about it, we figured out what had really gone wrong and we were able to fix it.”
Ryan stared at him. It wasn’t that simple. Not between Leanne and him. There was no fixing it.
“Thanks, Ben,” said Manny. “You said the same thing I was about to, but I don’t think it’s going to make any difference.”
They both looked at him. Manny shrugged. “I can tell by the look on your face. You’re not going to do that. You don’t think it’ll work and you’re still too angry. Am I right?”
Ryan nodded.
Manny looked at Ben again. “Thanks for trying. I’m glad you had the balls to fix things with your Charlotte.”
Ryan narrowed his eyes. He resented the implication.
Ben set their menus down on the table. He knew what Manny was implying, too. He gave Ryan a grim smile. “I’ll be back when you know what you want.”
Ryan watched him go before turning back to Manny. “It’s not about having the balls.”
“No? What is it then? Because that’s what it looks like to me.”
Ryan thought about it. It wasn’t that he was scared. What was there to be scared of? He looked back at Manny.
“What have you got to lose?”
He didn’t know that there was anything left to lose when it came to Leanne. He’d already lost it all.
“I always had you down as a fighter, Ryan. Have you lost it? Is that why you retired?”
He shook his head. He didn’t even want to rise to the bait this time. “I’m still a fighter, and you know it. But when it comes to Leanne, I already lost. There’s nothing left to fight for.”
Manny held his gaze for a long moment. “Maybe you lost the old battles, but war isn’t over until you admit defeat. Is that what you’re doing?”
“I did that years ago.”
“On the battle, yeah. But on the war?”
Ryan exhaled sharply. “I thought I had.”
“I never did.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow at him.
“You and Leanne were always unfinished business. There was always going to be a someday between you. My guess is that someday has finally arrived.”
Ryan took another drink of his coffee while he thought about it.
Chapter Seventeen
“What do you want to know?” Leanne asked Smoke. He’d asked if she wanted to explain what the deal between her and Ryan was, but she didn’t know where to start.
“Whatever you want to tell. It’d probably help if I understood what went wrong. If you two were engaged, then I guess it was something major that made you call it off.”
She blew out a sigh. “Yeah. It was.”