He walked to the staircase and sat down. There wasn’t a part of him that didn’t hurt. He ached for her, body and soul. Losing her was going to be bad—probably the worst thing he would ever endure. But he’d get through it. That he knew for sure. The army had taught him how to handle adversity.
He would need every one of those skills to survive the next year. She would be here with him, doing the inventory. He had no idea how they were going to handle that. Would she want to continue their affair while it was convenient? Would she want to end things sooner, to keep things more neat?
He knew he was weak enough when it came to her that he would accept any crumb she offered. Humiliating, but facts were facts. What was that old line? She was his greatest weakness. Dying for her would be easy. He was willing to go beyond that and be her bitch.
“You’re a difficult man to find.”
He stood and turned, only to see Robyn standing in the hallway behind him. Just looking at her was enough to make him want to beg.
She slipped her hands into her jeans front pockets. “I’m sorry about Jase.” She grimaced. “All of it. Him showing up, the proposal, me laughing. I think there have been so many emotions over the past few days that I’m incapable of being normal. Although I’m not sure what a normal response to him would have been.”
“You might regret letting him go.”
Her gaze was steady. “No, I won’t. Not ever. We broke up months ago. I meant it then, and I’ve never wavered. I shouldn’t have gone out with him in the first place.” Her mouth twisted. “In fact, when I look back, I see that I’ve never had particularly good taste in men. Until now.”
Her words were like a knife to the heart. He wanted to believe them, but somehow he knew he was going to end up with his guts spilling out on the floor.
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “About that. I think we both know this was great while it lasted, but it was never going to be more.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re breaking up with me?”
“No. You’re breaking up with me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” He gentled his tone. “Robyn, you came here because you were lost and angry, mostly at yourself. You’ve worked hard to put yourself back together. I was a distraction. A reward, if you will. But you never saw us as more than that. You’re going to be selling pieces of art and antiques to fancy museums and big shot dealers all over the world. You’ll fly in experts and be a star. You’ll love it. And I’m glad you’re going to experience it.”
“You’re wrong about me. About us. I don’t want this to end.”
God, he wanted to believe her. He wanted her to feel the same way about him, but he knew better.
“What is this?” he asked quietly. “What do we have? Are you in love with me?”
She blinked several times, then took a step back. The two-by-four of the shit that was his life cracked him on the side of the head. Mentally he staggered, but physically he stayed standing. Her confusion, her withdrawal, told him everything he needed to know.
He forced a smile. “It’s okay. I’m not surprised. The question had to be asked. Like I said, you’re the one breaking up with me.”
“Mason, that’s not what I meant. Love is complicated. I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“You won’t. You know what you want, and you’ll go for it. When you come back to work on the house, we’ll figure something out. It’s a big place. I’m sure we can go days and not see each other.”
Her lower lip began to tremble. “I don’t like this. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t, but you will move on. Oh, and when the year’s up, I’m going to want to keep Charles II with me, if that’s all right.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Mason, no. Please don’t do this to me. I need you.”
“I’ll always be here for you.” He crossed to her and pulled her into his arms.
One last time, he thought grimly. One last time.
She clung to him, crying harder now. Her whole body shook. He forced himself to step back. He lightly kissed her, then touched her cheek.
“Goodbye, Robyn.”
With that, he went down the stairs, the sound of her crying following him until he walked into his bedroom and carefully shut the door.
* * *
Harlow returned home to find that Kip hadn’t thrown her things out into the parking lot of their apartment building. Instead he’d taken them all the way to her mom’s house and left them there—across the front lawn. Most everything might have been salvageable if the sprinklers hadn’t destroyed her laptop and most of the clothes.
She got out of the Uber from the airport and stared at the wreckage. She’d taken her tablet with her to California, so that was saved. But pretty much everything else she owned was soaked and lying in sad piles.
The driver hesitated. “You going to be okay?”
“Fine.” Kip didn’t deserve her tears. Apparently she’d been engaged to a real bastard. That was on her, but no way was she going to cry over him. Never again.
She rolled her suitcase inside, then went to inspect her stuff. Most of the clothes could be salvaged, she thought grimly. Not many of the shoes. She moved closer to her laptop and saw not only had it been soaked by the sprinklers, it had also been run over.
She took everything she could carry into the garage, where she quickly sorted her things into keep and toss piles. She stuffed her ruined things into large trash bags. She would put them into her car to dispose of later. Her mom was upset enough without knowing what Kip had done.
Luckily, Harlow had arranged her flight several days ago, so she’d been able to fly out before dawn. Her mom and Austin had followed with connecting flights that had them landing late that night. She had a few hours to clean up the mess Kip had left.
It took less time than she would have thought to sort through the remains and bring in what could be saved. She started a load of laundry and took the rest of her stuff to her room. At least when she moved, she would be traveling light.
After unpacking, she made a quick trip to the grocery store. Her mother hadn’t eaten since Jase had shown up yesterday, but at some point she was going to get hungry. Plus Austin was always up for a meal.
Thinking of Jase made her think of Mason, which was much harder. Seeing Jase humiliated had been kind of fun, but knowing that Mason was in pain hurt her heart. She didn’t know what her mom had said to Mason, but it couldn’t have been what he wanted to hear. He was in love with Robyn, yet her mom was flying home. Mason had looked like he’d been diagnosed with a terminal disease.