The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [114]
“I don’t think so,” she said quietly. She motioned to the chairs on the porch. Taylor hesitated before moving to take a seat. Denise sat as well but didn’t face him. Instead she watched a pair of squirrels hopping across the yard, collecting acorns.
“I screwed up, didn’t I?” Taylor said honestly.
Denise smiled wryly. “Yeah.”
“You have every right to be angry with me.”
Denise finally turned to face him. “I was. Last night, if you had come into the diner, I would have thrown a frying pan at you.”
The corners of Taylor’s mouth upturned slightly, then straightened again. He knew she wasn’t finished.
“But I’m over that. Now I’m less angry than I am resigned.”
Taylor looked at her curiously as Denise exhaled slowly. When she spoke again, her voice was low and soft.
“For the last four years, I had my life with Kyle,” she began. “It’s not always easy, but it’s predictable, and there’s something to be said for that. I know how I’m going to spend today and tomorrow and the day after that, and it helps me keep some semblance of control. Kyle needs me to do that, and I need to do it for him because he’s all I’ve got in the world. But then, you showed up.”
She smiled, but it couldn’t mask the sadness in her eyes. Still, Taylor was silent.
“You were so good to him, right from the beginning. You treated Kyle differently than anyone else ever has, and that meant the world to me. But even more than that, you were good to me.”
Denise paused, picking at a knot in the armrest of her old wooden rocker, her eyes focused inward. “When we first met, I didn’t want to get involved with anyone. I didn’t have the time or the energy, and even after the carnival, I wasn’t sure that I was ready for it. But you were so good with Kyle. You did things with him that no one else had taken the time to do, and I got swept up in that. And little by little, I found myself falling in love with you.”
Taylor put both hands in his lap as he stared at the floor. Denise shook her head wistfully.
“I don’t know . . . I grew up reading fairy tales, and maybe that had something to do with it.”
Denise leaned back in her rocker, gazing at him from below lowered lashes.
“Do you remember that night we met? When you rescued my son? After that, you delivered my groceries and then taught Kyle how to play catch. It was like you were the handsome prince of my girlhood fantasies, and the more I got to know you, the more I came to believe it. And part of me still does. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. But as much as I care for you, I don’t think you’re ready for me or my son.”
Taylor rubbed his face wearily before staring up at her with pain-darkened eyes.
“I’m not blind to what’s been happening with us these last few weeks. You’re pulling away from me—from both of us—no matter how much you try to deny it. It’s obvious, Taylor. What I don’t understand is why you’re doing it.”
“I’ve been busy at work,” Taylor began halfheartedly.
“That may be true, but it’s not the whole truth.”
Denise took a deep breath, willing her voice not to break. “I know you’re holding something back, and if you can’t, or don’t, want to talk about it, there’s not much I can do. But whatever it is, it’s driving you away.”
She stopped, her eyes welling with tears. “Yesterday, you hurt me. But worse than that, you hurt Kyle. He waited for you, Taylor. For two hours. He jumped up every time a car went by, thinking it was you. But it wasn’t, and finally even he knew that everything had changed. He didn’t say a single thing the rest of the night. Not one word.”
Taylor, pale and shaken, seemed incapable of speech. Denise looked toward the horizon, a single tear drifting down her cheek.
“I can put up with a lot of things. Lord knows, I already have. The way you’ve been drawing me in, pushing me away, drawing me in again. But I’m a grown-up, and I’m old enough to choose whether I want to keep letting that happen. But if the same thing should start happening with Kyle . . .” She trailed off, swiping at her cheek.