Page 45 of Falling for Forever

Her gaze met his. “I don’t want to talk about this here, Chet.”

He glanced toward his friends, then back at her. “Just tell me what happened. Please.” He kept it low, but she pulled her shoulders back as though he’d spoken sharply.

Lydia lowered the menu. “I asked you if there was anything you wanted me to know. You let me believe we’d talked about everything that mattered.”

The barn. Her hand over his. Chet curled his fingers against his knee. She’d been offering him an opening, and he’d asked for her support instead. “That part of my life was over.”

“Then why was it easier to let me hear about it from them?”

He had the reassurance ready, but it didn’t answer her question.

She looked down at the menu between her hands. “I didn’t expect you to tell me every person you’ve dated. But they were laughing about a different girl in every town. Then they started talking about you competing, and I kept waiting to hear something I recognized.”

“They haven’t seen me in a long time.”

“I understand that.” She pressed her lips together. “That’s why I wanted to ask you.”

Chet leaned forward. “Then ask me.” It carried farther than he intended, and their waitress picked that moment to bring their drinks.

She blushed as she looked between them. Then she placed the beverages in the center of the table and mumbled, “I’ll just give you two a minute.”

Lydia waited until the waitress had gone, then set her menu aside. “I wanted tonight to be nice.”

“So did I.” He pushed her glass closer to her. Her fingers closed around it, and for a moment he thought she might take a drink. Instead, she kept her eyes on the ice moving inside it.

“I know people can change,” she said. “But I told you why all this frightened me. You listened, and I thought you understood what I was asking for.”

“I did understand.” He could still picture her across the stall door. He’d wanted to go to her then, hold her and promise she’d never go through that with him.

“You knew that world. You could’ve told me.”

“I don’t live that way anymore.” It came out louder than he meant, and he reined it in. At the other table, Jordan turned his head. Chet moved in his chair to block Lydia from his friends’ view.

She looked at him for several seconds. “I’m trying to understand what you do want. When they asked why you stopped competing, you said you were too busy right now.”

“I am busy. You know how much work we have.”

“I know. But is that why you stopped?” Her grip loosened around her glass. “Because the business needs you?”

Chet reached across the table and laid his hand beside hers. “I like our life here, Lydia. I want to keep it.” She let him touch her fingers, and he took the small encouragement before she spoke again.

“Were you still winning when you left?”

He frowned. “Yes.”

“How much?”

“I have a championship buckle. I won a lot.”

She looked down at their hands. “Then what made you stop?”

He rubbed his thumb over her fingers. “Lydia, I’m here. I’m with you.”

“I know where you are tonight. I’m trying to understand what you chose.”

He drew a breath. He’d loved competing once. He loved the life he’d built here, too. With Lydia watching him and his friends only a few tables away, he couldn’t seem to explain one without making her doubt the other.

“I wanted something different,” he said. “I have that now.”