Page 71 of The Beachside Rental

She shook her head.“We’re going to have this out right here and now.I can’t believe you lied to me.Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

“Jenna, slow down.Let me explain.”

“It’s too late for that now.I saw you kissing her.”There she’d said it, and it hadn’t killed her, although the heartache felt as though it might.

His eyes widened.“You saw me with Gwen?”

She nodded.“Does she know that you’re cheating on her?Wait.Does that make me the other woman?”The thought utterly horrified her.She reached out and slapped at his arm.“You made me the other woman.”

He reached out and caught her wrist before she could slap him again.“You are not the other woman.”When she looked at him in disbelief, he said, “You are the only woman in my life.”

Her heart wanted to believe him, but her mind reminded her to believe what she’d seen with her own two eyes.“Don’t lie to me.You’ve done enough of that already.If you wanted to keep your relationship a secret, you shouldn’t have been kissing that woman in front of the duplex.”

The color drained from his face.At last, he knew he wasn’t going to squirm out of this.Good.

“Jenna—”

She held up her palm, stopping his words.“I don’t want to hear it.In fact, I don’t want to see you again.When your lease is up, I’d appreciate if you’d move and until then stick to your side, and I’ll stick to mine.”

“Jenna, let me explain.”

“No.”She turned on her heel and walked away.

It wasn’t until she closed the door and then leaned back against it that she was able to take her first full breath since she’d confronted him.Now it was over.Completely and utterly over.And it didn’t make her feel any better.In fact, she felt worse.

Buzz.

She reached for her phone, which was in her back pocket.She didn’t want to talk to anyone, but that didn’t keep her from checking the caller ID.

It was Neil.That was strange.He rarely called her.It was either about work or something was wrong.Was something wrong with their mother?

With a resigned sigh, she pressed the phone to her ear.“Hey, Neil, what’s up?”

“I don’t see you yet at the High Tide.You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”

It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about.Trivia night.She inwardly groaned.

She swallowed hard and hoped when she spoke that she sounded normal.“We aren’t going to make it.”But she wasn’t giving up on her presentation.It was good.Really good.“But I’d like to have a meeting with you tomorrow morning to go over my ideas for the front of the market.I know you’re opposed to change because of losing Dad, but I think if he was here, he would tell you that if we don’t keep evolving, that the business will die.Dad wouldn’t want that.”

There was a slight hesitation.“This is really that important to you?”

“It is.And I think you’re going to like what I’ve come up with.”

“Okay.Can you come in early tomorrow?”

“I can.”

“Okay.I’ll see you at seven thirty.”

After they wrapped up their call, a little smile pulled at the corners of her lips.But the smile was short-lived because the image of Simon formed in her mind.

She had to face it: she had the worst judgement when it came to men.She was done dating.She was going to focus on her job.If things didn’t work out at her meeting tomorrow, she would start job hunting on the mainland.

Chapter Twenty-One

Thiswasn’tgood.

In fact, it was terrible.