Old Flames Never Die (Valentine Mystery) Read Free Page A

feel the wall beginning to
rise. She could see in Jack's eyes that he saw it too.
    “I haven't betrayed you,” he said. “I
never will.”
    Okay, that was good. So why did he have
doomsday written all over his face?
    They went to the kitchen where Jack put
water on for coffee. Tess sat and waited for the shoe to drop. Jack pulled a
chair in front of her and sat. Their knees bumped as he reached forward to take
her hands. Tess allowed it, although she didn't hold his back.
    “I met Liv at a party I went to just
after my mother died. I wasn't really in a party mood, but I needed to get out,
get drunk…” He let the rest of his thought hang in the air.
    Tess' heart softened. She had only
recently come to understand the toll his mother's loss had taken on him.
    “Anyway, Liv struck up a conversation
and it started from there. She listened and comforted. I was living on the edge
then. Drinking too much. Doing crazy things. I didn't care. She kept me
grounded or as grounded as I could be behaving the way I was. I'd probably be a
homeless bum if it weren't for her.”
    “I'm glad she was there for you. But you
don't need to explain your relationship with her, Jack. I told you that I'm not
having any fears about it.”
    He pulled her hands to his lips and kissed
them. “My mother died two years ago, Tess.”
    “Yes, I know.”
    “Liv has been married to Charles for six
years.”
    Tess sat for a minute wondering what the
two had to do with each other.  Then realization dawned. She could only stare
at him and then, pulling her hands back, she stood and moved away. “She was
married.”

Chapter Two
    Tess couldn't breathe. On an
intellectual level, she knew her reaction was over the top. After all, he
hadn't betrayed her. But the idea that Jack could be involved in infidelity was
so out of the realm of what she believed about him. He wasn't that type of man.
There had to be an explanation.
    “Did you know she was married?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you did it anyway?”
    “Yes. I can tell you what I was thinking
at the time, but it doesn't excuse it.”
    “Why did you do it?”
    Jack sat back in his chair and ran his
fingers through his hair. “I wasn't in my right mind after my mom died. I was
bitter that I could have all this money and success, but not save the one
person that mattered most. I was drunk or getting drunk most of the time. Liv
and Charles were having problems. They were separated and she said she was
filing for divorce.”
    Separated. Filing for divorce. That was
better, wasn't it? She looked at Jack and saw disappointment etched in his
face. She could see this was hard for him. “With her, there were brief moments
when the pain was gone.”
    “What about Cora?”
    Jack sighed. “Cora tried to help, but
only Liv would let me do what I wanted.”
    “Which was drink and have sex with a
married woman.”
    Defeated, he dropped his head. “Something
like that.”
    “So what happened?”
    He laughed.
    “This isn't funny.”
    He looked up at her then. “No. I'm
laughing because I think you'll appreciate the irony of this. It was Brad who
told me I was throwing away my life and that my mother would be sorely
disappointed.”
    “Brad?” Her ex-fiancé and Jack's chief
operating officer wasn't the type to intervene in anyone's crisis. The only
explanation was that Jack's behavior was impacting the company's bottom line.
Brad wouldn't tolerate that.
    Jack smiled. “Who would have thought he
had scruples, eh? Anyway, he convinced me to get back involved with the
business. I wasn't quite ready then, but I broke it off with Liv, who took it
well. Then I went away for a while to get my head together. When I got back, I
decided I wanted to honor my mother by living how she lived— all out, carpe
diem and all that. But until I met you again, I was still carrying around a
huge hole. With you I'm…”
    “If you say I complete you I'm going to
walk out of this room.”
    He gave a faint smile. “I just feel
normal