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Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. "No! No! No!" she shouted, tossing the laptop over on the other side of the bed. She got up and began pacing back and forth, creating a trench in the carpet by the footboard. Bugs watched her inquisitively for a second before lowering his head again. Obviously he didn't think it appeared important enough to warrant his rousing from the cozy pillow to pace along with her.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. He wasn't ever supposed to know she'd accepted his invitation. This was supposed to be a covert operation. After more pacing, she decided what to do—ignore him. She sat back down with her computer, even though she felt too wired to be still. She closed the text box.

"Are you there?" he typed, popping the box back open.

She bristled in response, her panic transforming into anger. She quickly switched over to her home page to see what he had learned about her. She hadn't had this account long, but it was Tara and Tamara that had set it up for her in an attempt to reacquaint Delaney with old friends. She clicked on her photo tab to see what they had posted when setting it up. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the only photo she was tagged in was a family photo where she and the children were practically buried behind Shane's large family, including aunts, uncles and cousins.

Well, he wasn't able to dig around in her personal life. And at least it was a really good picture of her, not that it mattered, of course.

"I was really hoping we could chat," he said from the dialogue box.

He must've grown more tenacious with age. Irritation got the better of her, and she pounded her fingers across the keys. "What could we possibly have to say to one another?" Before rational thought set in, she hit enter.

Her stomach lurched. Maybe that sounded a little too angry, after all she wasn't still angry with him. She waited in anticipation, staring at the blinking curser on her screen. He was taking an awfully long time to respond for someone who wanted to chat. Good. Maybe she scared him off.

"How are you?"

She snorted as she read his response. Her fingers fired away on the keys again. "Obviously not great. My husband's dead."

That'll show him. Now, he'll go away.

"I know, his mom called me. I'm very sorry for your loss. Shane was a one-of-a-kind person."

She fumed, nervous energy building. "I'm not asking for your sympathy. Matter of fact I'm not asking anything from you." Anger boiled inside her, bordering on rage. Her fingers banged her response into the keyboard. She really didn't understand where this was all coming from. Surely she wasn't still holding a grudge after all these years.

"I'd like us to be friends," he responded, not taking the bait.

"Friends?" she snorted aloud before typing, "Been there, done that. No thanks."

"It was for the best, you know."

She imagined him calmly sitting at his computer, idly chatting with her as he smoked a cigarette while sipping craft beer out of a bottle. Maybe she shouldn't appear quite so bitter. Indifference would be the best avenue to prove how little she cared about what he had to say.

"This was a mistake. I shouldn't have accepted your invitation."

"I'm glad you did."