After the Mountain Man by Tarin Lex

This is Kinsley & Bennett’s story…

I gaze into my wine, curling my fingers tighter around the stem. There’s still a tan line on my ring finger. I notice Bennett noticing it.
“I called it off,” I tell him.
“Oh,” he says, like that explains everything.
“I wasn’t sure,” I also say, softly. “And I…” I swallow, hard. “I know what it’s like to be sure.”
That smile of his could make me forget my own name, but then it falls off his face. “You don’t seem that bothered by it?” Bennett says.
Bothered by…which one? The engagement to Maverick I called off?
Or the engagement to Bennett I called off…five years ago?
My official response is a looong drink of wine. I drain the glass. I feel my inhibitions fall away. My vulnerabilities taking over. My heart taking over. My soul…trying so very hard to speak up for itself.
“A scorned fiancé isn’t going to show up at my door?” Bennett says, finishing his glass of wine.
“Scorned? Please.” I roll my eyes. “Even if he could find this house…I still have my ring tan line and he already moved on…and on, and on.”
“And you decided not to marry this dude why?” Bennett chuckles, humorlessly. Shaking his head. “You sure can pick ’em, Kin.”
“I picked a good one, once.”
“Oh, yeah?” He lifts one thick eyebrow. “What ever happened to that guy?”
“Well, he moved on.” I let my eyes draw circles all about the beautiful house we’re sitting in. The one he imagined, designed, built. “Lived on,” I add, with pain in my throat.
“Not all the way,” he burrs. “I ain’t all the way moved on.”