it with fingers that suddenly shook, she tried to corral her emotions. So what if Max had seen her? Surely he didn’t think she’d stood around pining for him year after year.
What had started off as an enjoyable evening morphed into something different as a wave of irritation slithered through her innards. They weren’t together any more, so Max had no say in her life. None.
Lifting her chin, she focused again on the man next to her. ‘Yes, I would love to fill one out.’
‘Great. Why don’t you come behind the table with me and you can have a seat while you do?’
So Annabelle did just that, following Dale around the edge of the table where there was a line of seats, although no other representatives were there at the moment.
She sat down, suddenly glad to let her shaking legs have a break. Then she ducked her head and did her best to concentrate on the questions on the form, filling them in and hoping that Max didn’t storm over here and embarrass her.
He wouldn’t.
Her ex had never been a particularly jealous type. And there was no reason for him to start now. Especially since they were no longer a couple.
She was scribbling something in the box of the sixth question when a glass of red wine appeared in front of her. Swallowing hard, she glanced up. How had he got back that fast?
Sure enough, Max was standing in front of the table, taking a sip of whatever amber liquid was in his glass. ‘Are you thinking of going on a medical mission?’
‘I... Well, I...’
Dale, probably realising something was amiss, smoothly filled in the blanks. ‘Annabelle was filling out a form to get more information on what we do.’ He glided to his feet and offered his hand. ‘I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Dale—’
‘I remember you. You were in Sudan with me two years back.’
‘That’s right. I haven’t been back in a while. I’m doing recruiting work now.’
Max was gracious enough to smile at the man. ‘And you’re doing a great job of it, from what I can see.’
Looking from one to the other of them, Dale thanked him, and then said, ‘I take it you two know each other.’
‘You could say that.’ His smile grew. ‘Annabelle and I are married.’
‘You’re...’ All the colour leached out of the man’s face, leaving it a sickly grey colour. ‘I didn’t realise...’ He glanced down at the form she was filling out. She had indeed put Annabelle Ainsley. She’d thought about using her maiden name, like at the hospital, but Ainsley had just seemed to flow out of the pen of its own accord. She had no idea why, but right now she could clobber Max for making this poor man feel like an idiot. Except a tiny part of her wondered why he’d spoken up and claimed she was his wife. He could have just played it off with a laugh and said that, yes, they knew each other from long ago. It would have been the truth, and it might have saved everyone some embarrassment. And yet he hadn’t. He’d spoken the truth, without actually speaking it. Because they had not been husband and wife for almost three years.
Dale recovered, though. ‘Well, maybe you can go on the next mission together, then. And since you already know the ropes, I’ll let you help Annabelle finish filling out the form. I’m sure you can answer any questions as well as I can.’
With that, the man headed over to another person who was glancing at the literature, engaging him in conversation.
‘Why did you do that?’ She peered up at him.
‘He’s a flirt. I was trying to save you from being hit on.’
‘Maybe I wanted to be hit on.’ That was unfair. She didn’t want to be. But she also didn’t want Max taking it upon himself to be her rescuer when he hadn’t been in her life for almost three years.
His gaze hardened. ‘Did you?’
And it now came down to telling the truth. Or lying just to get back at him. ‘No. But I could have handled it on my own.’
‘I’m sorry, then.’
Annabelle let her emotions cool down. No harm done. And maybe he really had been trying to keep her from landing in an awkward situation. ‘It’s okay. And thank you for the wine.’ She picked up the glass and took a sip.
‘Did you really want to fill out a form?’
‘I did. I’ve thought about volunteering in the past, but it never worked out.’
Max came around the table and dropped into the chair that Dale had vacated. ‘I remembered us talking about it years ago. I thought you only said that because it was something I wanted to do.’
‘It’s been in the back of my mind for a while. I just never got around to doing anything about it.’
The sleeve of his tuxedo brushed against her upper arm as he leaned over to see what she’d filled out so far, his warm masculine scent clinging to her senses in a way that no one else’s ever had. If Max had been worried about Dale, he needn’t have. She had no interest in the other man. While she could recognise that the recruiter was good-looking and charming, she’d felt no spark of attraction.
In fact, those sparks—as Max had called them—had been few and far between. And they’d never been strong enough to make her want to be with someone else. Not while there was still a piece of paper that had gone unsigned for far too long.
Maybe it was time to confront the issue. ‘Do you want to sign the divorce papers? Is that why I’m here?’
His gaze darkened, lips thinning slightly. ‘I brought you here so you could see what I’ve been doing with myself for the past three years. If I remember right, you were the one who expressed an interest.’
The soft anger in his voice made her fingers clench on the pen. Okay, so maybe it had been rude to come out and ask, but the subject was like the elephant in the room that no one wanted to talk about.
And evidently, Max still didn’t want to talk about it. Something in her heart became lighter, though, at the words. So he wasn’t any more anxious than she was to finally close the chapter on their failed relationship.
But why?
Did she really want to sit here and dissect all the possible reasons? Or was she simply going to take another sip of wine and go back to filling out the papers? She lifted the glass to her lips.
A few seconds went by, and then a warm hand touched her arm. ‘Hey. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to come here alone, and you were the person I chose to bring. Can’t that be enough?’
Yes. It could.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a whisper of sound. ‘I’m sorry. And I wanted to come too. So yes, let’s just leave it at that for now, shall we?’
His fingers moved slowly down her arm, along her glove, until his hand covered hers on the table. ‘Then as soon as you’re finished with that form, will you dance with me?’
Letting
