Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

Jenna—since he’d hardly seen her at all in the past week.
    A part of him—a really pathetic part—had been hoping she’d change her mind. That she’d miss him. That she’d admit she wanted to stay, that she had feelings for him.
    But she hadn’t changed her mind.
    He still didn’t understand why. They were amazing together. That last night had been so incredible, so magical...all night as he’d held her in his arms he’d waited for her to say out loud what seemed so obvious to him. To say that they belonged together.
    But she hadn’t said a thing. And even though he believed in his heart she did have feelings for him, the fact that she’d rejected him when he’d asked her to stay had cut to the quick.
    It wouldn’t hurt so much if he could believe she missed him as much as he missed her. But the few times he saw her that week—always with Claire—she seemed busy and distracted. The Mollies were in town and all her energy was focused on the band.
    Not being with her was a hundred times more painful than he’d imagined. It felt like a part of him was missing—a part Jenna had taken with her without even realizing it. And he didn’t know how to get it back.
    “Dad?”
    He looked up from his computer. “Hey, Claire. What’s up?”
    “Are we still on for the state fair?”
    “Absolutely. We should leave in about half an hour.”
    He’d been able to carve out more time for Claire than he’d expected. It still didn’t feel like enough, but he was amazed at how accommodating the hospital had been so far.
    For years he’d worked a brutal on-call schedule, taking almost every weekend and holiday except when he had Claire with him. The other two cardiac surgeons on staff had children, and he’d been happy to lighten the load for them. He’d felt guilty asking for a more balanced schedule, but they’d agreed right away. Their kids were older now, and rotating weekends and holidays between the three of them wouldn’t be such a burden.
    Stepping back from some of his research projects hadn’t gone over so well with the head of his department, since research was an important revenue stream for the hospital. But no one could deny the reasonableness of his request, once he’d reminded them that he was involved in twice as many projects as anyone else on staff.
    So even though it was still a work in progress, he was able to spend a lot more time with his daughter than he’d ever imagined.
    Claire was looking at him now with folded arms and a frown on her face. “So…are you ever going to tell me what happened with Jenna?”
    He stared at her. Claire hadn’t said a thing about Jenna—at least in terms of the two of them getting together—since she’d gotten back.
    “What do you mean?”
    “It’s obvious that something happened while I was gone.”
    “Obvious how?” he hedged.
    “Well, whenever I talk about Jenna to you, you always quiz me about her. How is she? What’s she doing today? Does she seem happy? And on and on. Like you can’t find out for yourself anymore. And when I talk about you to her, she changes the subject. Once she even started to cry.”
    She’d cried? Over him?
    “What do you mean, she started to cry? What did she say? What happened?”
    Claire pointed a finger at him. “See? You’re doing it again. And she said she was tearing up because she had something in her eye, which was a total lie. What did you do to her, Dad?”
    All of a sudden, he felt something inside him give way. He slumped back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his eyes.
    “I didn’t do anything to her. I just…asked her to stay.”
    Claire stared at him. “Oh, Dad. Just like you asked me.”
    He smiled. “Yeah, but with a different outcome. I guess one out of two’s not so bad, huh?”
    Claire started to pace now, a frown on her face and her hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans. “I’m sure you won’t give me the gory details, but I guess you guys got together while I was gone. Am I right?”
    He thought about denying it, but somehow he’d lost the will to deny things where Jenna was concerned.
    “Yeah. But it’s over now.”
    “You asked her to stay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did you actually propose to her? Or just tell her you love her?”
    He blinked. “Well…”
    Claire stopped pacing. “You do love her, don’t you?”
    A hand closed over his heart. “Yes. I love her.”
    “Please tell me you told Jenna that.”
    He shook his head. “Not in so many words.”
    “What