Chapter 15A deceased beau. The perfect explanation. He need only tell Jack he wasn’t ready for another relationship, couldn’t face the idea, and the man would have to bow out graciously. They both could. Or so Brinley told himself, facing this simple fact yet again as Jack’s van pulled up. Having spent all morning half hoping the man wouldn’t show, his stomach dropped. His fault for toying with his phone to text Jack several times during the night, essentially to sack him. Every time he woke, he didn’t know how many times…seemed about every hour, then he reached for his phone, hesitated. And that after he at last dragged his miserable self off to bed.
Nothing had changed by the time daylight snaked into the room, waking Brinley for the final time, his first thought one of letting Jack go—
