Justin tossed his keys onto the desk in his office and looked at the stack of mail waiting for him. He had planned to eat his sandwich while he worked his way through the pile, but the idea held little appeal now.

He wanted something, but he didn’t know what. Something to take the edge off.

Cora Walker smiling and laughing as he joked with her came to mind.

Yeah, Cora would take the edge off.

Not an option.

He tossed his sandwich on the desk and pulled his shirt off over his head. There was no one in the office with him and the door to the building was locked. He’d do some pushups to burn off the energy skittering through him.

He hit the floor of his office, trying to shut down his mind, focusing instead on the sound of the count in his head. One, two, three, four, five.

Sweet red lips curved into a tempting smile.

He shut the image out.

It had taken all his will to stay away from Cora Walker for the last three years. As far as their friends were concerned, her interest in him was one-sided. It was far from that, but since he wouldn’t act on his attraction under any circumstances, it would be unwise to let his feelings show.

He growled as he added a clap between each pushup. The impromptu workout wasn’t doing shit to blot her out of his mind, but it had taken the edge off a little. He might be able to focus if he kept this up a while longer. He’d be sweaty and grungy, but he’d get his focus back.

* * *

Cora walked through town after lunch, heading for her duplex so she could start on the muffins she’d take to Mr. Knight later that day.

She turned when she got to Elm Street, though, veering off and heading for the park.

It hadn’t come as any surprise when Laura referred to her childhood loss. Her background wasn’t a great mystery. The histories of the Walker kids were no secret. The main details were known by everyone in town.

People might not know what it was like for her as a six-year-old kid to wait on a park swing where her mom had left her. They wouldn’t know the panic she’d experienced when darkness fell and her mom didn’t return.

But they all knew the rough details of the story. That she’d been found by a stranger who took her to the police. That her mom had never returned. That her mom hadn’t cared enough to even leave her in a safe place like outside a hospital or at a fire station.

Cora stood now, in front of the park swings. This wasn’t the park her mom had left her in, but it was close enough to dredge up the memories.

As if some unseen force took hold of her body, she moved forward and sat on the nearest swing.

Her feet reached the ground now.

She took her phone out, pulling up an internet browser and typing in the phrase: abandonment issues. She’d gone to therapy. She knew what issues she might face as an adult, but she’d honestly thought she’d defeated all of them. She didn’t think she was affected the way she might have been if she hadn’t been adopted by the Walkers.

There was a bitter taste in her mouth as she remembered how bad things had been the year before when the full revelations of Ashley’s history had come out. Cora hadn’t ever overtly thought the words, but some small piece of her had been grateful she’d dodged the bullet of the emotional scars Ashley had borne.

Maybe she’d just never realized she was scarred.

She looked at the list of things someone who had been abandoned as a child might do.

Jumping from relationship to relationship. She laughed. She certainly hadn’t been doing any of that. Her dating life had been nonexistent lately.

Looking for flaws in every partner. What partners?

Attaching too quickly.

Settling for unhealthy relationships. Again, what relationships?

Being overly controlling or jealous. Nope.

Choosing unavailable partners.

Oh.

Cora frowned as she looked at the last one in the list and wondered if Laura had read it.

She went on to read about people who were so frightened of being left, they made sure they didn’t get into a position where someone could leave.

She had close friends, family who loved her, people in her world she trusted to be there. Still, she had to admit, she hadn’t ever had a serious boyfriend. She hadn’t dated a ton, but the men she’d dated just hadn’t turned out to be the one for her, right?

She remembered the way one of her exes laughed and joked about not being ready for a ball and chain. Another had always said there was no need to talk about marriage before the two-year anniversary. At the time, she had thought when they fell in love, they’d change their minds. She thought she was mature for not worrying about it before then. They hadn’t fallen in love, though.

Maybe, on some level, the way her past boyfriends had resisted marriage had been a comfort for her. If they didn’t get married, she wouldn’t have to worry that he might someday decide he didn’t want her. That they would someday want to end that marriage.

She closed the browser feeling a little sick as she began to question just how mentally healthy she’d been all these years, then opened it again, this time navigating to a search page. She entered: internet dating, and scrolled through the online dating options.

She didn’t know if Laura was right about her wanting Justin because she knew on some level that he wasn’t available. Maybe it was nothing more than a coincidence that several of her boyfriends had been vocal about not wanting to get married yet.

She didn’t know, but she did know she didn’t want to feel this way anymore. She didn’t want to be the one at the party who wasn’t part of a couple. Whatever her reasons for being attracted to Justin, it was time to put a stop to it because it was clear, Justin Kensington wasn’t into her and she would have to be an idiot to keep telling herself, maybe someday.