Lyle is unfazed. “We’re back on this? It was a messy breakup. We grew apart.”

“You fucking ruined her.”

Shelby makes a noise like an angry cat.

He waves a hand and focuses his gaze on Shelby. “You would’ve come out of it fine. Instead, you chose to walk away from everything. You were looking for the chance to escape. I just gave you a reason.”

“You let everyone shit on her!” I yell in a strangled voice. Lyle’s eyes flicker to the doorway and back to my face. I lower my tone, but I can’t seem to let this lie. “You didn’t even try to defend her, even though you were the one in the wrong.”

Lyle’s expression hardens and his eyes glint. “Looks like she didn’t need me, though. She had you. Just like she has you right now. So, tell me, Mr. Riggs, are you here for Shelby? Are you ready to prove you’re the better man, once and for all?”

Shelby cuts in. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Quit it, Lyle. Cameron, don’t listen to him. He’s just bitter because he can’t grow facial hair like you to cover his acne scars.”

I know she’s right. He’s just goading me. Nothing has changed in the last decade when it comes to Lyle Jessup. He’s the same obnoxious attention hog he’s always been.

I let out a grunt, run my hands down my thighs, and clamp down on the words that are fighting to escape. I want throw it in his face that she called me, and I did come. That I took the first flight out of the motherfucking permafrost just to be there for her. That she kissed me and tried to make me stay, and instead of taking advantage of her, I left. That I would do it again in a heartbeat. I’ll always come running for this woman.

Not that she needs me. She’s not the same hurting Shelby who drunk-texted me five years ago. The Shelby sitting here is a far cry from that girl. This Shelby is fierce and endlessly patient and elegant in the face of Lyle’s bullshit. I fell hard for the old Shelby, but this new version will absolutely destroy me.

I exhale, long and slow. “I’ll do it. I have to confirm a leave of absence with Nat Geo and I want at least two weeks before the cameras arrive to shadow Daniel. But yeah. I’ll do the show.”

Like I even have a choice.

4

SHELBY

PIECES OF ME

“Fine. I’ll admit the built-in was worth the trouble.”

I stand back, hooking my thumbs in the tool belt slung at my waist, and take in my creation.

Well. My re-creation.