That was all she could say. A racking sob choked her so that no more words could get through. Simon had taken one step towards her, and then she had turned and run from the office.
Now, at the airport, Ryner was saying: “But since you did face her like that, why didn’t you at least explain why you had to do it? You didn’t have to let her think you’re a heel. You weren’t using her, the way she said.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Simon said. “But do you think she’d believe me? It would only have sounded as if I were trying to make her father look even worse. When you’ve just wrecked a girl’s life, all the logic in the world won’t convince her that you had to do it. And in the long run, it’ll be much better for her to go on hating me.”
With a final good-bye he strode from the police car to the door of the terminal.
“Well,” Stacey said, “maybe only a saint could have played it that way...”
And they watched him walk away into the lobby.