“Me too,” and it’s the truth. It was my mom and I against the world for a long time, and even though we were losing, we were together every day. “I told Mel I’d stop by, anyway.”
That wasn’t true, but I could tell she was about to invite me to join her at the cookout, and I might be able to fake it for a few minutes, but I’m not good company.
Despite knowing that, and the fact I hadn’t told her I was coming, I drive to Mel’s house next. My emotional mask is slipping, and she’s the only person who knows the truth, even if I haven’t outright confirmed it for her.
Lucas answers the door, and he smiles before stepping back to wave me in. “We just finished eating, but there’s some left over if you’re hungry.”
“No, thank you.”
I don’t know if it’s my expression or my voice, but Lucas nods once, as if to himself. “It’s my turn to wash tonight, so I’ll tell Mel you’re here. Have a seat.”
I sit on the couch, pulling my feet up so I can hug my knees. A moment later, Mel comes out of the kitchen, and I can tell by her face she knows something’s wrong. I also know they don’t take turns cleaning the kitchen after supper. They always do it together.
“Hey,” she says softly, sitting next to me. “I heard Hayden slept at Colleen’s last night and I thought it was all part of some master plan but I guess I was wrong.”
“The plan went great. Except for the part where I fell in love with him.”
Mel sighs dramatically, looking up at the ceiling for a second. “I told you not to fall in love with your husband, Cara.”
“I know.”
“Tell me everything.”
So I do. With two short breaks to find a box of tissues and then to get some water, I confess the entire plan to Mel. And then I tell her about the night Hayden didn’t stand me up.
“I wouldn’t have gone along with it if I’d known his primary motivation was revenge on my dad,” I end with. “I know it doesn’t make sense. I mean, I always questioned his excuse that he just wanted to restore it because he likes old houses. But this is so much more personal than an old feud and the Gambles not liking the Reillys. He wanted to hurt us.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, holding out the supermarket bag she’d snagged for the used tissues and handing me a fresh one from the box. “What happens now?”
“I don’t know. But I got over him once. I can do it again.”
“Now that he’s got his revenge house, he won’t need to keep up the fake marriage bit, so he’ll probably go back to Boston. It’ll be a lot easier to get over him once he’s gone.”
My shoulders twitch in a really pathetic shrug. “What really hurts is that I don’t think it’s fake for him, either. Not anymore. He loves me too, Mel. I believe that.”
“Then he should have respected you enough to tell you the truth about homecoming night. Even if he wasn’t man enough to tell you then, he’s grown now. There’s no excuse for that.”
“I know. But I love him,” I manage to say before a fresh wave of sobbing hits me.
Mel wraps her arms around me, holding me close, which is how I can hear her mutter into my hair. “After all this, how the hell did you end up being the one stuck living in that house?”
Chapter Sixty
Hayden
“I’m going to talk to Cara,” I announce the following evening because I can’t stand the idea of a second night without her. And scrolling through the wedding photos on my phone is only making it worse.
I can’t make myself stop, though.
Colleen pauses the TV and gives me one of those mom looks—like she’s trying to see into my very soul. Usually when I get that look, she’s trying to figure out if I’ve been up to no good, but this time her face softens.
“I never thought I’d say this, Hayden, but I won’t wait up for you because I hope you two will work it out and you’ll be staying at the Gamble house tonight.”
The tenderness in her voice tightens my throat and I have to clear it before I can speak. “The Gamble-Reilly house.”
“Your house.”
I nod, feeling no satisfaction at all in hearing that. After all this time, I’ve had to admit I never cared about being worthy of stepping onto the Gamble’s porch. I wanted to be worthy of Cara’s love.
