“You might be right,” she agreed gently. “But you were caught off guard. Hell, we all were. Doreen came out swinging like a woman possessed.” She reached across the table and patted my hand. “The question is, what are you gonna do now?”
I looked up at her, seeing genuine concern in her eyes. “I don’t know. Cash is gone. Won’t answer his phone. And the church board...” I trailed off, not wanting to voice my fears about losing my position here.
“The church board will do whatever the town tells them to do,” she said with a snort. “And they’ll have to go through me if they think they’re gonna kick you out, and I fight like a raccoon defendin’ stale pizza, mark my words.”
That drew a small smile out of me, but it quickly vanished. “None of that matters if Cash won’t come back.”
Dolly studied my face for a long moment. “You love him, don’t you?”
I didn’t try to deny it. “Yes.”
“Then you better figure out how to get him back, darlin’,” she said simply. “Because men like Cash Callahan don’t come along every day. He’s got his rough edges, Lord knows, but he’s got a good heart underneath all that hurt.”
Before I could respond, the sound of another vehicle in the driveway caught our attention. I didn’t bother to look up. It was probably someone else in town, Brooks or Beau, coming to console me with another casserole or something.
“Looks like you might get your chance faster than you thought, sugar.”
I followed her gaze through the window and my heart stopped. Cash’s familiar black truck was pulling into thedriveway, the engine cutting off with a mechanical shudder that I could hear even through the glass. He sat there for a moment, hands gripping the steering wheel, and I could see the exhaustion written in every line of his body even from this distance.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dolly murmured, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “That boy’s got more sense than I gave him credit for.”
I was already on my feet, the quilt falling to the floor as I moved toward the door. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely turn the handle, and for a terrifying moment I thought maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe the sleepless night and heartbreak had finally driven me completely over the edge.
But then Cash’s truck door opened and he climbed out, looking like absolute hell. His clothes were wrinkled, his hair a mess, and there were dark circles under his eyes that matched my own. He looked like he’d been through a war, but he was here. He’d come back.
I yanked the front door open before he could even reach the porch steps, and we stood there staring at each other across the small distance. Neither of us seemed to know what to say first.
“You look like shit,” I finally managed, my emotional state somewhere between relief and intense irritation.
“You too,” he replied, but his mouth quirked up in the ghost of a smile. “Can we... can we talk?”
“I’ll just see myself out,” Dolly announced loudly from behind me, already gathering her bright red purse. She squeezed past us on the porch, pausing to jab a sharp red nail in the center of his chest. “You hurt him again, and I’ll tan your hide, Cash Callahan. That’s a promise.”
Cash nodded solemnly. “Yes, ma’am.”
She patted his cheek almost gently, then headed for her truck, leaving us alone on the porch. The morning air was coolagainst my bare arms, reminding me that I was standing there in nothing but pajama pants and a t-shirt, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was the man in front of me, looking vulnerable and uncertain in a way I’d never seen before.
“I got your messages,” he said quietly, his eyes fixed on the porch boards between us. “All of them.”
My throat felt tight. “And?”
“And I’m sorry.” He looked up then, meeting my eyes, and I saw everything he’d been carrying through the long night. The hurt, the fear, the self-loathing. “I’m sorry I ran. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to... to process what happened. I just...” He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I panicked.”
I stepped closer, close enough that I could see the fine lines of exhaustion around his eyes. “Cash, what Doreen said?—”
“Was mostly true,” he interrupted, his voice flat. “I did ruin Tyler’s life. His relationship with his family, his future here. After we got caught, I ran. I never knew what happened to him. I never even bothered to check…”
My heart clenched at the pain in his voice. “That wasn’t your fault. You were both just kids?—”
“I knew the stakes. So I should have known better.” His jaw tightened. “And last night, when she said I was ruining you too... Mike, I couldn’t stand the thought of doing that to you. Of being the reason you lost everything you’ve worked for.”
I reached for his hands, needing the contact, needing him to understand. “You’re not ruining me, Cash. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Even if it costs you your career? Your calling?” His fingers tightened around mine. “Because it will, you know. The church board, the community... they’re not all gonna be as understanding as Dolly.”
I looked into his dark eyes, seeing the fear there, the expectation of abandonment that he’d carried his whole life. Andsuddenly, the answer that had seemed so complicated last night became crystal clear.
“Then let them fire me,” I said simply.
