“Take her to prom.”
Zane was about to open his mouth and argue, but honestly… It was maybe the most brilliant suggestion anybody could ever have. Take her to prom.
It seemed too simple, yet, brilliant all at once. Because it was getting at what Cody was trying to tell him, maybe. That the past was there. And it would always hurt. Of course it would. How could anything that profound not cause pain? It couldn’t.
But maybe they had a choice to try to make somethingnew. To try to reclaim and rebuild. To make sure that they could have everything that they had ever wanted, or at least make sure that they didn’t secretly want something they didn’t know about.
Maybe, just maybe, he could rebuild something instead of just sitting in his own hurt.
But maybe it was time to act. Not time to question himself, not time to continue to hide away.
Deep inside of himself, he knew the answers. He knew what he needed to do.
For her as much as for himself.
“I really hate to ask any kind of favor, but are there any venue availabilities at the resort this weekend?”
Cody’s eyebrows lifted. “You might have to talk to Walker.”
The very idea of having to talk to Walker about this made his skin itch.
“I’m kidding. Let me pull it up in the app.”
“You have an app?”
“Yeah, Walker loves this stuff. We have all kinds of technology that makes scheduling easier. You know, provided I put all the information in when I was supposed to.”
Zane gave thanks for the fact that managing all that wasn’t his responsibility.
“Looks like we have one of the barns available.”
“I want to rent it out.”
“Zane… You don’t have to actually rent it.”
“No. I want to. I want to book it, and I want to have it decorated.”
“All right,” Cody said. “If that’s what you want to do.”
He was resolved.
“It is.”
“All right then. You’ve booked yourself a barn. I’m going to need a deposit today.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Cara was surprised when Marlowe suggested that she, Cara, and Lila go shopping together that weekend.
Cara had enough staff to cover her in the afternoon, and she decided that she was going to take her sister-in-law up on the offer.
She had been thinking that it would be nice if she got a little bit closer to Lila, who was still a little bit intimidating, but they were about the same age.
She felt better now that the truth about Zane was out. Not that Lila knew, and she needed to figure out how to handle that, but that would come to her. Probably.
“I still haven’t been to about half of the boutiques on Main Street,” Marlowe said cheerily as they drove into town.
“I haven’t really either,” Cara said.
