Page 43 of What Maple Heard

I wish for a dog. — Devon.

I wish to meet Beyoncé. — Tia.

I wish for my mum to be better. — Jordan.

I stopped on that one for a second.

Then I found Marcus’s leaf.

I wish to always be Cade’s friend. — Marcus.

I looked up.

Cade was watching me. He was smiling, but quietly.

“It was his idea,” Marcus said. He was using his new voice — the one that had started appearing in the last two weeks, with full sentences, and actual volume. “Cade said we should write wishes on the leaves, because it was a wishing tree afterall. So we all did.”

“And,” Marcus continued, “After the fall performance, Cade said we could ask people from the town to write their wishes on the leaves too. So the whole town gets to use the wishing tree.” He looked at me. “Not just us.”

I stood next to the tree and looked at it. The idea of including the entire town in a community celebration like this was the ideal way to celebrate the fall festival. And Cade thought of this idea?

“We kept a leaf for you,” Cade said. “For your wish.”

I looked at him. “What about you? Don’t you get a wish?”

He smiled. That full, unhurried, genuinely beautiful smile that I was absolutely not thinking about.

“My wish,” he said, “is already being answered.”

The entire class went: “OOOOOOH.”

Eleven children, completely losing their minds about this sentence, nudging each other and giggling and looking between me and Cade. I could feel the heat coming through my cheeks. Cade had his eyes locked on mine and he was giving me his ridiculously attractive smile again.

“Maple, the release forms.” Nancy was at the studio door with a stack of papers I had been meaning to sign since last week. I looked back at Cade.

“Go ahead, Maple. I can run them through a few full rehearsals.” he said.

“Thank you, Cade.” I said and turned around to go into my office, feeling a weird sense of joy and gratitude. If he truly thought I was just a great fuck and only someone he wants to have a good time with, why was he showing up and actually standing beside me whenever things went south? Like when I needed a volunteer for the kids, or when I was frantically looking for a replacement for the Autumn Fairy? Or when River got in trouble? Why did he choose to become River’s guide for the community service project? If you really thought that the woman you’d been with was just good under the sheets and nothing more, why would you go through so much trouble to correct things with her?

He could have moved on with Sapphire, or anyone else. In fact, he could have been relieved that I heard everything so he wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of breaking up with me after the good times were done. But he kept circling back to me and River, apologizing, trying his best to make amends.

He could easily find a replacement for me. Given his looks, his reputation and his wealth, he could get any woman who came without a troubling past, without carrying the social tag of being a pole dancer, any woman without a fourteen year old as part of the package.

Trying to fit the Cade I was seeing now with the Cade who uttered those words about me was making me more confused than ever. Which one of the two Cades was real? His apologies sounded so sincere. His actions were speaking for themselves.

I often circled back to what River said to me that night when we were washing dishes.

“Can you forgive his mistakes? The way you forgave mine?”

Could I? The way he was embedding himself as an irreplaceable part of River’s Life could not be ignored. What he was giving River was immeasurable. His attention. His kindness. His patience. Could that wipe away the two minutes worth of words that came out of his mouth?

He was giving me time too.

Take all the time you need, years, if that’s what it takes. You’ll still find me by your and River’s side.

He didn’t push me to make a decision, he was not impatient, and he never seemed to be fishing for an answer out of me. He was not trying any tricks to make River like him. He was not doling out presents to the kids at the dance school. He was just there, seemingly unwavering in his efforts to make amends.

The harder I looked for an angle, the less I could find one.