Page 86 of Mr. B

Wes rubbed the back of his neck. “You sent him to talk to me.”

“I never did that.”

He looked at her for a moment. “Let’s hear your version of what happened on that last day.”

“My version?”

“Yeah. It sounds like it doesn’t match mine.”

Cassandra sat in the chair. “With the end of the year approaching, I couldn’t do it anymore. I’d been trying to tell Nick for months that it was over, but he wouldn’t accept it. I finally realized the only way to make him understand was to tell him about you.”

“You wanted to break up with him?”

“I did break up with him. But we hadn’t really…it had been over for a while.”

“Because you…”

“I wanted to be with you. I wanted to tell you about him and why…I loved you.”

He studied the wooden floor for a moment. “Keep going.”

“Nick left the house mad and said it wasn’t over. That night, I went to see you.”

“And I…broke up with you.”

“Yes, because you saw Nick and me together, and you… I don’t blame you, but you wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. I was miserable and vulnerable, and Nick swooped in. I got pregnant, then… you know the rest.”

Wes stood and went to the window again. “Shit.”

“How is your version different from that?”

He turned to her. “Come take a walk with me.”

They left the cabin and headed for the lake, then took the trail along the shoreline. A slight breeze ruffled the surface of the water and cooled the air. Cassandra zipped up her jacket and took his arm.

“Please talk to me, Wes.”

He took a few moments before speaking. “Nick came to talk to me. It must’ve been right after he left you. I had no idea who the pissed-off man at my door was. Then he told me he was your fiancé. That you’d been together since high school. That you’d told him about me and begged for his forgiveness.”

Cassandra laid her head against Wes’ shoulder for a moment. “Wes, I—”

“He said you couldn’t face me and that he was there to tell me it was over. You were going to marry him and… live happily ever after, basically. He had this… sincerity that I sensed was fake, and that in reality he was a total douche. But I was too…” He shook his head. “Too damn hurt.”

“Oh my gosh. Wes.”

He shrugged. “If he was who you wanted, then…I wanted you to be happy, no matter how much it hurt. And trust me, it hurt a lot.”

Cassandra stopped walking as her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t even know what to say. I can’t believe it. He ruined everything. He…” She started crying, and Wes put his arms around her.

“You’d better do everything you can to keep him and me apart. I can’t promise you I won’t…”

She pulled back and looked at him. “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

“It would feel so good.”

She wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket. “Where does this leave us?”

He sighed. “It leaves us with seventeen years of thinking we were rejected.” The kids were leaving their cabins and heading for the mess hall. “Damn dinner.”