Page 78 of Suddenly Yours

I stared down the dark slope, my mind betraying me with images I clung to.

Cade laughing in the kitchen. Cade sanding floors with sawdust in his hair. Cade standing on my porch in the rain, kissing me like he’d been waiting his whole life to do it.

I hadn’t said it.

The thought slammed into me so hard it stole the air from my lungs, causing me to sway. Max’s arms tightened around me. Holding me upright.

Cade had said it. Softly. Casually. Like it was a given.

I love you.

What kind of idiot doesn’t say it back when it’s true? It’s always been true.

Hours seemed to pass, though it was probably only minutes. Time stretched and warped, every second dragging on. The firefighters worked with careful precision. The winch groaned as it took more weight, the cable strained as they stabilized the truck enough to get access to the inside.

At one point, I thought I might be sick. Max must have noticed because he shifted in front of me, blocking my view.

“Don’t look,” he murmured. “Not yet.”

“I need to,” I said hoarsely, swallowing hard. “I need to know.”

He didn’t argue. He just stayed close.

Finally, finally, someone yelled that they had the door open and that he was alive.

Alive.

Cade was alive.

The winch whined louder as the metal groaned. The door twisted, then gave way. A flashlight beam cut through the darkness below, followed by another.

“There,” someone said.

My heart stopped.

I strained forward despite Max’s hold, my entire body shaking now. They moved carefully, impossibly carefully, easing Cade free inch by inch. I couldn’t see much at first, just flashes of yellow gear, gloved hands, the dark outline of his body.

The rain started pelting down again, and I cursed it.

Then they lifted him.

And I saw his face.

His neck and head were circled in a white brace. His skin was so pale beneath the dirt and blood. One side of his face was bruised already and in the harsh lights I could see that it was swollen. There was a cut at his hairline and dried blood caked along his temple. His body was strapped tight to the board, and an oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose.

He wasn’t moving. His eyes didn’t open.

Something inside me shattered.

The sound that came out of me didn’t feel human. I don’t remember pulling away from Max. Don’t remember stumbling forward, but suddenly I was on my knees in the gravel, sobbing so hard my chest burned.

“No,” I whispered, over and over. “No, no, no, Cade, please.”

Max was there instantly, kneeling beside me. His arms wrapped around my shoulders while I broke completely. I pressed my face into his jacket, my tears soaking through the material as my whole body convulsed with the force of it.

“I didn’t say it,” I choked out. “I didn’t tell him that I love him. Max, I’ve always loved him and I didn’t tell him.”

“He knows.” Max’s grip tightened. His voice broke when he spoke. “You will. You’re going to tell him. He’s going to be okay.”