AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Colton’s jaw had become rigid, and the hands imprisoning her against the tree had curled into fists. Under the wrath of Cassie’s fury, Colton didn’t notice the splinters in his palms nor the pain. “Are you finished?”
“There isn’t any more to say.” She tried to duck under his arm, but he captured her wrist, spinning her back.
“There’s a helluva lot.”
“You have reasons for the way you behaved? Excuses?”
“Just the truth. You were pushing too hard, Cassie. You’d been hinting at marriage for a long time. The baby seemed convenient, especially when it never existed.”
“Maybe I was just hoping.”
“And maybe I didn’t like being played for a fool!”
“Only one person can make a person look like a fool, Colton,” she snapped. “And that’s the person himself.” Wrenching her arm free of his grasp, she started for the Jeep. But in three swift strides he was walking with her, matching her furious steps with those of his own. “Would it help if I said I’m sorry?”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t believe me, Colt. And that’s what this is all about!” She couldn’t stop the hot tears that burned in her eyes. At the Jeep she spun to face him. “You were right, you know. We were too young. But I would’ve waited if only I’d felt you cared.”
Leveling an oath at himself, Colt swore, his emotions battling deep inside. He brushed his finger over the slope of her cheek, sweeping aside a tear. “I cared,” he said, his voice raw with emotion. “God, I cared. And it scared the hell out of me.” He drew her into the circle of his arms and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, sighing heavily. “I never meant to hurt you. If you don’t believe anything else, please believe that I never intended to cause you any kind of pain. I should’ve told you all this a long time ago, but I couldn’t. I didn’t understand it myself for a long time, and when I finally did, my pride stood in my way.”
She felt a shudder rip through him and heard the catch in his voice. After eight long years, she believed him. Deep, racking sobs tore through her soul. She cupped his face between her hands, feeling his warm skin beneath her fingers, knowing in her heart that he was finally baring his soul.
He turned his face in her hands, kissing her palms. “If there were a way to erase all our mistakes, I’d do it, Cass,” he said. “And if I knew how to prove that I cared then and I care now, I’d do it.” He kissed her forehead and held her close.
She buried her face against his leather jacket and took in long, calming breaths.
Time passed, the silence a balm to old wounds. Cassie felt suddenly freed, unburdened from a weight so old it had become a part of her.
“Come on,” he cajoled. “I’ll take you to dinner. Anywhere you want!”
“Paris?” she replied, blinking and smiling through unshed tears. He chuckled, though his gaze, staring deep into her eyes, remained sober. “If that’s what you want.”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter.” She sniffed to keep from crying and made a valiant attempt to disguise the depth of her emotions.
“How about if we take a rain check on Paris and try something closer?”
“I’ll hold you to it, you know. I won’t forget.”
“Oh, yeah. I know, Cass,” he said, opening the passenger door of the Jeep and helping her inside. “I know.”
* * *
The minute they stepped through the door of the Pinewood Café, Cassie knew they’d made an irreversible mistake. Every eye in the small restaurant seemed to have turned curiously in their direction.
Most of the booths, upholstered in a forest-green Naugahyde, were filled. Smoke curled lazily to the ceiling, where a wheezing air-conditioning unit was fighting a losing battle to clean the air. Voices buzzed in low tones, glasses clinked and waitresses bustled from one table to the next.
As Colton touched Cassie’s elbow and guided her to a booth near the back, she recognized Matt Wilkerson and Bill Simpson at one table, Nate and Paula Edwards at another, and Vince Monroe with his wife, Nadine, and daughter, Jessica, just being seated. Half the town seemed to have decided to have dinner at the Pinewood.
Cassie nodded to a few people who waved to her, smiling at those who didn’t. She wondered if her lips still looked swollen, or if mascara darkened her cheeks. She’d swiped at her eyes in the Jeep and run her fingers through her loose, bedraggled curls, but she knew she must look like something the cat had dragged in, only to toss out again.
Most people in Three Falls knew her since she’d grown up in this small town and become one of two veterinarians who helped the neighboring ranchers with their stock and the townspeople with their pets. Managing a bright smile, she tried to act as if dining with Colton McLean were the most natural thing in the world.
“Popular spot,” Colton observed, glancing around the room as he hung both their jackets on a post separati
ng their booth from the next.
