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“Why?” Tam asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “Who said that to you?”
“Ginny Winters,” he said, sighing afterward. “We met at the wedding, and I’ve seen her over at Olli’s and Spur’s a couple of times. I asked her to dinner, but she sent me that text instead.”
Tam smiled at Cayden and laid her head against his shoulder. “Ginny Winters doesn’t play games, Cayden. Whatever she says, she means.” She straightened, the sound of a truck’s engine getting closer. “Also, you shouldn’t ask her out via text. She is far more sophisticated than that.”
She stood as Blaine’s truck crested the hill. “Dear Lord, here we go.”
“Sophisticated?” Cayden stood too, but Tam didn’t have enough mental energy to focus on him and the man driving toward her. “We’ll talk later.” Cayden turned and left her standing on the top stair.
“Mm,” she said, not even sure what he’d said to her. Her feet took her down to the sidewalk, where she remembered the garlic knots. She hurried back up the steps to retrieve the box of Blaine’s favorite food.
She felt like a dunce carrying it toward him. A blast of loud music filled the air for only a moment, and then a truck door slammed.
Keep going, Tam coached herself.A few more steps. Don’t stop.
She made it around the trucks parked in front of the house, and Blaine and his truck came into view. She stopped, her fingers tightening on the box of food.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice low and his cowboy hat pushed all the way down over the tips of his ears.
“I came to apologize,” she said. “I brought cheesy garlic knots from Mindie’s in a potentially disastrous attempt to get you to forgive me with cheese, bread, and butter.” She twittered, the sound so nervous.
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” he said, taking a few slow steps toward her. The darkness hid his whole face, and she really wanted to see him.
Frustration grew inside Tam. “Yes, I do,” she said. “I don’t hate you, and I shouldn’t have said I did.”
“I overreacted.”
True, and he was admitting it, which only endeared him to her more. “I want you to call me. I want you to come by. I don’t want this to be the end of us.” She took a shuddering breath. “I want to be your wife, and I want to build a family with you.” She looked down at the white box that held cold breadsticks, her eyes burning. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, and that I said things I didn’t mean, and I know it’s idiotic to think I can buy forgiveness with bread.”
She looked up at him. “I’m willing to wait if you need time. I know everything about you, Blaine Chappell, and I’m in love with you.” She took the few quick steps to erase the distance between them. “Please, take the knots and say something.”
She certainly needed to stop speaking. She thought of her mother, and how strong she’d said Tam was. A sense of accomplishment filled Tam for having the strength to come here and say all she had. She’d held back with Blaine for so long, and she really didn’t want to do that anymore.
“I don’t want the garlic knots,” he said.
Tam recoiled from him as if he’d thrown ice water in her face. Sputtering, she had no idea what to say. She couldn’t look at him, because what kind of sadist watched another person rip their heart out and squeeze it into a tiny ball?
“I just want you,” he said.
Tam’s gaze flew back to Blaine’s. “You want me?”
“Yes,” he said. “Iwas the idiot at your shop that night. I shouldn’t have let Hayes bother me, but I did. I said terrible things that weren’t true—we never pretended. Nothing we did waseverfake.”
Tam’s life started to brighten, but she pulled hard on the reins so the hope inside her wouldn’t get too far ahead of reality.
Blaine took the box from her. “I don’t want these.” He dropped the box on the ground. “I love you. I want you.”
The air in Tam’s lungs whooshed out, and she reached for him. “I’m sorry,” she murmured at the same time he said it to her. He gathered her close, and Tam stood in his arms as the things that had been bent and misplaced between them got righted.
He felt solid and warm, and Tam clung to him, still in shock that he’d said he wanted her.
“I didn’t think anyone could ever want me,” she said.
“You don’t see yourself clearly, Tamara,” he whispered, pulling back. He leaned down and kissed her, and the future Tam had started to envision for the two of them came roaring back into her mind in full color.
She kissed him back, feeling every stroke of his mouth against hers, every touch of his hand along her back and in her hair. Every sense had heightened, and she enjoyed all the sensations of kissing Blaine Chappell after he’d said he loved her and wanted her.
When he finally pulled away, Tam’s pulse hammered through her veins. “Where have you been?” she asked.
