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She hung her head, not wanting to even make eye contact with her mother. “We were young and foolish. I can’t even wrap my head around how immature we were. We were four teenagers looking for a thrill, I suppose. Never in our wildest dreams did we think something bad would happen.”
Her mother tutted. “You girls were always so responsible, such good citizens of your community. Yet I always had the feeling something more went on that night, particularly when all the friendships fell apart afterward, but I never put the pieces together.”
“We swore each other to secrecy. Tate doesn’t know.”
“Oh, dear. And that secret is standing between you and Tate, isn’t it?”
Cassidy teared up. She was under so much pressure she felt as if she could explode. “I can’t go on like this, Mama. Keeping secrets about something so important isn’t who I want to be. I want to be better than that. I know it might cost me Tate, but if I don’t tell him then everything we’ve built will be based on half-truths.”
“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
Her mother was a true pastor’s wife. She had a scripture for every situation under the sun. And this time her scripture touched Cassidy in the deepest regions of her heart. Although she’d known for some time that she owed Tate the truth, she hadn’t been able to take that step. Until now. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted her world to be as radiant as the full light of day.
* * *
Just after his shift ended at the Sheriff’s Office Tate walked into the Falls Diner, his arms full of a vibrant bouquet of calla lilies, snapdragons and roses. All day he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Cassidy. Her radiant smile mesmerized him. Her joyful spirit always lifted him up. The cute little freckles scattered across her face made him want to kiss her. Her generous heart inspired him to greatness.
She was meeting him here for dinner after finishing up with her mother’s weekly oncology appointment. They were celebrating—Main Street Church had a new roof. He’d offered to take her somewhere more fancy, but she’d declined, reminding him that she was a big fan of Doc’s cheeseburgers. He looked down at the bouquet of flowers, wondering if they were too over the top. He still didn’t know how Cassidy felt about him. He had a hunch she felt the same way he did, but what did he know anyway? He could barely keep his own feelings straight. Something was holding him back from voicing his feelings to her. He couldn’t stop the doubt from creeping in, leaving him questioning whether or not they had a future.
Was it wise to try to reignite a flame that had already been extinguished?
And it was difficult to even consider laying his heart on the line when he knew she’d soon be leaving West Falls to go back to her gallery. How could he compete with the life she’d built for herself in Phoenix? Did he even have the gumption to try?
By the time she walked into the diner—fifteen minutes late—he was feeling a bit grumpy and out of sorts. The very sight of her caused him to suck in a deep breath. She looked beautiful in a simple floral skirt and sleeveless top. He stood up when Robin walked Cassidy to the booth he was sitting at, noticing right away the way she avoided eye contact with him and seemed a bit jumpy.
“Is everything okay? I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” he said as soon as she got settled in her seat, a slight edge to his voice.
“I’m sorry, Tate,” she apologized. “It’s been a long day.”
“How did your mother make out at her doctor’s visit?” He could clearly see the stress and strain on her face and it dawned on him that the checkup might not have gone well.
Cassidy gave him a half smile. “It went amazingly well. Her doctors are very pleased with the scans and her recovery.” She let out a sigh that sounded as if it came from deep within her soul.
“If you want to head home, I understand. We can do this some other time.”
“No, it’s fine. Unless of course you want to head home.”
“I’m good if you are,” he said, making an effort to hide his dismay. Her indifference caught him off guard, making him question whether he’d been kidding himself.
Robin appeared at their table to take their order. It gave him a chance to study Cassidy while she asked Robin a few questions about an item on the menu. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but suddenly they were tripping over each other like two teenagers on their first date. Cassidy wasn’t acting like herself. She was skittish and disconnected. Their conversation was nonexistent. The flowers he’d brought her sat beside him in the booth, neglected and unloved. He didn’t have the heart to give them to her. It was a grand gesture that didn’t seem appropriate given the tension hovering in the air between them.
His heart was all tied up in knots. He couldn’t help but feel that he was losing Cassidy all over again, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it felt just as painful as the first time.
* * *
Fear unlike any she’d ever known held Cassidy in its unrelenting grip. Although she was supposed to be enjoying a dinner date with Tate, she could barely get the food down her throat. Being so close to him and keeping this secret was unbearable. It burned inside her like acid. She didn’t want to hurt him all over again. She didn’t want to see the pain in his eyes when he discovered the truth. The thought of him hating her was too much to bear.
All through dinner she’d avoided looking into his beautiful eyes, because every time she gazed into them guilt washed over her. The longer she stayed in West Falls the more intensely guilty she felt about withholding the truth from Tate. Once he knew everything he wouldn’t even be able to look at her without disgust rising up within him.
Over the previous few weeks they’d managed to lay to rest some of the issues from the past. All of that would disintegrate in a heartbeat. He’d look at her with the same wounded eyes as when he’d first spotted her in the diner. He’d hate her. And the very thought of Tate hating her caused her physical pain.
Tate. The man she loved. The one she didn’t think she could live without.
>
Although she’d known it for a while, she’d stuffed the feelings deep down inside herself, not wanting to recognize them for what they were. It was too scary to be in love with Tate. Hadn’t she been down this road before? And she’d hurt him—broken him—to the point where she wasn’t sure he would even allow himself to love her again.
She looked down and nervously twiddled her fingers.
