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My mental state is all over the place; I feel like I’ve been thrown for a loop since being back in Hope Crest and still don’t know which way is up.
Patrick’s big hands are on my shoulders, his eyes boring into mine.
“You weren’t around for a lot of Butch’s shit in the later years. For instance, he called the board of health on our restaurant. They have to investigate each and every one of those claims. Do you know how annoyed we were that he’d done it so callously and with nothing to go on? Or when he trampled over a good portion of the back fields just two weeks before a harvest because he said Liam was intruding on his part of the property. Your father was a bitter old man, one who loathed other people for having success or love. A lot of people have those insecurities, but they don’t try to ruin other people’s livelihood because of it. And it wasn’t just our family. He broke up marriages by snitching about cheating spouses, regardless of if he knew their situation or not. He’d catch kids doing shit on the street, just normal kid goofiness, and try to haul them to the police station. It isn’t wrong of my father to be weary of your last name, you have to understand that. But I also know, and am going to try to get it through his thick head, that you’re nothing like that man. You’re kind and sweet and wish the best for people. You are incredibly compassionate and thoughtful, it’s part of the reason …”
Patrick trails off, and his eyes shift sideways before landing back on me.
“Part of me wanted you to leave town because … I’m going to get real honest here.”
“I think you know me enough to know I don’t operate any other way.” I prove his point that I’m not my father.
“I’ve had a thing for you since I was a teenager. Probably before that. You were the forbidden fruit on the edge of the property, which only made you more enticing. I’d catch you watching me when I rode around in the woods, and cocky little me tried so bad to show off for you. Then that night I took you for a ride … I could feel it. You did too, I know you did.”
“Talk about cocky,” I mutter, but his hands start stroking up and down my arms.
“You know you did.” Patrick’s voice never wavers. “And I felt it the moment I walked into that house to feed those damn animals. Our eyes met and I could feel it all over again. It scared me, knowing who your father was and what that sure-as-shit connection could become between us if kindled. I chickened out. I’d burned women before, didn’t feel like falling head over heels only to have it implode all over again. I was a dumbass, okay? I should never have said that, and if you left now, I’d be a useless shell of a person. Without you, my life isn’t whole.”
“The way you looked when your mother said that surely didn’t make it seem that way.” I’m being sullen and a bit dramatic because his reasoning is sound, and my temper is wearing off, but I’m still so humiliated about what happened in there that I need reassurance.
Patrick throws his hands up. “Because my mother is always meddling in other people’s business. It’s what she does, you’ll have to get used to it. I was annoyed in there because I haven’t had the chance to say the words myself, yet. To tell you how ridiculously in love with you I am, that I’ve gotten it wrong countless times because my heart knew it should be waiting for you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.”
“But you were about to get married. Two times.”
“Exactly. And what I feel when I’m with you, when I look at you across the room, when I think about us ten years from now … nothing before compares to this. To you. I’m in love with you, Cassandra. Beyond any kind of love I ever thought I’d feel.”
Tears dot the corners of my eyes, and even with how messed up and untethered my life feels, I know, without a doubt, that I love him, too. I can’t swallow to speak past the lump in my throat when he takes me into his arms.
“I’m so sorry about what happened in there. I swear, it’s not you. It’s his perception. The rest of my family is already smitten with you, even Liam though he probably won’t admit it. My dad will come around, if it makes it better, I wish I could take away the sting of what he said. Because I love you. Because I plan on loving you for a very long time.”
“Guess I can’t leave then.” My voice is wobbly as I press my cheek against his.
“No, you can’t,” he whispers in my ear.
The embrace feels like a balm to my wrecked soul.
“I love you, too, by the way.”
“I know.” I feel Patrick’s smile against my scalp, then he presses a kiss there.
A low chuckle works from my throat. “So cocky.”
“Come back inside, please?” The creak of the restaurant door reveals Leona, Patrick’s mother, and her face is a combination of apology and kindness.
Patrick looks down at me, measuring what condition I’m in. “Yeah. We have some things we all need to talk about.”
Why do I have a feeling he isn’t just talking about our relationship but the whole mess I seem to have landed myself in?
23
PATRICK
“You need to inform the other people in town.”
Dad’s gruff voice almost snaps the last of my patience.
I’m sitting at the head of a twelve-top that’s been bussed, and the restaurant lights dimmed as the sounds of the last of the kitchen staff cleaning echo from the back. My family sits around me, Dad at the other head, Mom by his side, my siblings and Warren gathered around. Cassandra is pulled into me, almost sitting on the side of my chair as I hold her to keep both of us anchored.
After Mom followed us outside and interrupted our first declarations of love, we went back in and waited for closing time. Not only did my family need to know what Cassandra means to me from my own lips, but they need to be clued in on what’s happening just beyond their property. Her safety, theirs, and what happens next all depend on it. It’s time to call in the troops on this one because, after last night, we can no longer do this alone.
