AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was it. The sound of his voice made me crack and tears streamed down my face. “No. I’m not okay. Everything is not fine.”
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
“I need to go. I have to leave Willow Valley. I told you it was a mistake coming here.”
Gabe cleared his throat and whispered something to someone before returning to the phone. “Cadence, tell me what is going on?”
I looked around the room, at the Christmas tree that stood in the corner, reminding me of the night Conner and I had decorated it. Then I glanced over to the couch, to where we’d gotten halfway through a movie before we’d started making out. Then I thought to this morning, to the cold look in his eyes as he barked at me to get dressed. I sniffled, reaching for a tissue from the box on the table in front of me.
“I’m…I’m heartbroken Gabe. Connor and I, well, let’s just say the plan you orchestrated worked.”
“Wonderful, that makes me so happy…but…” He stopped as the weight of my words sunk in. “If it worked, why are you heartbroken?” Gabe asked.
I pulled another tissue from the box and blew my nose. “His feelings for me will never catch up to mine. That’s why. Ella’s parents…that’s another reason.” I blew my nose again.
“Cadence, you aren’t making an ounce of sense to me.”
I got up and began pacing the room. Then I ran up to my bedroom and pulled my suitcase out from under the bed and began throwing my clothes inside.
“Keep up, would you? I just got a call from the real estate guy. The farm has sold. I was hoping to take it off the market, but I got the call before I could. I was going to go back there. Now I have no clue where I’ll go.”
I heard Gabe let out a deep breath. I imagined he was running his hand through his messy hair, wondering to himself why his sister had to be such a basket case over every little thing. Why I couldn’t cope with things the way he could.
“Cadence, why are you going anywhere?”
“I guess I’ll just move to Florida. Most everyone whose life is over moves to Florida. Yeah, Florida would be fine,” I muttered more to myself.
“Cadence, please calm down. Don’t be irrational. Just wait it out a few days, wait for me to come home, then we can talk this through. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems.”
I laughed under my breath. Did he really just call me irrational? Me? “I’m not irrational, Gabe,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You aren’t?”
“No! What did I do when I heard Connor was getting married? I didn’t act irrational.”
Gabe laughed. “Sorry, sis, but moving out and to the Midwest isn’t something one does on a whim.”
“I didn’t do it on a whim. Grams and Gramps needed me and you know it.”
“Perhaps they did, maybe they didn’t. Perhaps you were looking for an out. Regardless, getting up and moving without so much as a second thought is irrational to me,” Gabe replied.
Irritation grew inside of me. “I have to go. I don’t have time to listen to this.”
“Cadence, wait,” I heard as I went to place the phone down.
“What?”
“Where are you going to go? Back to the Midwest?”
I stood there, looking around the mess in my room. I’d pulled clothes from the closet and from drawers with no type of order in mind, and they were now a heap of a mess in my suitcase.
“I don’t know. The Midwest isn’t far enough. Florida sounds nice, but…maybe Canada, Alaska…France?”
“God, Cadence, irrationality at its finest. Seriously, do nothing until I get home. I’ve got to go.”
“Call Connor. Tell him to pick you up. I’ll see you when I see you,” I said, hanging up and focusing on the task in front of me: packing and getting out of Willow Valley as quickly as I could.
Connor
