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“Cedar will bring your car here, and you can leave when she returns. For now, we’ll head in and get some food into you. You need something.”
We entered his house, and I was greeted by a warm and comforting smell of baked bread.
“That smells amazing.”
“It does. I love my bread maker.” Landon walked into the kitchen.
“Don’t tell Sylvia. She’s a die-hard baker and would be crushed to learn a machine made your bread.”
“We’re not that close. I think I’m safe.” He winked. “Please make yourself at home while I tend to a few things over here.”
I curled onto his couch and started shaking.
Landon came over with a tray of sliced bread, a plate of butter, and two mugs of tea. He wrapped a blanket over me. “What would you like first?”
“A slice of bread please.”
He buttered it and handed it to me. The first bite was amazing, and the bread nearly melted in my mouth.
“I have a few things I need to clear up with you.” The couch moved as he sat near my feet.
I swallowed and stared while he buttered his own slice and took a bite.
“My doorbell rings to my phone.” He took another bite. “And I saw the whole conversation. It’s not recorded, it’s live.”
I tucked into the quilt, allowing the weight to wrap around me and hide any shame.
“Maybe it’s unfair of me to ask you right now, but I need to know. Did you mean everything in your apology?”
“Yes.” I pushed up into more of an upright position and said with confidence. “Every word.” Moving forward, I set the rest of my bread down. “At first, yes, I was only interested in you to get to know Cedar, but after the scary assed boat ride–”
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“In hindsight, it was pretty cool, and I’d probably do it again.” I let a weak smile float to my lips. “But something happened on that boat ride. It was a little something, but it changed everything, I just didn’t know it at the time. By time we got to the bonfire, I was in full denial mode, and I know that now. I’d hesitated in saying anything to Cedar, but my mouth got the better of me, and off I went. I never meant to hurt anybody. Not you. Not her. No one.”
He gobbled up the rest of his slice and chased it down with a sip of tea.
“I know I screwed up, and for the rest of my life I’ll wonder what could’ve been had I been honest up front.”
Landon leaned back in his spot and draped his arms across the back of the couch.
“I know the age difference is an issue.”
“Not as much as you’d think.”
“I have light years of growth to catch up to you.”
He rubbed my arm. “In many ways, you’re more mature than I’ll ever be, and in other ways, I am. It’s all about balance, and I think that’ll work to our advantage.”
I snorted, doubting I was the more mature one, and reached for my tea.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for leaving you all alone at Lighthouse Park, and for saying you’re not part of the family. I was angry, and you were right, I do tend to overreact. Lucy said it was our downfall.”
Lucy.I wanted answers to that.
“Tell me about her. How does she fit into this.” I waved a finger between us.
He sighed, a defensive tone on the tip of his tongue. “Are you going to get all judgemental about it?”
