She said nothing.
“I asked Cash to pretend to be my boyfriend because I thought it would make you happy.”
“So, Cash has been lying to me, too.” Her voice was eerily soft.
“No, Cash agreed to play along for the first afternoon. But when we found out you were staying all summer, he refused to keep lying—because he’s entirely good.”
“Yet here we are.”
“Yes, here we are. Cash wouldn’t fake a relationship with me. He said the only way he’d be in my life was if I would date him for real.” I fixed a hard gaze on Chelsea and Dylan. “Cash and I didn’t start dating until three weeks ago. He loved you both, but you threw that love away.”
Dylan’s cheeks flush and he couldn’t meet my eyes while Chelsea tossed her hair over her shoulder and tugged him away from the table.
I could hardly see past the tears filling my eyes when I turned back to Grandmother. “And now he thinks I’ve done the same thing to him—thrown him away so I could collect a check.”
She shook her head slowly, sadness clouding her eyes. “Have you told me the truth about anything, Willow?” she asked.
Now it was my turn to avoid eye contact. I strangled the sobs fighting to get out.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Grandmother said. “I purchased that building for you today because I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“I’m a music artist, Grandmother, just like my mom was.” My voice quivered, but I got all the words out. “Nothing will ever change that. I know you don’t think it’s good enough, but it really is. If there’s one thing Cash has taught me, it’s thatI’mgood enough.”
“Why didn’t you just ask for the money you needed?” Grandmother asked.
“Would you have given me money so I could pay to have my record produced?” She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to because we both knew what she would’ve said.
I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand, still hanging onto that check. “I understand if you want to cancel the contract on that building, get your money back, and erase me from the family. But I need to keep this money for a little while.”
I quickly wrapped my arms around her neck, hugging her for what was probably the first and last time now that she knew what a disappointment I was. “I wish I would have done things differently,” I whispered in her ear. “I wish we could have built a good relationship. I’m so sorry.” I sniffed and pulled away, taking a deep breath and putting the check in my pocket.
“Willow—” Grandmother said.
“I’ll pay back every penny even if I have to work three jobs to do it,” I said, taking a few backward steps away from her. “I promise.” Then I dashed into the crowd after Cash, desperately hoping he’d be willing to speak to me when I found him.
I searched up and down rows of tables, cringing at the sight of the celebration going on at the winning booth. That should have been Cash—ithadbeen Cash before I’d ruined everything. I jogged in the last direction I’d seen him walking and shouted his name over and over.
“He went toward the parking lot,” a short, elderly woman called from one of the nearby tables.
“Mrs. G., is that you?”
“Um-hum, and he was walking fast. I know trouble when I see it. Go after him. Hurry!”
A tear broke free and ran down my cheek as my throat knotted with grief. Trouble was the understatement of the year. This was a disaster—one I didn’t know if we could come back from. But I nodded toward Mrs. G. and sprinted for the parking lot.
I got there in time to see Cash’s truck pulling out of the lot and heading in the opposite direction of our apartment complex. I’d missed him.
My chest heaved, and my heart broke a little more with each beat as I watched Cash’s taillights get farther and farther away. He was gone and he wasn’t coming back. But eventually he’d have to go home, and I’d be there waiting for him when he did.
Whether or not he’d speak to me when he got there was a different story all together.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Ijolted awake at the sound of a door closing. I blinked several times, my eyes adjusting to the sunlight streaming in through the window. It took a few seconds for me to remember why I was sprawled out on my futon with a scratchy throw pillow irritating my cheek. I rubbed the blurriness from my eyes as memories of last night’s disaster came into focus.
After watching Cash drive away, I’d gone home to wait for him to return. But as the minutes stretched into hours, I’d gone from pacing the floor to lying on the futon, listening for the sound of his keys jingling in his lock across the breezeway. From the size of the drool spot on the pillow, it was safe to say I’d gotten in several solid hours of sleep as I camped out in the living room.
I got up and hurried across the room to check myself in the mirror, certain the sound that had cut my beauty rest short had been him. I took one look at my smudged eye makeup and shuddered. I knew Cash well enough now to know he wasn’t the shallow guy I’d once thought him to be, but still, I couldn’t go over to talk to him looking like a hungover racoon.
