“I know, but he told us what he was going to do and we laughed, thinking he was joking.” As if to prove his point, he laughs incredulously. “I’m such an idiot.”
“What do you mean?” My brows furrow, my tilting gaze locked on his.
“He said he was going tofuckyou andghostyou, and he did, didn’t he? You slept together, right?”
My lips part and I stare at Cade deadpan, replaying his words over in my mind just as Jenna cuts in. “Hewasjoking, Cade. Don’t be a dick.”
“It may have seemed that way. But he did it. Tell me I’m wrong?”
“You’re wrong,” Jenna and I both say at the same time, to which he scoffs.
“Everything’s good then? And you’re moving to San Francisco to be with him?”
“No, Cade. I’m moving for my dream job.”And to be with him.
“I thought your dream job was to be awriter,” he accuses and I freeze. He hasn’t mentioned me being a writer for years and suddenly he’s bringing it up.
“After all this time, you still don’t want me with Zane. I thought it was because you didn’t want to lose a friend? You’re not even friends anymore.”
“Ididn’t think you were ‘with Zane.’”
“Well, I am.” I sigh, my body sagging in defeat. I’m never going to make him understand. And whether I’m with Zane or not is beside the point. “It shouldn’t matter what I do with my life, Cade. You should want me to be happy, no matter what I choose.”
“I—”
“You’ve never done that. You weren’t happy when I changed my major to nursing. You weren’t happy I was with Nathan. And you’re not happynow. I can’t win.”
“You don’t know Nathan as well as—” I shoot him a death stare and he stops talking for a beat. We’re not having this argument again. That’s not the point.
“You’re wrong.” He changes direction, clenching his fist, clearly upset. “If I believed you were truly happy with anyoneof those life choices, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops. If you were happy, I’d be so ecstatic, you’d think it was sickening. But Blair, you haven’t been truly happy since the day Sierra died. Actually, no. You haven’t been happy since Zane’s nineteenth birthday, and I’m only now realizing why.”
My breath hitches, and my chest grows tight. Cade turns away and I’m grateful for the reprieve. I don’t want him to see my tears. Because he’s right. Only, it took me until last week to see it.
Cade curses under his breath while I frantically wipe my eyes. And when he glances back at me, his expression distraught, my heart breaks.
“It’s always been him, hasn’t it?” he asks, shaking his head. “It’s my fault you kept it a secret.”
God, the fault game is getting old. “It’s no one’s fault anymore, Cade. It happened. For now, I just want your support with whatever choice I make.”
“If you’re not choosing Zane, will you consider coming home?”
“No. Not for any longer than a vacation.”
“Please.”
“No. You know me, Cade. I’m going to be a nurse for the Heartwood University Lions. For a D1 college football team.” My heart swells with joy and I shake my head in disbelief. “Don’t you see—” I pause when Cade starts smiling, a genuine warmth surrounding him.
“There it is.”
“There what is?”
“Your happiness. That look right there. That’s what’s been missing since you were seventeen.”
He steps forward and reaches for my hands, bending down so he can look me in the eye. “Does Zane make youthishappy?”
“He does.” I nod.
“Well, okay.” He releases my hands and pulls me into a hug, his tight brotherly hold almost suffocating me, like it always used to.
