“Of course you don’t have to do a thing.” He couldn’t keep the sharpness from his voice. “He’s going to rip it down.”
“I realize that but there’s no helping it.”
“Jesus, Cassie. This is a once-in-a-lifetime property. You’ve got a mature meadow here. There’s nothing like this left in Laurelton.” Selling the house was one thing, but toWeber?How could she go there? “Why not try another caregiver?”
“Caregivers come and go. And eventually he’s going to need someplace where we don’t have to worry that he’s going to fall down the stairs or whether he likes the lady or if she’s going to quit. And they’re developing now. If we don’t jump on this offer, it’ll go away.”
He felt a rising sense of hurt. “You never said a word about this.”
“I didn’t know what to say. At first, we didn’t know each other well, and honestly, I knew you wouldn’t like it. I guess I didn’t want to go there. I feel bad. Believe me, it’s not what I want to do.”
He tossed a rock into the woods, where it landed in the leaves with a hollow thud. “I get it about the money. And it’s your decision, you and your family’s. I just wish you’d said something.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. It just never felt like the right time.”
His thoughts were beginning to coalesce in a troubling way. “You were thinking about this the whole time we’ve been together. You met with Weber and didn’t even tell me.” For some reason, her silence seemed the greatest sin. “I was in a marriage that wasn’t honest,” he said tightly. “She never told me a goddamn thing until the day she said she was leaving. It’s not about doing what’s right for your family. It’s keeping stuff back. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but to me it’s all abouttrust.” He gestured toward the Kingsley property. “You let things go along with us when you knew you wanted to sell to Weber. What the hell else are you keeping back?”
“I’m not keeping anything back. You see my life. I have an eighty-five-year-old father with dementia who just had a heart attack. And a house that’s falling apart. I’ve been doing my best trying to hold everything together, but I can’t do it anymore.” She blinked back tears. “They’re already developing the other parcel. It’s happening with or without our five acres.”
“Oh, so why not be part of the problem?”
Her eyes widened. “That’s how you see me, part of the problem?”
“I don’t know how to see things anymore. Without honesty, we have nothing.” He pushed off the wall, something closing off inside him. He’d been a fool to believe things could be different this time. She was just like Sophie. Maybe all women were. “I need to go.”
“Glenn.”
“I can’t do this if I don’t trust you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “It’s just a house. It has nothing to do with us.”
He shook his head, heat building behind his own eyes. “It has everything to do with us. You just can’t see it.”
He started back to the hives to collect his things, half expecting she would follow and try to convince him. But she didn’t. As he gathered up his equipment he saw out of the corner of his eye that she’d started up the hill toward the house. Head down, walking slowly.
Part of him wanted to rush after her and say it didn’t matter. That they’d find a way. But it did matter. It said everything about her.
He sealed up the hives and stowed his equipment in the truck, his whole body ringing with hurt. Twenty minutes agohe’d been mulling over how to save the weakened colony, but it didn’t matter. She could do what she wanted with the bees. It wasn’t his problem.
In a month all this would be gone anyway.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cassie trudged across the field, her whole body numb. He’d shut down just like she’d feared, looked at her like a stranger. Like he’d never even known her. She should have told him sooner. He was right, she hadn’t been honest. She’d waited and waited for the right time, but there was never a right time. She should have just come out with it. If she’d been up front from the start it might have made a difference, but now she’d never know.
She tried to slip inside unnoticed but ran into Shelly, hair damp from the shower, clumping down the stairs with a load of laundry.
“Nothing,” Cassie said when Shelly gave her a look.
“Bullshit. Your eyes are red. You told him, didn’t you?” Shelly set down the laundry basket, and Cassie gave in and sank to the bottom step. No point trying to evade her sister, she would hunt her down and make her talk.
Cassie sighed miserably. “I don’t know what I expected. I knew he’d be disappointed, but I thought maybe we could talk it through. That he might understand. But he actually accused me of being part of the problem.”
Shelly squeezed next to her so they were sitting bottom to bottom like they used to. “What problem?”
Cassie gave a dispirited wave of her hand. “I don’t know, all of it—deforestation, climate change, child labor, who knows.” Her shoulders slumped. “I feel bad about cutting this up. I do.” She lowered her voice, but the TV was on and their dad couldn’t hear. “But who else is going to give us three-point-two million?”
Shelly rubbed the back of Cassie’s neck, which was one massive knot. “The guy’s crazy about you, it’s obvious. Give him a day or two. It’ll blow over.”
