They lookedsohappy. Young and bright and with their full futures ahead of them.
Cadence curled up in bed, propping the photo beside her. She traced the curve of Tyler’s smile, the place where his eyes scrunched with his laughter.
When she looked at them this way, it was so easy to see the good memories. She thought about the honeymoon vacation they’d taken up to a cabin in Canada, a quiet week in the woods just the two of them. Tyler had laughed that it was an unconventional choice, but Cadence had argued that they livedat the beach, so shouldn’t they vacation elsewhere? And they’d had the greatest time, hiking all day and curling up in front of a fire in the evenings.
She thought about Izzy’s first birthday, when they’d given their daughter a little cupcake to celebrate. Izzy had, instead of trying to eat it herself, taken a handful of frosting and smashed it directly into Tyler’s ear. Cadence had laughed so hard her stomach had hurt, and even Tyler had chuckled… after he got the frosting out of his ear, which had taken a long, long while.
These versions of them seemed at once so close and so far away.
Cadence closed her eyes before any tears could escape. When she fell asleep, the photo was still clutched tightly in her hands.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tyler wasn’t sure if he’d ever been so nervous in his life, at least not when it came to romantic matters. Oh, he’d been nervous about other things, certainly. When Izzy had been born, he’d practically sweat all the way through his shirt with nerves that he’d tried to hide from Cadence, since he didn’t want to add even the tiniest bit more to her burden. He had been nearly as nervous when he’d tried out for the soccer team in high school, but that had been the chaotic emotional response of one’s teenaged years.
Asking Cadence out for the first time, though? No, he’d been pretty certain that she’d been interested in him, since they’d been circling one another and flirting with increasing obviousness for months by the time he got up his courage.
Even when he’d asked her to marry him, he’d been nervous, to be certain, but notthisnervous. After all, they’d discussed marriage, so he knew she was interested in the idea. He’d had it on pretty good authority, which was to say Cadence’s own authority, that she would say yes.
This time, he did not know at all if she would say yes.
This time, she might very well kick him right out on his butt, and he wouldn’t be able to blame her.
After all, it had been only two nights before that she’d told him she was scared to try again. And he respected that, he did.
He just wanted one more shot to show her that he could do better, not just tell her. Just one more chance to remind her that they were good together.
He poked his head into the gallery as though he was some kind of burglar looking to case the joint, then immediately felt silly. Yes, he wasn’t entirely certain what Cadence’s response would be to his showing up, but that didn’t mean he needed to act like he was doing something wrong.
He didn’t see Cadence at first—the main space of the gallery was empty. Tyler paused. He’d brought Cadence her favorites, an iced lavender latte from Juniper Café and a Bavarian croissant from Honey Bee Bakery. He’d figured that way, even if she was annoyed at him for showing up, even if it turned out that his decision to show up here was ahugemiscalculation, then at least Cadence would have some treats to show for it.
Except… he couldn’t give her the pastry or the drink, which was rapidly melting in the summer heat, if he couldn’tfindher.
“Oh, shoot, shoot,shoot.”
Tyler whipped around at the sound of Cadence’s distress. He hurriedly put the beverage and bakery bag down on the front desk and hurried toward a back corner of the room, where Cadence was…
“Oh my gosh, Cadence, be careful!”
Cadence startled at his words. Ironically, Tyler thought this might have helped her balance, as she was precariously perched on the ricketiest stool he had ever seen, trying to hang a painting high up on the wall.
He stepped forward and put one hand against Cadence’s back, reaching the other up to steadying the large frame she held. Between the two of them, they got both the art and Cadence safely to the floor.
Once Tyler no longer felt like his heart was trying to leap out of his chest, he glanced up at the hook where Cadence had been trying to loop the frame.
“That needs to be higher,” he observed.
“Ugh, I know,” she said, pushing a wayward strand of hair from her face. Her hair was a little less controlled now that it was shorter, since she could no longer wear the braid that had been her signature for so many years. He liked her new look. It was… playful. It reminded him of a younger, more carefree version of Cadence.
Though hehadseen her hair directly after she’d gotten the perm, before her friend June had helped her fix the style. Tyler would never, ever admit this, not to anyone, not for any reason, but in the safety of his own mind he could admit that maybe, just maybe, it hadn’t been her very best look.
But that was in the vault.
“If you know,” he asked teasingly, “then why is the hook not higher.”
She gave him a flat, unimpressed look. “It’s because I couldn’t reach it, as you know perfectly well, Tyler Meadows, so don’t give me a hard time.”
He grinned at her. She was fun to tease.
