No!
A flash of light in the distance reflects off the bedroom window. I stuff the ring in my pocket and run downstairs barefoot.
Thinking to stop her, I unlatch the front door and throw it open.
Except.
She’s here. She’s not running away. She’s running toward me.
Relief washes over me but also a bucket full of questions. And anger. What the hell?
“Why did you tell your mom you wanted me to leave?” She steps onto the porch and her voice carries loudly into the house.
Trying to come to terms with the fact that she’s dressed like she’s leaving me, I process her question.
“What in the blazes are you talking about?” I shout to be heard over the roar of Levi’s truck. “Turn that damn thing off!” I glare in my youngest brother’s direction.
“Are you trying to wake the whole house up?” Jessamine comes up behind me.
“What’s going on out here?” The foyer light flicks on. Of course, nothing gets past my grandma.
But I try to tune them out. Isabella thinks I want her to leave? I focus on her tormented gaze. “Sweetheart, sugar. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“With your mom.” Her eyes reflect the light shining on her from inside the house.
“I heard it too, Tuck.” Jessamine’s voice chimes in behind me. “You told Mom you needed to ask Isabella to leave. You said things weren’t gonna work out…”
At these words Isabella nods. “I was gonna leave this morning. So you wouldn’t have to send me away. But…” She brushes some escaped strands of hair away from her face. “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand. So I made Levi bring me back.” She glances apologetically at Jessamine.
“You knew about this?” I glance over my shoulder at my sister. “What the hell? Doesn’t anybody talk to me anymore?”
“Why would you say those things, Tucker?” Jessamine demands.
Oh, hell. It dawns on me. Talking with Mom…
“I was talking about Cassidy.” No wonder she was so crazy last night. “About sending Cassidy away. I Told Mom she had to go.” I turn back to Jessamine. “I know she’s your friend, Jess. But Isa’s gonna be my wife. I can’t have somebody trying to undermine her. As soon as you all get that into those thick skulls of yours, this will be a lot easier for everybody.” Good God… My family!
My gaze swings back to Isabella. “You were gonna leave me, Isa? You would leave me?” This is almost more than I can take. Cool air chills my chest. All I’m wearing is my jeans. It’s springtime, but it still cold in the mountains.
She was gonna leave me.
I drop my head in defeat.
Delicate fingers grip my arm. “But I couldn’t.”
I meet her gaze again.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of being sent away by you.” She glances toward Jessamine and then back to me. “I wanted to believe it was a mistake, but it seemed crystal clear.”
My eyes pinch closed. “About Cassidy.”
“What’s all the commotion down here?” My mom’s voice carries across the living room. And then tiny hands wrap around my legs.
I open my eyes to see Leeland’s little face peering up at me. His hair stands straight out. For me the saying “Love me, love my family,” applies more than I would have thought.
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.” Isabella lowers her voice in the vain hope that this conversation will include only the two of us. “I wanted to surprise you with my boots.”
Her boots.
