Which wasn’t the same as being honest.
I cannotpretendto be your mate.
“Oh,” she said, barely audible.
Paige let out a relieved groan. “And she sees the light at last.”
“Thank goodness,” Honey sighed. “I thought we were going to have to hit them both over the head with a shovel and lock them in a broom closet.”
“That was the easy part, though,” Moira said, brow creasing. “We still have to get Shan to admit the truth.”
“Don’t worry,” Leonie said grimly. Draining the last of her cocktail, she stood up. “You can leave that to me.”
CHAPTER 20
“Shan,” Beth said as they were toasting marshmallows that evening. “Did you and Leonie have a fight?”
He’d been afraid that the campers would notice things had changed between their counselors. It hardly required a great feat of observation to notice that Leonie was now avoiding him.
Beth was looking at him, her face pinched with worry. Tiff and Estelle had stopped chattering with each other, clearly more interested in his own conversation. Spencer, Ignatius, and Finley had already finished their s’mores and gone off to look at planets through the camp’s telescope, but Rufus was still present. Unfortunately. He’d have to be careful what he said.
“No, we did not have a fight,” he said to Beth. Aware of Rufus’s listening silence, he added, “But…I hurt her feelings.”
He’d seen her reaction when he’d rejected her. The way she’d stopped, all the bright hope in her eyes shattering into humiliation. She’d done her best to conceal it, but she couldn’t hide the truth. Not from him.
She’d always been so honest, so open. So brave, reachingout to others without hesitation, offering whatever she could give. There were no walls around her heart.
Why shouldn’t we enjoy a temporary summer fling, if that’s what we both want?
Because I do not.
If he could have tasted his own words, they would have been sweet as arsenic. They should have burned in his mouth, shriveling his tongue.
“My dad says that everyone makes mistakes sometimes,” Beth said earnestly. “Just say you’re sorry, and you didn’t mean it.”
“But I did.” He rotated his stick, watching the marshmallow at the end blacken. “I knew exactly what I was saying. And how she would take it.”
He couldn’t even blame his animal. He was the one who’d said those terrible words, knowing how she would misinterpret them. He was the one who’d hurt her. Just him.
His monster had been furious.
At least that had solved another problem. Even if it had introduced another one.
He tugged his sleeve down, making sure none of his wrist was exposed above his glove. He no longer had to worry about Leonie wondering what had happened to his claws, but he didn’t want the kids asking why he now had tiger stripes from wrist to elbow, stark against his skin.
From the glances the girls exchanged, they were all rather thrown by this admission of guilt. Rufus continued constructing a s’more, apparently oblivious to the conversation.
Estelle rallied first. “Well, are you sorry now?”
His marshmallow was on fire. Rather than try to rescue it, he tossed the whole stick into the flames. “Yes. Though I think I should not be.”
“Even if you don’t think you did anything wrong, youshould still apologize for hurting her feelings,” Beth said. “Leonie’s a kind person. I’m sure she’ll forgive you.”
Estelle perked up. “Looks like we can find out right now. Hi, Leonie!”
His heart lurched. He wasn’t sure if it was with dread, or joy. Even now, just being in her presence felt like a gift.
“I was not expecting to see you this evening,” he said to her. “Is everything all right?”
