He nodded.
Pastor Thomas pointed to the side door. “You can slip out that way.”
“Bless you,” she whispered.
Cliff and his brother left quietly. No one in the family saw them go. But Diana watched until the door shut behind them. When the lock clicked shut, she turned to face her family and clean up the mess she’d made.
Sadie made her way around the group and put her arm around her just as the tears started to fall. “Are you okay?”
“No. There’s no coming back from this.” She rubbed at the hot trails down her cheeks. “I’ve done the unthinkable to him.”
Sadie rubbed her back. “You can bake him some goodies when you get home.”
“Cupcakes can’t fix everything.” She sniffed. Cliff was going to drive away, and she couldn’t face him again. “I’ve behaved horribly. What man would want a woman who would lie to her family? I don’t think he’ll ever trust me again. Not once he really thinks things over.”
She leaned heavily into her older sister, wishing there was a way she could go back in time and erase all her mistakes.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” Asher asked.
Cliff threw his duffel bag in the back seat. He’d packed quickly, never really unpacking all the way. “She doesn’t need me anymore.” He fell into the passenger seat and leaned heavily on the door. As soon as the truth came out, Diana had cast him off—telling him to leave. He’d thought there was more to their relationship than the farce. She’d kissed him when no one was looking. She looked at him with what he thought was love in her eyes. She’d even bought him a flannel shirt and said such wonderful things. But it was all an effort to keep up pretenses. “If she wanted me, she would have said so.”
Asher started the car and headed down the long drive. “Let’s go to my place.”
Cliff nodded. What else was there to say? He’d had given his heart to the wrong woman—again. It was a mistake he didn’t intend to repeat.
Chapter 23
Diana
As penance for her crimes, Diana volunteered to strip all the beds and tidy the rooms. Most people wanted to get an early start and were grateful for her offer. She did her best to avoid the actual goodbyes, because she heard the same thing over and over: “I never would have guessed you two weren’t really in love.”
She didn’t have an answer for that one, because she was in love. She was so in love it hurt to be without Cliff. Her eyes were puffy and her nose raw from using tissues. And those pains weren’t even the worst of it. The worst was the gaping hole in her chest where her heart used to be. Apparently, Cliff had taken it with him when he drove away.
Sadie came in while she was changing the laundry. Mom had two washers and two dryers in the giant laundry room. There were piles of sheets all over, and Diana was doing her best to cycle things through. She took the sheets right out of the dryer and to the room where she put them on the bed again. Mom liked to have the house ready for renters at any point, and there was a group coming in for New Year’s.
“I thought you and Packer were leaving with the first wave.” Diana shook out a sheet before putting it in the washer. A pacifier flew out and smacked the wall. It wasn’t the first one of the day. She’d found a half dozen Legos too. Stepping on a Lego was bad enough; sleeping with them would be slow torture.
“We were, but I convinced him to wait a while. I wanted to talk to you alone.”
Sadie radiated compassion and determination. Not always a good combo when it came to an older sister. Something was afoot, and Diana braced. “I’ve had enough lectures for one Christmas.”
Sadie laughed. “I doubt you’ve had this one.”
She sighed. There was no getting around it. She’d only escaped Mom’s sharp tongue because she’d been crying so hard. Last she’d heard, Mom and Aunt Willow were out for the morning, soul-searching and revaluating how they’d raised their children. Diana was just as high on the naughty list as Celine. “Lay it on me. I deserve it I’m sure,” she told her sister.
“I think your one big mistake this weekend was not telling Cliff you love him.”
“You’re right!” She snapped her fingers. “I haven’t heard this angle yet … because it’sinsane!”
Sadie held up a hand. “Hear me out.”
Diana rolled her eyes.
Sadie shifted from foot to foot, her excitement of the revelation she was about to deliver keeping her from being still. “I didn’t think about this, but Packer mentioned something last night that got me thinking. He said no man would go along with a wedding unless he really loved you.”
“Pft! Obviously, he doesn’t know Cliff that well. Cliff would give you the shirt off his back. He is the nicest, kindest, most generous person in the whole world.”
