My heart clenched, and I felt awful. “But you do want to know.”
“I have to know.” His gaze darkened. “I’m not worried about discovering anything that could hurt me. But I’m worried about you, about ruining what we have.”
And suddenly I was, too. Tell Rufus the truth and hurt him or not tell him and hurt him worse?
“John,” I started. “Listen…”
“Yes?”
Of course his phone rang, and I wanted to take it and throw it into the middle of the street.
“Let me silence that,” he murmured.
“It’s okay. You can answer it.”
“It’s Willard.” His eyes filled with worry. “This could be about the person.”
“Take the call.” My heart drummed in my chest. “What I have to say will wait.”
Forever, it felt like. I wasn’t sure if this was a sign from God or someone else that I wasn’t supposed to tell Rufus the truth, but it certainly felt like it. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a sign. Maybe I was overthinking things. Maybe it was a big heaping stinking pile of coincidence. Wouldn’t that just figure? That karma or Murphy’s Law were at play in my life and keeping me from telling Rufus the truth.
And what was more frustrating was the fact that I actually did want to confess. Yes, I had hemmed and hawed about it for a while—I won’t deny it. But when push came to shove, I was ready to go ahead and tell him everything that he needed to know.
Yet I kept being stopped from that.
“Clementine? Clementine?”
I blinked. Rufus was staring at me as if he’d been talking and I’d totally ignored him. Wow. That’s what being lost in thought will do to you.
“Yes?” I said. “Sorry. I was wrapped up in my own thoughts.”
He smiled kindly. “It’s okay. But that was Willard.”
Willard. Right. “What did he have to say?”
Rufus rose. “The person who thinks they may know who I am is at his house.”
My jaw fell. “Now?”
He nodded. “Now. Want to go meet him?”
“Absolutely.” I patted my thigh to get Lady’s attention. She stopped sniffing a wad of bubble gum that someone had stuck to the bench leg and came over. “Time to leave.”
I scooped up Lady and followed Rufus to his SUV. I wondered exactly who we were going to meet and what, exactly, they knew about Rufus.
I swallowed a knot in the back of my throat. Looked like I was about to find out.
Chapter 21
When we pulled up in front of Willard’s house, my heart was pounding hard. I didn’t know who was more nervous—me or Rufus. I had a feeling it was him, but I was certainly giving him a run for his money.
Rufus put the car in park and pulled the emergency break.
I exhaled. “Are you ready?”
His eyes darkened. “Are you?”
I forced a smile. “You’re convinced that something bad is going to happen? That you’ll discover something awful about yourself?”
