Page 134 of Deacon

“Take responsibility for something just because you’re kind enough to feel bad about it.” His tone stayed easy, but there was nothing casual in the way he looked at me now. “You were honest with me. I just hoped honesty might change eventually.”

I looked down at my cup because that part I understood too well.

Mason leaned forward slightly, studying me in a way that made me suddenly wary of where his thoughts had gone. “Is there someone else?”

My head came up fast enough to give away more than I wanted. “What?”

His faint smile returned, not triumphant so much as knowing. “That’s not a no.”

For one stupid second, yes rose in me before I could argue with it. There was someone else. There had always been someone else. Apparently seventeen years and every reason in the world to know better had done nothing to convince my heart that Jackson Hayes no longer occupied the space.

Mason must have seen something cross my face because his expression sharpened with understanding.

I looked away. “There’s...” The truth caught for a second before I made myself finish it. “There’s someone from my past I’m not over.”

It was the cleanest version I could give him without opening a story that had nothing to do with this table.

I traced one finger along the design on my cup. “It wouldn’t be fair of me to get into anything with someone when my heart is still halfway somewhere else.”

Mason went quiet. When he finally nodded, the movement was slow and controlled. “Okay,” he said.

“I really did think we were on the same page.” I hated how much I needed him to understand that I had never meant to hurt him.

“We were,” he said. His mouth tightened briefly. “Until we weren’t.”

The answer hurt, though not because I wanted him back. I just hated realizing that something easy for me had cost him more.

Mason leaned back. “I mean what I said, Lila. I respect it. And I’m not going to make work weird if I end up here.”

“That matters.” Professionally, it mattered a lot.

“I know.” His expression eased before he added, quieter, “I’d still like to be friends.”

He reached across the table and covered my hand with his, his thumb brushing over mine. The touch should have been harmless. Instead, my body tightened before I had time to decide whether it should.

The conversation had just closed one door, and his hand felt too much like keeping it cracked. Maybe he felt me stiffen. Maybe he was already about to pull away.

A shadow crossed the table before I found out. I looked up and saw Jude standing beside us with a coffee in one hand and a smile already in place. My stomach went cold. His eyes moved from me to Mason, then down to our hands before returning to my face with too much interest to feel accidental.

“Well,” he said, as if finding me here amused him, “we just keep bumping into each other, don’t we?”

I slipped my hand out from under Mason’s and sat back. “Yeah,” I said, unable to keep the suspicion from flattening my voice. “That’s really odd, actually, since you live and work in Wicker Falls. This isn’t exactly a quick drive from there.”

Jude straightened slightly, smile intact. “I told you, my new girlfriend lives out this way.”

My eyes narrowed before I could stop them.

He lifted his coffee. “I’m just grabbing something before I go house hunting.”

That pulled me up short. “House hunting?”

“Yeah.” Jude took a drink as if there were nothing strange about the answer.

I stared at him, every recent coincidence lining itself up whether I wanted it to or not. “You work in Wicker Falls. Why would you go looking for a house here?”

Jude smiled, but whatever he meant as reassurance never reached me. “I might transfer here,” he said. “All depends on what happens with my girl. Once I get things settled with her and our house, I’ll transfer, move here so I can take good care of her.” His voice softened as he tipped his head. “The way she deserves, the way she always deserved.”

The back of my neck prickled. Maybe it was the possessive certainty in our house. Maybe it was the way always deserved sounded less like something a man said about a new relationship and more like a grievance he had been carrying for years. Whatever it was, I wanted distance from him fast.