Chapter 11
Dallas
What just happened? Their dinner had been going great. Dallas could sense that there was still some tension between them, and he knew exactly where it had come from. Camilla didn’t trust him yet. She was still hurting.
But his intention wasn’t for her to take him back.
She was dating Jason, for heaven’s sake!
He wasn’t that guy—the one who’d ask her to cheat on her boyfriend or leave him for an ex.
This had been a dinner between friends. There would be no discussion of their past relationship because he already knew he wouldn’t have the strength to keep his heart to himself.
It would have been too easy to ask her to leave Jason and give him another chance.
He just… wasn’t that guy.
But the more he thought about it, the more tempted he was becoming to change who he was if it meant getting her back.
Dallas ran his hands over his head as he hurried through the restaurant and stopped before the hostess. “There’s an emergency. I left the money for our meal at my table. Our waitress was wonderful, and she deserves the tip.”
Without waiting for the hostess to utter a single syllable, he rushed toward the door. He’d probably overpaid for the meal by fifty dollars, but he didn’t care. Camilla was dealing with something, and he needed to get to the bottom of it if he wanted a chance to make this right.
He burst from the restaurant and saw her figure hurrying along the sidewalk. “Camilla!” he called, running after her. “Camilla, wait!”
She didn’t even look back at him. Why was she running?
The second he reached her, he wrapped his arm around her waist to prevent her from escaping. She pushed against his chest and that’s when he saw the tears.
“Dallas, stop. Let go.”
“No.”
Camilla stilled, her sharp gaze darting to meet his. “Let. Me. Go. Dallas.”
“Not if you’re going to take off again. What happened? Talk to me.”
She shook her head, a mirthless laugh spilling from her lips. “Of course.”
“Of course, what?” he demanded, his voice biting.
It had taken far too much time and energy to get to this point, and he wasn’t about to let her talk to him in circles.
And if he let her run now, chances were slim he’d get an honest answer out of her.
“I don’t know where you think you’re going, but you can’t walk home.
We’re twenty minutes from your place. You’d be walking all night. ”
“I know that,” she snapped, giving him another shove, but this time there wasn’t as much strength behind it. “I’ll call Sophia.”
Dallas grunted. “Don’t even think about it.”
She sneered. “What? Are you worried that my family will judge you for abandoning me? Guess what? Too late for that.”
Her words stung. They ripped right through his chest and lodged themselves in his heart like a spear hitting its mark.
Dallas released her then, his soul aching.
“You’re mad. I get it. I did something and you don’t want to talk about it.
” His frustration continued to grow. “But I’ll let you in on a little secret.
” He lowered his voice to a menacing whisper.
“I’m not the one running right now. I’m not the one afraid of fixing whatever it is that you’re dealing with.
If you choose to walk away right now, then so be it.
But you only have yourself to blame when you realize you want closure. ”
She scowled at him.
He took a step back, waiting. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. It could be anything. She could run. She could slap him. Heck, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she broke down in tears and told him every reason she hated him.
“Fine,” she muttered.
“Fine? You’ll talk?”
She shook her head, folding her arms. “You can take me home.”
He sighed, watching her turn around and head back the way they’d come.
Dallas couldn’t help the groan that slipped from his lips as he raked a frustrated hand through his hair.
They’d been getting along on good terms, hadn’t they?
He went over their conversation at dinner in painstaking detail but couldn’t figure out what he might have said that would have offended her. He came up blank.
Camilla waited for him at the side of Mateo’s truck. When he got there, he stopped in front of her. In one last ditch effort, he heaved a sigh. “I don’t understand what’s going on, Camilla. Please… talk to me.”
She scoffed, not meeting his eyes. “Of course you don’t. And if you have to ask, then you’ll never know.”
That was it, then. Camilla was mad. She had every right to be.
He’d told himself that over and over again.
She didn’t trust him, and he didn’t deserve it anyway.
Dallas couldn’t expect to come waltzing into her life and have everything return to normal.
He’d hoped that she’d be willing to stay friends, but clearly that was going to be nearly as impossible as winning her heart again.
With a click of a button, he unlocked the doors and she climbed inside.
She didn’t say a single word the whole drive back. And when he put the truck in park, she bolted. He watched her go, more flustered and frustrated than he’d been in a long time.
Dallas made it a point to come to the main part of the ranch at least once a day since his friend-date with Camilla. He’d wanted to see how she was doing—had hoped she might be open to a conversation after the heat had died down.
But Camilla had other plans. She was back to avoiding him.
If he had been a lesser man, Dallas might have washed his hands of the whole situation. He would have turned his back on any hope of getting back into Camilla’s good graces. The weaker part of him wanted to do just that.
Unfortunately, there was a hole in his heart that refused to be ignored. It was a Camilla-shaped hole, and the only way to heal it was to get some closure of his own.
Dallas needed to get Camilla to talk to him. They both needed to come to terms with what he’d done seven years ago. When she’d said that she was over it, she’d been lying. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so mad now.
When he pulled onto the property and hopped off the ATV, he nearly climbed right back onto that seat and took off again. He’d gotten done with his work and had already given Camilla a couple days to cool down.
But maybe he hadn’t given her enough space.
He should go back to the cabin.
That would be the respectful thing to do.
“Hey, Dallas. You looking for Mateo?”
Dallas turned to find Roman studying him, his expression unreadable. Had Camilla been right about her family hating him? Mateo didn’t seem too bent out of shape from their past. But Roman was a different breed. He’d always been more protective over his sisters.
Rolling back his shoulders, Dallas refused to show Roman any weakness.
“Actually, no. I thought I’d look around at the setup you guys have here.
It’s fascinating.” Not a complete lie. Dallas had always been interested in the lifestyle Camilla and her siblings led on their ranch.
It was one of the reasons he’d gone into wildlife research.
While the Palmer family didn’t work with wildlife, they worked closely with animals. Camilla was in her element when she was with the puppies. He’d wanted to learn something that could complement her interests.
Ironically, he’d lost her in the process.
“You realize this isn’t a tourist attraction, right?” There was a bitter edge to Roman’s words, and the bite was enough to draw Dallas back to the present.
Dallas chuckled. He hadn’t meant to. In fact, the sound was more strangled than it should have been.
But what else could he do? He pushed his hands into his pockets and shrugged.
“What if I’m willing to help out a little?
I finished up my reports early today. If you need an extra pair of hands, I’m more than happy… ”
Roman arched a brow, but he didn’t immediately shut him down.
That was a good sign, right?
They stared each other down for a few long moments—moments that had Dallas itching to explain himself and ask if Roman knew of anything he could do to get back on Camilla’s good side. But then Roman sighed and nodded.
“We just received our feed order. You can help me unload.”
Dallas smiled. He didn’t know if it was relief or something else. Maybe he just needed to stay busy. He couldn’t help but let his attention sweep his immediate surroundings, something Roman caught onto quickly.
“She’s not here.”
He stiffened, his focus clashing with Roman who was now as stoic as ever with arms crossed and his jaw rigid.
“What?”
“Camilla. She went out with Isabelle to run errands. So, if you’re here to talk to her—”
Dallas cleared his throat. He thought about telling Roman that he had no need to speak to Camilla but realized it wouldn’t do him any good. “I won’t lie to you. It’d be nice to see her. We have some… unfinished business to talk about.”
Roman sighed. “Dallas—”
“But I get that it’s going to be on her terms. You know as well as I do if I’m not here, I don’t have any chance of getting her to open up to me. So if that’s not okay with you, you might as well kick me to the curb now.”
He appraised Dallas, clearly warring with some desire to do just that. Then he shook his head with a sigh. “You have no idea how much you hurt her.”
Dallas swallowed the painful lump in his throat. “I might have a small idea.”
Roman strode forward, closing the gap between them. Dallas refused to be intimidated—or at least refused to let Roman see that was exactly what he was doing to him. When Roman got into his personal space, his voice lowered to a near-menacing growl. “You were an idiot, you know that?”
Nodding, Dallas waited for Roman to say his piece.
A sharp finger poked him in the chest three times. “She deserved better.”
Another nod.
To anyone observing, they looked to be in a clear standoff.
Dallas nearly stepped back, relinquishing the power to Camilla’s brother in a sign of humility.
But then Roman’s shoulders sagged, and he was the one to step away.
He scowled at Dallas for a moment before his expression softened as well.
“Camilla hasn’t been the same since you left.
No one was able to make her… shine… like you did. ”
Dallas perked up at that. Was Roman actually telling him that he had a chance to get her back? What about Jason? Was she not happy with him? The hope that flared to life in Dallas’s heart should have made him feel equally guilty.
But it didn’t.
Roman dragged a hand down his face. “A year ago, I would have pummeled Mateo for even entertaining the idea of you coming here. But I get it. He wants Camilla to…”
“Get closure?” Dallas finished for him; that word seared into his heart far too deep lately.
“Yeah.” Roman peeked at Dallas. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between the two of you. Camilla gets to decide what happens.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I think Camilla should show you the door. But she’s stronger than I give her credit for most days.”
Dallas held his breath. This was it. This was the moment Roman gave him any indication that Camilla could forgive him.
“If you ever hurt her again…” Roman’s eyes flashed with warning. “If you ever make her cry again—”
“I won’t,” Dallas croaked.
Roman studied him again. “But if you do… I’m not going to be held accountable for my actions.”
The warning was clear. Roman wouldn’t be holding back. Dallas could hold his own in a fight, but Roman wasn’t any average Joe. He was built, and he wasn’t the type to pull his punches.
Dallas nodded. “Understood.”
They stared each other down for long moments once more. Then Roman gave him a sharp nod. “Now, let’s get that feed unloaded.”