Chapter 25
Dallas
Dallas paced the cabin that Mateo had offered to him. Roman wanted him out, but he wasn’t the one who set up this whole arrangement. Until Mateo came out to the cabin and told Dallas to leave, he’d be staying right where he was.
This could be fixed.
It had to be.
He couldn’t let Camilla slip through his fingers again.
Yes, the first time was entirely his fault. He’d let his sister manipulate him into believing he had to leave. He hadn’t seen through her deception.
A growl of frustration erupted from his chest and his hands clenched tighter at his sides. He should have told Camilla what Cheyenne had done. He’d wanted to.
Oh, how he’d wanted to.
The only thing holding him back was the fact he could tell Camilla wasn’t willing to listen to reason. She’d been hurting. All she could see was the broken promises and the repeated mistakes.
But this time was different. Couldn’t she see that?
He continued his pacing well into the night until his legs ached and his head pounded mercilessly. By the time the sunlight filtered through the windows of the cabin, he’d situated himself on the small sofa.
Head in his hands, he continued going through different scenarios that might have the best chance of getting Camilla on his good side again.
None of them sounded feasible.
Most definitely not the ones where he kidnapped her in the dead of night and whisked her away with him to Canada.
Hadn’t he already asked her about her opinion on leaving Copper Creek? She didn’t want to lose her family. She refused to upend her life again.
For the first time in his life, he abhorred his job. The one thing that used to bring him happiness and purpose was the ball and chain that would soon drag him to the bottom of the ocean as if he’d been tossed overboard from a ship out to sea.
Camilla was smart. She wasn’t unreasonable.
Maybe if he let her cool off, he could speak to her about the options. The assignment in Canada wouldn’t be forever. Would she consider a long-distance relationship?
A knock on the door was the only thing to drag him from his spiraling thoughts.
He hurried to the door, hoping to see Camilla, expecting to see Mateo. But who he saw had him dumbfounded.
“Isabelle?”
She stood on the doorstep with a casserole dish in her hands. What time was it? He glanced at his watch, realizing that he’d lost time today. Two in the afternoon. He blinked, then rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “What are you doing here, Isabelle?”
Camilla’s younger sister held up the casserole dish. “I thought I’d bring you something to eat.”
He sighed and peered at her before glancing around the clearing. There was an extra ATV parked next to the one he usually drove. “Did you come out here alone?”
She let out a quiet laugh. “Were you expecting Camilla?”
Shaking his head, he sighed again. “No.”
“Can I come in?”
“I don’t know if that would be a good idea,” he said.
Either she didn’t hear him, or she didn’t care. Isabelle pushed past him and entered the small cabin. “You look like death.”
“Yeah, well, I feel it.”
She placed the casserole dish on the countertop and turned to face him, hands on her hips. “Tell me what happened.”
Groaning, Dallas remained by the still-open door. He even gestured toward it. “You should go, Isabelle. I don’t think Camilla would like it if she knew you were out here.”
“No.”
This time, he released a dark chuckle. “No? I get that this cabin technically belongs to you and your family, but I’m the one using it right now and I’m asking you to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why you were so dumb.”
Fury curled in his gut, tightening like his fists had moments ago. “I wasn’t dumb.”
“Really? Because from where I’m standing, you were. Are. You don’t even seem to realize what you’re losing.”
He took two long strides toward her and pounded at his chest, his voice hot and loud. “I know exactly what I’m losing.”
To Isabelle’s credit, she didn’t even flinch at his temper tantrum. She stared at him blankly, expectantly.
“I didn’t tell Camilla that my job here was only temporary. That’s it.”
She scoffed. “That’s not enough to get Camilla to tell everyone she doesn’t want to see you anymore.”
He froze and all the wind was knocked from his lungs. “She said that?”
Isabelle nodded sharply. “She said that you broke her heart. Twice. And that she’d told everyone from the very beginning that she didn’t want you here. She basically gave a whole speech that could be summed up with the words, ‘I told you so.’”
Dallas’s arm shot out as he leaned against the sofa he found himself standing beside.
He gripped the upholstery, his fingertips grasping for purchase.
Camilla wasn’t going to hear him out. She wasn’t going to give him the time of day to explain.
How was he supposed to get her to see reason if she couldn’t stand to look at him?
Absently, he dug his hand into his pocket where the ring had been stored away. It was still there, burning a hole in the fabric. He wrapped his hand around the box and pulled it out, staring at it like it held all the answers to his problems.
Isabelle’s gasp ripped through the quiet cabin. When he looked up at her, she had a hand over her mouth.
He offered her a sad, wry smile. “I was going to ask her to marry me.”
She blinked several times before she inched closer. “Can I see it?”
His hand tightened around the box protectively.
“It’s okay if you don’t want me to…” She glanced up at him, then away. “I’m sorry this is happening.”
“It’s my fault anyway. I should have never left seven years ago. I should have known that leaving a note for Camilla wasn’t going to cut it. I just knew that if I had to tell her to her face, I wouldn’t be strong enough to walk away. I would have stayed.”
“Wait, what?” Isabelle’s head whipped up and she stared at him, pale. “What did you say?”
“I said I should have never left.”
“No, not that. About the note.”
“Well, it was more like a letter. I told her how much I loved her and that I was making this decision for both of us so we could have a future together.” He moved to lean against the couch and flipped open the ring box to stare at the delicate piece of jewelry.
“I told her that I knew she’d be upset with my decision but that I would make it up to her when I came home.
I wanted her to write to me, call me, tell me she forgave me.
I waited and waited for any contact from her, but it never came. ”
When Isabelle didn’t speak, he finally forced himself to meet her gaze, and she looked sick to her stomach.
“What?” he asked, standing again, alarm bells ringing in his head. “What’s the matter?”
“Camilla never got a letter, Dallas.”
He blinked. Then he shook his head. “No, that’s not right. I gave it to Cheyenne to give to her.” He started pacing, then stopped abruptly. Based on the way Cheyenne had reacted when he’d found the ring, it was entirely possible that Cheyenne hadn’t given the letter to Camilla at all.
He froze in his place and stared at Isabelle, his heart shattering all over again. “Are you sure?” he rasped. “Are you absolutely certain that Camilla never got the letter?”
Isabelle nodded. She looked as numb as he felt. “She would have told me.” She swallowed and looked away. “Those first few weeks she tried calling, too. She called and called, but it only went to voicemail. Then one day there was a message that said the number was no longer in service.”
The world was officially crashing down around him.
“Before I left, I got on my own cell phone plan and had to get a new phone number. I couldn’t message Camilla my new number without drawing attention to my leaving, so I told Cheyenne to pass that on, too.
She said she would.” His voice sounded hollow even to him.
“Cheyenne didn’t tell Camilla any of it. ”
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Isabelle said bitterly. “What’s wrong with your sister?”
He met Isabelle’s ferocious gaze.
“Apparently, she doesn’t like to share.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dallas shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I never liked her that much to begin with. Clearly, she wanted to sabotage your relationship.” Isabelle was quiet for a long moment, and then she gasped, causing his eyes to meet hers once more. “How much do you want to bet that she’s the reason Camilla’s other relationships didn’t pan out?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Isabelle folded her arms, her features twisted into a mask of fury. “Camilla never had a successful serious relationship. Not after you left. The longest one only lasted a month at best. Eventually they all stopped coming around. They’d ghost her. Desert her.”
The frantic beating of his heart was the only thing that registered at that moment. Dallas didn’t want to believe his sister was so desperate that she’d do such a thing to the person she claimed to love. Isabelle was right to question everything about Cheyenne. This wasn’t normal, healthy behavior.
“What are you going to do?” Isabelle spoke quieter this time. “Are you going to confront Cheyenne?”
He shook his head. “She’ll just lie. That’s what she’s been doing all this time.”
“What about Camilla?”
His chest ached. His head still pounded. Even the muscles in his body screamed in protest from how tense he’d been. He hadn’t gotten any sleep, and he was running on fumes. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? For heaven’s sake. You have to tell her. She can’t keep thinking that Cheyenne has her back.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he snapped. “What do you expect me to say? She probably won’t believe me. I’m a liar, remember?”
Isabelle winced. “But you have to try.”
Dallas shook his head. “It’s Cheyenne’s word against mine. She’ll spin it to make me look crazy or manipulative. I don’t have any proof about any of it.”
Dark laughter was the last thing Dallas expected to hear from Camilla’s younger sister. She sounded borderline deranged. “I never thought of you as the quitting type.”
What was he supposed to say to that? Maybe that was exactly who he was. He could have easily reached out to Camilla years ago. But he hadn’t. He could have asked to see her or speak to her over the years, but he’d let his fears of rejection hold him back.
“You have to stay,” Isabelle finally muttered.
“It’s not that easy.”
“I don’t care if it’s impossible. You have to find a way if you want a chance to win her back.” Isabelle lifted her chin in a defiant stare-off. “And you have to tell her who Cheyenne really is. She deserves to know. Figure it out, Dallas. Or you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.”