Chapter 27
Leah
It was Sunday. After successfully avoiding Kade as much as possible for days, there was no way around it tonight. I had to make calls or Cassie might kill me, and I couldn’t trust my mother not to reach out to Kade and get herself an invite here.
Kade was in the kitchen, leaning on the counter, when I walked into the house, his dark hair gleaming and his skin glowing as the place was filled with the scent of him. It was bad before, but now he was being nice .
“I’m going to go hop in the shower really quick before I make my calls, okay?” I said.
“Sure. Are you hungry? I’ve got some steaks I can throw on.”
He pointed to the fridge, the muscles on his arms flexing even with that small movement. It was like life was just trying to screw with me now.
“I grabbed something at the bunkhouse already, but thanks.” I’d been eating there every night before trying to sneak back in here and avoid eating with Kade. Why? Because this nice Kade was even more dangerous than asshole Kade.
He nodded, still watching me. We’d barely seen each other in days, said only a handful of words, and yet there was this strange shift in our energy that was impossible to ignore. If someone asked me what it was, there wasn’t any clear way to describe it. It was almost like we’d stumbled upon a well-worn pathway into a forest but only taken a step or two on the trail, not sure what lay within those woods.
I came out a half an hour later to a mug sitting on the counter, while he sipped his own.
“I made you some tea,” he said.
“Oh, thanks.” Did I mention it was like we were both wearing ill-fitting shoes as we took those first couple steps? Like mine were two sizes too big and his were pinching his feet.
I took the peace offering, or whatever it was. In no universe was this just a bag of leaves steeped in hot water.
I took a step toward the office. He nodded, following me.
My first call was to my mother; I figured I’d get the worst over with. I was handed a small miracle when she said she was at a function and couldn’t talk.
Monroe was the second call, and short and sweet. He couldn’t get off the phone fast enough, dodging my questions about the new loan. As long as he managed to hold on to the place, I’d worry about the details after this whole ordeal was over. If it came down to selling a kidney, I’d deal with it then.
The door to the office was open, but Kade had been drifting in and out, instead of hovering the way he normally did.
I dialed Cassie as he walked out again.
“I don’t have a venue,” she answered, immediately launching into utter panic. “Not only do I not have my maid of honor, I don’t have a place to get married!”
“What happened to the venue in Aruba?” At least, I thought that was what she had said. I couldn’t remember all the rambling bits of information anymore.
“There was a storm, or a tsunami, or some crazy shit. I don’t know what the hell happened, but the whole place was flooded out and now my life is ruined!” Her voice was quickly escalating into a screech.
“Have your wedding here,” Kade said, having snuck back into the office when I was distracted by Cassie melting down worse than an overcooked s’more.
“What’s your place look like?” Cassie asked before I could get my wits about me. “Never mind, I’m looking it up,” she said. The sound of typing proved she was already busy doing just that.
“This is not a wedding venue,” I said, not liking where this was going.
“Not currently, but I’ve held some events in the past.” Kade leaned against one of his cabinets and shrugged.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said.
“How much to use your property, Kade?” Cassie asked.
This was spinning out of control way too fast. “Wait, I don’t?—”
“Free,” he answered.
“Sold!” Cassie squealed. “You know what this means, Leah? You are officially back as my maid of honor!”
Oh no, this was not happening. No. Absolutely not.
“Cassie, how are we going to have a wedding here in less than a week? It’s freezing and there’s no place indoors large enough to hold it.” There, that should quash this nonsense. What were these crazy people thinking?
“We can set up a large tent and heat it,” Kade offered, his voice smooth and even. “I’ve done it before.”
“I love it!” Cassie let out a little scream. “We could have a mountain backdrop from what I’m looking at! It sounds like the most beautiful thing ever!”
I felt like a tidal wave was sweeping me up along with them in this crazy plan.
No. No, no, no. This was not happening. “But we’re out here in Montana. All your guests are in New York.”
“It was a destination wedding anyway. It’s a different destination now. We just have to change the flights,” Cassie said, as if that were the most ridiculous objection yet. “I have to go. So many things to work out. Oh wait—Kade, I’ll have to call you as I work out details. I’ll need your cell phone so we can arrange things.”
Kade looked like he’d just gotten shot in the gut with a round of rubber bullets. Finally someone else was looking as shell-shocked as me.
“Yeah, just text me and I’ll have Leah call you back, and you two can handle it when you need things.”
Oh, yeah, wonderful. He offers and then dumps it back on me again.
“That’s great. We can handle it. I’ll call you back, Leah. I’ve got lots of arrangements to work out fast.”
“Cassie?” There was no reply. “Cassie!”
She’d already hung up. She was probably calling her mother, calling everyone , and then they’d all be showing up here, to see the felon in her natural habitat. My chest was starting to tighten up, the way it had before the last meltdown, and I didn’t even have a shed to go hide in.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I said to Kade, shaking my head as I made my way to the door.
“What are you talking about? She needed a place and I was trying to help.”
“Any chance to humiliate me and you take it.”
“What are you talking about?” He reached for me, and I pulled my arm away before he could touch me.
“Just leave me alone,” I said, running out the door.
“Leah, I really––”
“I need a minute. Please.”
I threw a rock into the stream an hour later, not looking up to where Kade appeared on the bank.
“How’d you find me?” It was dark out. I’d thought it would be a little harder.
“The barn was empty.”
I used to hide in the old barn every time I was upset. It seemed I was as predictable as the sun rising. I wish I could say the same for him. If anyone tried to set their watch by him, the world would spin into chaos. One second he was trying to banish me to the dark ages, exiling me to shed life, with no plumbing and sketchy heat, and now he was insisting I live in the bedroom near his and hosting my best friend’s wedding.
The wedding offer had seemed like a way to parade me around in humiliation, but he might’ve been trying to be nice. Why, I didn’t know, but we were dealing with Nice Kade now. It was also the worst favor he could’ve done me, which suited pretty well, considering it was him.
He walked closer and took a seat just out of arm’s length. He must’ve known I’d try to shove him in the freezing water and drowned him if I could’ve reached.
He took off his jacket and held it out to me. I’d been too busy running out of there to bother with something as silly as a coat.
“I’m fine,” I said.
He kept his arm out.
“Fine,” I said, throwing it over my shoulders.
“Are you upset with me?” he asked.
“What tipped you off? My running out of the office or my hiding by a stream in order to avoid you at the ranch?”
“Hiding? You did come to a spot that you knew I knew.”
“I did not. If I’d thought you’d find me here, I would’ve gone somewhere else.”
He tossed a stone into the creek. “Ten years ago, a couple weeks before you moved away, we sat in this very spot together.”
How had he remembered that? Even I hadn’t remembered, and I’d logged every moment we had together in some secret notebook in my mind.
“Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll never make that mistake again,” I said, but the heat was sucked out of my voice, and it wasn’t just from the cold.
“Should’ve known better. Now you’re stuck with me,” he said. “You know, you used to like talking to me when you were upset.”
“I can’t imagine what changed that.”
He didn’t reply, and we fell into silence for a few minutes.
I tried to ignore his presence but couldn’t stop my gaze from darting to him. I’d force it away, only to have the same battle a few seconds later.
I saw his head dip for a second before he looked back toward the ranch, as if he were battling whether he should give me space.
“Whatever you might think of me, I really didn’t do this in an effort to embarrass you,” he said. His tone was gruffer than normal, like it hurt to get the words out. As if vomiting razors would’ve been less painful.
I might’ve thought it was his intention to torture me when he first said it, but no one could fake this level of unease, which probably meant he was being sincere. That made it so much worse, since now the only person I could rage at was innocent of the crime. If we hadn’t had such a rocky second start, if it had been anyone else offering to host the wedding, I’d have assumed it was with the best intentions from the get-go. But nothing between us was simple.
“Why do you still look pissed? Do you not believe me?” he asked.
I let out a long, pitiful sigh that would’ve made Eeyore jealous. “I do believe you. That’s the problem. I’d been daydreaming how I’d go all scorched earth on you, how I’d ruin your life, and now I can’t. It’s hard when your dreams die.” I laughed softly at the ridiculousness of what I’d said.
“Don’t get too sad about it. I’m sure I’ll do something horrific tomorrow. You can hate me for that instead and renew your plotting.” He laughed.
“That is true. You are pretty good at being an asshole, so I really shouldn’t give up all hope.”
We were both laughing now.
“I mean, hell, you’ll probably sleep with my best friend the night before her wedding and split the couple up.” I found myself forcing the laughter to my own joke, as that one tasted a little too bitter. The easier he laughed, the worse it tasted.
“Actually, I could be a real asshole and rescind the invitation,” he said, this time not laughing at all. “I’ll tell Cassie that I forgot for a minute that I was an utter dick and I don’t make those kinds of offers.”
I turned to stare at him, gauging how serious he was. It might not seem like that big of an offer, but I knew Kade, or at least some version of him. He didn’t like to take back his word once it was given.
“Really,” he said. “I’ll say I messed up and she can’t do it here. I’ll figure out some excuse.”
“Thank you, but no. She’s too happy. I can’t take that from her.” Even if I wanted to for my sake, as I thought of all the people who would show up here just to see my fall from grace.
The silence stretched out again, and this time instead of animosity, we were in this weird place, like we’d taken another step onto that well-worn path but were watching for signs of monsters about to jump out of the trees.
“If you want to do one thing for me, all I want is to have a truce of a sort, at least for the wedding. I can’t handle…” The mass humiliation? The spectacle of it all? “It’s just a lot to do and also be fighting with you.”
“I thought you enjoyed fighting with me?” he teased.
He leaned back on his elbows, not an inch of fat to be found on his stomach. Why did he have to be so damned attractive?
“Only on my off hours. So truce until after the wedding?”
“Deal.” He smiled at me in a way that created something warm in my stomach.
“You sure you can manage that? I don’t want to stretch your goodwill out so far that you sprain something.”
“O ye of little faith. I’m a fast healer. I’ll bounce back to my asshole ways fast enough.”
He was still watching me, smiling, as if I’d agreed to something beyond a truce, and it was scaring the hell out of me.