Page 29 of Glimmers of You


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I shrugged. “Not always, but I think I see him. The good and the bad.” That was why it had hurt so badly to lose Caden. I just had to hope that spending time together now would get us to a new place—one where I could appreciate him as a friend but let him go as anything more than that.

Mom’s mouth curved. “I always knew you were half in love with him growing up.”

I jerked. “You did not.”

She laughed. “A mother knows these things. Your eyes would light up whenever he came around, and he just had this way with you. He could calm you when you were pissed off or upset, make you smile when you were hurting.” Her amusement melted into a hint of worry. “I could never figure out what happened between the two of you that your friendship fell apart the way it did, though.”

My mom looked at me as if expecting an answer. But I didn’t have one. Because I had never been able to figure out why Caden walked right out of my life without a backward glance. All I knew was that it had left me in pieces that had never fit right again.

8

CADEN

“Now, boys,”Nathan said as he stood from the couch. “Don’t make the poor guy piss himself.”

I snorted at Grae’s father’s words. “They’ll have to try a little harder if they want to do that.”

Nathan chuckled. “Youdidgrow up with these knuckleheads.”

Nash glared at me. “Which means he owed me a conversation. That’s the minimum of best-friend code.”

I winced. He had a point there, and this was making me feel like the worst kind of asshole. “It happened without me planning it. I wanted to tell you from the beginning.” That much was true. I wanted to let them in on everything. But I knew how much holding on to control meant to Grae, and I wasn’t about to take that away from her.

“Does that mean you saw our little sister as a hookup?” Lawson growled.

“Oh, shit,” Drew mumbled. “Run now, Caden. That is not his happy tone.”

“Of course not,” I said, hurrying to defuse the situation. “It’s just that I never thought she’d give me the time of day.”

“A couple of months ago, you were joking about how a weekend was a long-term relationship,” Holt challenged.

Oh, crap. I needed to watch my mouth. “Obviously, Gigi is different.”

Nash glared at me. “Why should we believe you?”

I shrugged. “You don’t have to. Grae’s an adult who’s smarter and stronger than all of us put together. Pretty sure if I messed things up between us, she’d have me out on my ass before I could blink.”

“That’s true.” Roan’s voice cut across the room. He hadn’t moved, but he stared me down with a lethal gaze. “But her heart’s more tender than you’ll ever know. And if you hurt her? I know lots of places to hide your body where no one will find it.”

* * *

I grabbedthe flowers from my passenger seat and slid out of my SUV. I stared down at the array of blooms. Wildflowers would forever be tied to Clara—and to Grae because I’d shared that ache with her. As I looked at them, I wondered if this was the world’s stupidest idea.

Roan’s words echoed in my mind.“Her heart is more tender than you’ll ever know.”

I had known that once. I’d seen how she struggled to stand on her own in her family. How she worried about finding her place. I had a feeling that had only intensified after her Type 1 diagnosis.

Just thinking about that time had my ribs tightening, making it hard to breathe. Memories battered at the walls of my mind, but I shoved them down.

They were just flowers. I was only playing the role of the dutiful boyfriend as we’d agreed. I crossed the parking lot to the small cottage that housed Cedar Ridge Vacation Adventures. Voices sounded through the screen door. Grae’s laughter caught on the air and froze me to the spot.

How long had it been since I’d heard that sound? Years? Because when I’d put up the walls between Grae and me, she’d become guarded. She laughed but not freely or fully like this.

A stranglehold overtook my chest. I wanted that sound directed at me again.

I forced a smile and opened the door. The entire room went silent. Grae’s coworkers were scattered around the room. Her boss, Jordan, lounged on the couch. Noel sat behind his desk, scowling at me. And Eddie kicked back in one of the overstuffed chairs, taking my measure.

Grae was perched at her desk, her legs crossed in some sort of knot that made her look like a pretzel. “Caden,” she squeaked. “What are you doing here?”