“He doesn’t have to come to my parents’ place tomorrow,” Cash said, his voice so gentle and kind as he made the obvious connection. “If you’re not comfortable with it, then it won’t happen. Plain and simple. Not until you decide he’s ready. Cody’s not a little kid, but he’s not an adult yet either. He needs you looking out for him.”
“No,” she said right away. “No, I want this for him. I can drop him tomorrow…”
“It’s not just for him,” Cash said. “You’re coming too. Everyone is really excited about it.”
“I don’t want to be in the way,” she said right away. The thought of Cody being thrown in with Cash’s big family was scary enough. She hadn’t even considered being a part of it herself. “Your parents want to get to know Cody. They don’t want to spend time with me.”
“I’mexcited to spend time with you.” His voice was so low it was practically a growl.
Suddenly, all her worry dropped away and she felt sparks flying through her again like the first time he’d touched her hand. He was still holding her so close, his strong hand on her arm, her chest pressed to him so that she had to tilt her head back to take him in.
His eyes flashed with emotion and his hand tightened around her arm as the big snowflakes collected in his too-long hair.
“What is this?”he murmured.“What are you doing to me?”
She tried to hold his gaze, but her traitorous eyes went to his mouth instead, and her frozen heart began to thunder back to life in her chest.
“Bella,”he whispered, bending slowly to close the tiny distance between them.
“Is that Cash Law?”someone squealed from halfway down the sidewalk.
Bella pulled back, horrified that she had been about to let the man kiss her in the middle of the street, in front of everyone.
What is wrong with me?
Cash let go of her arm, but his hand slid down to fold around hers and squeeze once before he let go.
16
CASH
Cash watched after Bella as she hurried away, his heart still pounding in his ears.
She had taken advantage of him being distracted to blurt out that she was going down toBean Countersfor a cup of tea and then she had left him with a gaggle of fans.
He took a couple of selfies with them and felt grateful afterwards when they moved on right away. Only in Vermont did fans have the good sense to at least feel ashamed for taking up a lot of your time.
All he wanted was to head after Bella, but he couldn’t just leave Cody waiting.
When he got back to the ice cream shop, Cash could see through the big window that Annika was chatting with another girl by the counter, and he was glad that he’d hurried back. This was a fantastic chance for him to have a necessary talk with the boy.
“Hey,” he said, sitting down across from Cody. “Your aunt went to grab a cup of tea.”
“Okay,” Cody said, looking relieved.
“Listen,” Cash said, quickly retrieving a credit card from his pocket. “Your aunt doesn’t want me helping out financially yet, and I want to respect that.”
Cody nodded.
“But it doesn’t feel right for you two not to have access to help in an emergency,” Cash said slipping the boy the black card he’d had overnighted the night he arrived. “I want you to take this and use it if you really need it, okay?”
“Thanks,” Cody said, staring at the card in his hand.
“But only if you need it, okay?” Cash said. “I’m not worried about the money, but I really don’t want to do anything your aunt doesn’t want. We have to respect her wishes. So this is just for needs, not for wants.”
“I get it,” Cody said, holding the card back out to Cash. “I don’t really want anything anyway, and I have what I need.”
“Just keep it, for my sake,” Cash told him. “So I don’t worry. You never know what will happen—a pipe bursts and you suddenly need a hotel, and then you try to practice a new trick to add to a performance and accidentally end up setting your guitar, and the hotel curtains on fire…”
