Tears pressed her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, refusing to let them fall. She wanted to be alone, but with her parents at home, Lettie in the studio, and the diner brimming with customers, her options were limited.
Then a familiar, sleek black car pulled up to the curb.
Cade.
She dug her palms into her eyes, but it did little to dam the emotion threatening to pour faster than the rain.
“Hey.” Cade slid out of his car, wearing a smile and no sign of yesterday’s awkwardness. He glanced at the darkening clouds, then reached back inside the Audi and retrieved an umbrella. “Is standing in the rain some new kind of aerial practice I’m not aware of?” He grinned. Rosalyn tried to return his smile but couldn’t force it up her cheeks. She probably looked a mess. She flipped up the hood of her sweatshirt, burrowing inside it. But the cold pressed deep. “Something like that.”
“You going inside to eat?” He popped open his umbrella and gestured toward the diner.
She looked over her shoulder at the bustling café, then back at him, unable to voice her answer as her throat clogged with unshed tears. She lifted one shoulder.
Why had she answered? Blaine always made her feel worse.
Cade studied her, his arm braced on the frame of the door, eyes curious but not judging. It made her want to dive into his embrace. Somewhere safe.
But wasn’t that what had gotten her into trouble? Assuming safety in the wrong places?
Rosalyn crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. Then the dam broke. The tears finally crested, spilling down her cheek and mixing with the rain.
“Oh.” Cade’s expression flickered. He opened his mouth, closed it. Tilted his head as he seemed to consider his next words, his eyes reflecting his own storm. “Want to go for a drive?”
Rosalyn hesitated. There was no good reason to get in Cade’s car. She needed to be enforcing professional boundaries between them, not encouraging close proximity.
But this was Cade.
And she was tired of doing the disciplined thing, the wise thing, to make up for her mistakes. She nodded once, pausing to swipe her eyes.
If climbing into the front of that Audi was wrong, then at the moment, Rosalyn didn’t want to be right.
* * *
Cade had no idea where he was going, but he would’ve driven Rosalyn across the entire country if she’d asked.
So much for his resolve to stay professional.
Rain drizzled as he pulled onto Village Lane. He shot Rosalyn a glance, noting her huddled position in the passenger seat, and reached over to flip on her seat warmer. What in the world had happened before he pulled up to the diner? “Have you eaten today?”
She shivered, staring straight ahead toward the windshield wipers sluicing water off the window. “A bite of oatmeal and banana this morning before my workout. I’d planned to get brunch.”
“Here.” Cade reached into his console and handed her a bag of white powdered donuts—the gas station variety. “This is all I have…unless I can interest you in a Tic Tac.”
She snorted back another laugh mixed with tears. “I can’t eat these, but thanks for sharing your precious stash.”
“There’s plenty more where that came from.” He grinned, relief at her smile coursing through him. He hated seeing her cry. Seeing anyone cry, for that matter.
But he felt fairly confident that tears on Rosalyn’s cheeks tugged at him in a different way than they would’ve on Zoey’s or Elisa’s.
She put the bag back in the console as he pulled up to a stop sign. Left or right could take them around the block and back to Magnolia Blossom. Straight would continue their drive. Selfishly, he wanted to keep Rosalyn close. But if she was feeling a little better, she might prefer to get brunch—alone.
He flipped on his blinker. “I can take you back to the diner for some real food, if you want.”
Her smile faded. “No, this is good.” She gestured vaguely before huddling back into her sweatshirt.
He clicked off the blinker. “Onward.” He eased straight ahead as the rain fell a little harder.
“I’m sorry.” Her words were so soft Cade almost didn’t catch them.
