Page 80 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

His dad cocked his head to the side. “Boy, I was born in the day, but it wasn’t yesterday. Why do you think I stayed in the kitchen and didn’t question when you suddenly had to rush to the bar? I figured you were sneaking someone out, but Imani?”

“Yes, Imani. From the moment she squirted mustard on my shirt. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I tried to ignore it because of you and Ms. Kemp, but I couldn’t. That’s why I was going to tell her the truth. I was in the middle of the story when you came home that day and also when Aunt Gayle showed up.”

“Maybe she’ll listen if you two are—”

Cyril threw up a hand. “She won’t listen, Dad. Don’t you get it? She doesn’t even speak to her dad right now because his words convinced his mistress to try to kill her mom. That wasn’t speculation or just stubborn disbelief. It’s a fact. It’s hard for her and her mom to trust anyone. We messed up by not giving the entire story.” Cyril stared down at his hands. An emptiness he hadn’t felt in years spread in his chest. He let out a shaky breath and said in a tight voice, “I don’t know if we can fix this.”

thirty-one

Cyril recognized the bike on the start of the trail as he left the house for work the next day. He’d considered not going into the bar to work and letting Joshua handle everything. But that’s exactly what his aunt would want, for him to hide away as if guilty. Plus, he wouldn’t leave Joshua to handle any fallout that might come. Nothing about Gayle had gotten back to them yet, and they didn’t know where she was staying, but they’d have to deal with the rumors she planned to spread eventually. No need to delay the inevitable.

He was running late and texted Joshua, but he didn’t hesitate to pull over when he saw Imani’s bike at the start of the path to the lake. He got out and followed the trail through the woods to the cove. The last time he’d gone down that path they’d had a good talk, connected, he’d had to fight himself not to kiss her. Now would she even spare him a second to explain or would she immediately tell him to leave her alone?

He wanted her to hear his side of things. Needed her to know what really happened to his mom. Not the twisted tale his aunt would spread.

Imani sat on a blanket at the edge of the lake. She hugged her knees to her chest and stared out over the flat surface of the water. The thought of her turning him away made his stomach clench, still he called her name to avoid startling her with his approach. She sat up straight and looked over her shoulder. Her body was stiff, her eyes flat and emotionless before she turned back toward the water.

He’d take her not immediately moving to get away from him as a small win. He walked over to her and then sat at the edge of her blanket. She sucked in a breath and grew more rigid, but didn’t look at him.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“It’s a little too late for talking,” she said in a clipped voice.

“If it were too late for talking then you would have walked away the moment you saw me coming your way.”

They both kept their voices low in the quiet. She wore jeans and a thin sweater. Hair had escaped her ponytail and was frizzy around the edges. He wanted to reach out and smooth her hair back, pull her close and hold her tight. She looked like she needed a hug as much as he was dying to hug her.

“I came here to think,” she said stiffly. “I shouldn’t have to leave just because you came up.”

“So you aren’t afraid of me?”

Her head whipped around, and her eyes narrowed. “Should I be afraid of you?”

“No. I worried you’d be afraid after hearing what my aunt said.”

She patted the bag sitting next to her. “I’m also protected. Do you think I’d come out here with nothing to defend myself?”

He glanced at the bag and wondered what was inside. Then hoped she didn’t get the idea to use whatever defense she had in there on him. “I would never hurt you, Imani.”

She snorted. “It’s too late for that.”

“I was never trying to hurt you. I invited you to the Dairy Bar to tell you the entire truth. I wanted to tell you after we slept together but my dad came home.”

She was silent for several seconds before letting out a long breath. “That’s the other reason why I didn’t leave when I saw you.”

“You remembered that I wanted to tell you something.” Relief fanned a small flame of hope. If she remembered that, then maybe she realized he was going to come clean. If she knew that, then maybe there was a slim chance everything wasn’t gone between them.

“I did, but how can I believe this is what you wanted to tell me?”

He scooted a little closer on the blanket. Not close enough to touch her or feel the heat of her body, but shaving off any bit of distance between them was like filling in a portion of the hole inside of him.

“I care about you, Imani. From the moment I saw you, I knew I could fall hard for you. After I found out who you were I tried to ignore it but obviously couldn’t. After I learned about what your dad did, I knew I had to tell you everything. After we made love, I knew I never wanted to hurt you.”

She hugged her knees closer to her. “But you did hurt me. You lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie.” She glared at him, and he sighed. “But I did keep the entire truth from you.”

Her gaze sharpened as she asked, “Did your dad kill your mom?”

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