Page 71 of Cash

"He hasn't reached out?" Ellie asked. "That surprises me."

"Well...I may have blocked him."

"Evie." She couldn't even bring herself to look her in the eye because she knew the judgment would be there. "So, you shamed him about his past and then blocked him?"

"I know...he's probably so pissed at me."

"I would be. That was kind of a shitty thing to do, babe."

Evie just nodded and took a deep breath. "I know I need to reach out to him, but I just can't seem to make myself do it."

"Is he still coming to the wedding with you?"

Evie just shrugged. Ellie picked up her phone off the table and put it in her hand. "Unblock him."

She just took the phone from her hand and pulled up his contact and unblocked him.

"Are you going to call him?" Ellie asked with a firm look.

"Not right now. How is the wedding going?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's mom's thing right now. I just want to be married to Allen and start our life. I suggest eloping if you ever decide to get married, because mom is out of control."

"Trust me, I know. I'm surprised Cash even still wants to be with me the way mom is trying to force Bryan on me."

"I know, I should’ve stopped her. I I was too deep in all the other wedding stuff to see what was going on. He's off the guest list. I’ll text him today and let him know. Besides that, all you have to do is show up and look beautiful, which you’ll do flawlessly."

This time Evie pulled her into a hug. "Thank you. I'm sorry I went MIA these last few days...it's just been a lot."

"We're good. But seriously, you need to talk to Cash. He does seem to like you. And from what Allen said, golf was a clusterfuck, but he remained calm and said nothing but glowing things about you."

"You're right," she sighed. "I will."

"Do you need any help cleaning up this mess?" Ellie asked, looking around the room.

"No... I’ll clean it up myself. Along with my other mess."

"Okay, I'm here if you need anything," Ellie said.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. And thank you for coming. I may have been wallowing."

"You don't say?" Ellie stood form the couch and gave her a small smile. "Well, I'm going to get out of your hair. But don't go dark again."

"Deal. I'll talk to you later."

Once Ellie was gone Evie sat there looking at her phone. She knew she needed to reach out and talk to him, but she didn't know what to say. She knew she had put him in a shitty spot and got mad at him for something he couldn't help. Hopefully she hadn't ruined it because she really liked him. Possibly even loved him, but that was not a thought she could focus on.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

Evie - Can we talk?

Then she waited. There were no dancing dots, but he was probably busy. So, there was nothing to do now but get up and climb out of the dark hole she had let herself wallow in since Saturday. After getting a trash bag and cleaning up her living room she hopped in the shower. She didn't know how to fix this, but she was going to try. Hopefully it wasn't too late.

28

CASH

Once Cash got his truck, he was surprised to come home to a quiet house. The music that normally greeted him was gone. He decided to check out the music room. As he walked in, he shook his head. There were Mountain Dew bottles and Doritos and all kinds of other stuff, but the instruments were well taken care of, and his Fender was still untouched on the wall.

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