Page 45 of Blame It On the Secret Santa

She released her arm from her husband’s and turned to face him.

“Thisis Cassidy?”

“Yes,” he said quietly, looking down to avoid her death glare.

“Umm, I’m sorry, but I can assure you that whatever you might have heard about me is not true. Especially anything about me and Declan. People sometimes get stuff mixed up, but I actually used to date his brother, Sea—”

“You tell her right now,” Stephanie said, with her hand planted firmly on her hip.

“I don’t think this is the time or place,” Declan said quietly, practically talking through his teeth to avoid letting me hear him.

Stephanie turned and looked at me with a smile forced onto her face.

“My husband has something he needs to tell you.”

“Okay?” I tried to keep my foot still as it started bouncing up and down nervously on the tile floor beneath me.

Declan took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, looking from his wife to me.

“It was never Sean that cheated on you, Cassidy. It was me.”

My eyes bulged, nearly popping out of my head.

“I’m sorry—what?”

“The rumor that went around in high school about someone seeing Sean with another girl—it wasn’t him. It was me. I was the one who was cheating on my girlfriend, but I lied and said it was him.”

A rush of air blew through my pursed lips as I stared at him.

“Are you kidding me?”

He shook his head and pressed his lips into a thin line as his wife stood beside him with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Why didn’t you say something when it happened?”

“Because I was embarrassed that I got caught. I was an immature asshole who didn’t know how to own up to my mistakes.”

“So you let your brother take the fall for you?”

He nodded.

I could feel my blood pressure rising as anger radiated through me.

“You ruined my relationship with Sean,” I nearly shouted, lowering my voice when a few onlookers took interest. “Twelve years, Declan. That’s how long I have hated your brother for somethingyoudid.”

“I’m so sorry, Cassidy. I wish I could go back in time and fix everything, but I can’t. I messed up so much with one stupid lie, and I deserve everything I’ve gotten as a result of it. But I am sorry. Trust me, he hasn’t spoken to me in twelve years, either. He stopped talking to me the day the rumor started. But I thought for sure you and Sean would be able to talk things out. That you would believe him when he told you it wasn’t him.”

“Yeah, well, you were wrong about that. I believed the rumor, and because of that, you ruined one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

I didn’t bother to hear what he had to say as I grabbed my stuff and stormed off.

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