Page 62 of The Dallas Dilemma

She shakes her head. “No. I get it. I’m not mad at you. Hell, I didn’t tell you when Joey figured it out for herself. Some secrets are not oursto share.”

“Okay, good,” he says on a relieved sigh. “So, I’m going to go so you two can talk. Call me later?”

He hugs her as she nods. She hugs him back, and they share a simple, sweet kiss before pulling away from each other. Then Royal looks back at me.

“He was freaking out, not because you’re his online nemesis, but because he’syours. He didn’t want anything to ruin what you two were building because he cares about you. A lot. I just thought you should know that.”

All I can do is nod, and he returns the gesture before heading out, closing the door softly behind him. Callie plops down next to me and pulls me into her arms.

“You okay?” she whispers into my hair, and I shrug as my eyes start to burn again.

“I don’t know,” I murmur.

Releasing me, she twists to face me and pulls her legs onto the couch, crisscrossing them in front of her. She waits for me to copy her position, and I comply, drying my tears with the sleeve of my hoodie.

“Okay, let’s talk this through and figure it out.”

I nod and sniff, and she leans backward and reaches over her shoulder to grab a small box of tissues from the end table before tossing it to me. I thank her and pluck a tissue from the box to blow my nose.

“So, Dallas has known you’re JoeyB for as long as you’ve known he’s Buckaroo, right?”

“Yeah,” I say softly.

“And not only that, he knew that you knew, and he didn’t say anything.”

“He said he was giving me time to figureout what I wanted to do about it. That he didn’t want me to feel pressured or cornered.”

She cocks her head slightly. “It sounds like Royal was right, and Dallas cares about you, a lot.”

“I guess,” I say, finally feeling some of my anxiety slip away.

“And you can’t really be mad at him for not saying anything, because you were doing the same thing to him,” she says, and I shake my head.

“I’m not mad at him. Not at all. I’m just…I don’t know. Confused? Embarrassed? Humiliated. That’s how I feel. I feel humiliated.”

“Why?” she asks.

“I don’t…know. Because I was freaking out, and Dallas knew I was freaking out, and we both pretended like everything was fine? He never let on that he knew anything was off, and I thought I was doing such a good job of hiding my emotions.” Callie shoots me a pointed look, and I sigh. “I know it’s ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous,” she says. “Your feelings are valid. I just think you should look at this from a different perspective.”

“And what’s that?”

“You love him.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to, Joey. It’s been all over your face every time you talk about him. Youlovehim. And I might not be able to read him as clearly as I can read you, but it seems like he might love you, too.”

“I don’t think so,” I mumble.

“Josette Ophelia Barnes,” she says, her voice stern, “look at me. Dallas found out you were keeping a secret from him, and he didn’t call you out. He didn’t force a conversation you weren’t ready for even though it would clear the air and make things easier forhim. He put you first, knowing you needed time to work this out for yourself before you’d be ready to talk about it. He. Put. You. First. If that’s not love, then I don’t know what is.”

Dallas always puts me first. He always has. Even from the beginning.

“That’s just his way,” I argue, and she throws her hands up with a groan.

“Okay. Fine. I won’t try to convince you. It’s not my place to do that, anyway. But you do love him. You won’t be able to convince me otherwise, so don’t even try. You can’t let a little embarrassment for being caught keeping a secret prevent you from being happy. And Dallas makes you happy.”

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