Page 24 of The Outlaw's Code

But even when I thought Shane was just tempting eye-candy, I never could’ve imagined just how perfect for each other we were. He’d gone from a daydream to a real flesh and blood connection, something in his soul always quieting mine.

I took another deep breath as I stared out at the ridge.

I needed to talk to Vanessa.

But I knew now that I didn’t just need to tell her the truth. I needed to apologize to her, too.

I needed to make things right.

“Hey! Calder. There you are.”Vanessa beamed as I stepped back inside the cabin. “I was just looking for you?—”

“We need to talk, Vanessa.”

Her smile quickly faded. “Talk about what, Calder?”

“I just… can we go somewhere?” I pressed. “I don’t think we should have the conversation here.”

“Greasy spoon place? In town?”

“But you don’t even like that place?—”

“It’ll be my last time going, won’t it?” Vanessa’s eyes glistened with tears. “I think it’s only fitting as a place to remember you by.”

“Vanessa…”

“Come on. Let’s go.” She grabbed her keys, soon playfully shaking them. “We can save all the sad shit until there’s pancakes in front of us.”

I followed Vanessa out to her SUV, sliding into the passenger seat. A few minutes later, we were pulling up to Canyon Creek Diner. The car ride had been filled with songs from one of Vanessa’s playlists, pop music bouncing around the vehicle. When she cut the music off and opened her car door, the finality of the moment hit me like a ton of bricks.

This wasn’t just about ending things with Vanessa. It felt like closing the door on my old life.

Vanessa and I found a booth near the back of the diner, far away from anyone who could’ve overheard our conversation. There were still tears in her eyes, but her expression was neutral, like she was mourning something she’d mourned before.

“There’s someone else, isn’t there?” She started. “Did you meet him on the ranch?”

“Him?” I was nearly stunned into silence. “Wait, Vanessa. Did you know…?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She let out a wounded laugh. “I thought about asking you, but I didn’t know if you really knew, either. Besides, we always got back together and there weren’t other girls in the picture so… I was happy, I guess, for the lack of competition.”

I smiled over at her. “There’s no competing with you, Vanessa. What we had…”

“Stop. You don’t have to do that.”

“Do what?”

“Try to make me feel better about this.” She shook her head. “Calder, I’m happy for you. I really am. You have every right to be happy, to be yourself. And yeah, we’ve had our time together, but we don’t have to pretend like it was all sunshine and roses.”

“Sure, but?—”

“We were a goddamn mess, Calder Hayes, and you know it.” Vanessa laughed again. “This was doomed.” She leaned across the table. “I know you blocked me, by the way. What the hell? Were you just going to never talk to me again or what?”

“I think that was sort of the plan, yeah.”

“Asshole.” She smirked. “You’re supposed to break up over pancakes, everybody knows that.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

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