Page 102 of Love and Other Trials
She exhaled loudly, pressing her hands to her knees. “I think we just say that we found it as we were coming back to the resort. In a closet or something.”
In a closet? She must be jittery because that didn’t make any sense. “Ariel, everyone knows someone moved it. I know it won’t be easy for anyone to believe someone put the dress in the back of my car?—”
“Dax!” Her cry was totally out of character as she turned in her seat and looked at him, her blue eyes round as quarters. “No one is going to believe you.”
He’d lived his whole life doing what was right. Knowing people were going to think the worst of him—Rob and her family and everyone else—was like being told he’d never fly again. “Ariel, I know this looks bad, but we’re going to find out who did this.”
She started laughing, the stress making the sound tense and ear-grating. “Find out? Like a whodunnit? Oh, Dax! I don’t even know where to start because I can’t think ofanyonebut you wanting this wedding stopped.”
He bristled. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”
Rubbing her throat, she turned away and looked out the window. “I do, but then a horrible little voice starts talking.”
His heart felt like it had been ripped in half. “And what does that horrible voice say?”
“Oh, Dax,” was all she said in a hoarse voice.
He watched the road ahead and stared at the cars in front of him, going numb. “You think I felt guilty or something and decided to unhide the dress.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Dax, I know you… When you tell me you didn’t do it, I believe you. But I don’t know how this could have happened. Okay?”
Okay? No, it wasn’t okay. She was crushing him here.
“I’m tired and I thought I’d lost my grandma’s house again.” She reached out a shaky hand and touched his arm, her blue eyes glistening now. “It’s been a roller coaster. Let’s deal with all this after. Please.”
If he didn’t have her trust, at least he could stand by the truth. “Ariel, I will not say we found this dress in a closet. I’m going to tell Rob it was in my Bronco and that I did not put it there.”
“He’ll never believe you,” she whispered, gripping his hand. “Neither will Tiffany or anyone else. You saw how they are.”
He set his jaw and kept driving. “I have a code. I won’t break it. Not to make things easier or smooth things over.”
Her sharp inhale hurt to hear, and he clenched his teeth, knowing he’d hurt her too.
“Like I do, you mean.”
He said nothing.
“That’s right. That’s my job. To smooth things over. To help everyone get along. To clean up after disasters like this as kindly and politely as I can.”
“Lying isn’t kind or polite,” he felt compelled to say. “I can’t control what anyone thinks of me, but I would hope the people who know me would understand I’d never do something like this. If you love me like you said you did, then you would know that too, and you would tell the truth. About me. About this.”
Her silence had something dying inside him.
“I do love you, and I do know you.” She heaved out a breath. “But I just don’t know what to think right now, and I certainly don’t want you to tell them where the dress was, because it will only cause more problems.”
He kept driving, biting his tongue to hold back his harsh retort, the kind you can’t take back. He was aware of her staring at him as he drove, but she said nothing. And when she let her hand fall from his arm, he thought he’d lost one more person he loved.
Her.
TWENTY-FIVE
She was going to lie.
Despite what Dax said, she didn’t see a choice. If Rob knew where the dress had been, not even Carson and Perry could hold him back from beating Dax to a bloody pulp. She couldn’t let that start up again. Right before the wedding. Right in front of the wedding guests. God only knew what her mother, sisters, and Tiffany would do if they were told where it had been found.
Certainly they’d order him from the wedding.
Maybe have him thrown off the resort property.
