Page 36 of Sorry Season

After climbing behind the wheel and revving the engine, Blane pulled onto the quiet main street and she settled back,trying to act nonchalant and resisting the urge to squirm with excitement.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said.

He shot a quick sideways glance at her, the concern in his eyes troubling. “You had a funny look on your face for quite awhile back there. Did that place remind you of your folks?”

She could’ve bluffed her way out of it but being so close to him, the faintest waft of cedar tickling her nose and a palpable heat radiating off him, she could barely think straight let alone come up with a half plausible excuse.

Crinkling her nose, she said, “Yeah, it did.”

Before she could blink he’d pulled over, turned to her, and cupped her cheek. “Want to talk about it?”

“You mean my parents or their time warp coffee house?”

Her forced jocularity fell flat as he drew her closer and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips, a kiss of understanding, of support, and she slid her hands up his chest, gripping his T-shirt, never feeling as anchored, as safe, as she did at that moment.

“You mentioned that you left Rainbow Creek not long after I did. From what your folks told me before I left, I assumed once I was out of the picture everything would be fine with you guys. What happened?”

Sighing, she reached for the end of her ponytail and twisted until she couldn’t twist anymore. She didn’t want to dredge this up, not today, the first day of the rest of their lives, but he’d asked.

Besides, she had no hope of denying him anything when he cradled her close like this, making her feel more cherished and secure than she’d ever been.

“You name it, they did it. Lying. Manipulating. Controlling.”

Swallowing down the bitterness that arose whenever she thought about their final showdown, she forced herself to continue. “My Nan died when I was sixteen. She and mom never got on so Nan left me everything. I never really asked how much it was all worth but I knew it had to be hefty. My folks said that once Nan’s assets were sold, all the cash would be tied up in a trust fund I couldn’t access until I turned twenty-one.”

“So you’re loaded. Good to know you’re not just with me for my money.”

With a tender grin, he brushed a strand of hair off her face and she leaned into his palm, relishing his support, finding the need to keep talking surprising. She hated rehashing old, painful stuff but unburdening herself to Blane was strangely cathartic.

“My folks knew how much I wanted to move to Melbourne. It’s all I talked about as a teenager and I made it pretty clear that once I came into Nan’s money I was out of there. Not because I didn’t love them or Rainbow Creek, it was just my dream, you know?”

“I know, sweetheart.”

He did, considering the reason he’d left all those years ago was to let her pursue it. Crazy, infuriating man.

“After you left we had this huge fight, a real monster blowout. They tried to tell me how stupid I’d been in marrying you, how I’d regret it for the rest of my life and that it proved I wasn’t ready to take control of Nan’s money.”

Realization dawned in his eyes and she nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. Nan’s will stipulated I could have the money at eighteen but Mom and Dad lied to me. They knew how much moving to Melbourne meant to me but they manipulated the situation.”

Even now, she couldn’t comprehend why they’d done it, apart from wanting to keep her chained to their sides like a little kid. They’d always been control freaks but denying her the inheritance that was rightfully hers…defied belief.

Blane rested his hands on her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. “They must love you a lot to go to those lengths to get a few more years with you.”

“That’s not love, that’s being obsessive.”

Though a tiny seed of doubt unfurled amidst her residual bitterness as she absorbed what he’d said.

What if Blane was right? She’d never considered they might’ve acted out of love, that they might’ve wanted more time with her before she left town. Instead, she’d been so focussed on their betrayal, their lies, how they’d blurted the truth in anger and would never have told her otherwise, that she’d shut off to their possible motivations.

Smoothing back her hair, he said, “What they did was wrong and I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but I saw the pain on your face back there. Maybe you need to sort things out with them?”

The thought of reaching out to reconcile congealed the icecream in her stomach and she surreptitiously rubbed it, wishing he wasn’t so damned intuitive, knowing it was part of his charm.

“Maybe.” She slid her hands up his chest to cup his face. “In the meantime, thanks for being such an amazing man.”

“I try.”

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