Wade looked down at the blue shirt and green plaid tie he was wearing. He could’ve sworn he’d reached for the blue striped one. Must’ve grabbed the wrong tie and not noticed. Not sleeping for a few days would do that to a guy, he supposed. “I’ve got new neighbors. They’ve been louder than usual, and after a few weeks at the farm, I got used to the quiet.”
“And it has absolutely nothing to do with the redhead whose heart you broke last week?”
Heath just wasn’t about to let this go. Wade knew that if he didn’t say something soon, Heath was liable to put him in a headlock and knuckle his scalp until he confessed.
Wade opted to answer the question without really answering it. “She’s better off without me.”
“Isn’t that for her to decide?”
Wade shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She hates me.”
“I doubt that. She was just hurt. Your betrayal was that much worse because she let herself fall in love with you.”
“She didn’t say that.”
“Why on earth would she? Anyway, she didn’t need to say it. We both know why she rushed home from Philadelphia. And even if she does hate you now, that doesn’t change anything. You’re still in love with her.”
Wade’s chest started to ache at the mere thought. The pain had plagued him since the door of Tori’s Airstream slammed shut in his face. It had woken him up the few times he had managed to fall asleep. He’d started popping antacids. He’d even done a Google search for “heart attack symptoms” to make sure he wasn’t dying. As best he could tell, he wasn’t on death’s door. He was just in love with a woman who hated him.
“She’s never going to forgive me for lying to her. And I can’t tell her the truth about what we were looking for. I can’t just go to her and tell her I love her and that she’s just got to trust me.”
“You know, fifteen years ago our lives took an unexpected turn. For the most part we’ve been able to carry on with our lives. Sure, we remember. Our consciences are burdened with it. We worry we handled it wrong and made a bigger mess of the situation. We pray that no one ever finds out what happened. But for more than twenty-three hours out of every day, I can live my life like it never happened. Can you?”
“Usually. Until I found out Dad sold the land.”
“But before that…were you happy?”
Happy was a funny word. Wade didn’t like using it. “I was content. ‘Happy’ sounds like puppies and rainbows. I was pleased with how my life was going.”
“And now?”
“And now…I guess, to use your words, I’m miserable.”
“We’ve decided you should tell her the truth.”
Wade’s brow shot up at his brother’s words. “We? Did you all hold some secret council meeting without me?”
“Yes,” he said, very matter-of-factly. “Via Skype. We talked it over and decided that you shouldn’t give up your chance at real happiness just to protect us.”
Wade almost laughed for a moment before he realized Heath wasn’t kidding. They had no idea what they were asking him to do. He’d spent his whole life trying to protect them. Trying to make up for that night. He couldn’t just flip-flop because they said it was okay. It wasn’t okay. “I’m not going to expose everyone, including myself, just for a woman.”
“She’s not just any woman, Wade. She’s the woman you love. Do you want to marry her?”
The image of Tori in an ivory lace gown instantly sprang into his mind. Her red-gold hair was pulled back into an elegant twist. Her peaches-and-cream skin rosy from excitement and champagne. He’d never even thought about it before, and yet the vision of her in his mind was so real that he couldn’t push it aside. “If she’d have me.”
“Then you can tell her. After the wedding.”
Wade opened his mouth, then realized what they had in mind. If he married Tori, he could tell her everything and she couldn’t be compelled to testify against them.
“She’s not going to marry me unless I tell her the truth. And I can’t tell her the truth unless she marries me. So, really, I get nowhere with this.”
Heath shrugged. “I disagree. When I came in the door, you were ‘fine.’ Now you’re a man in love who wants to get married. I think you’re way ahead. Now you just have to go tell her.”
“Yeah, sure. Tori, I love you and I want to marry you. And once you marry me, I can tell you all about how I buried some guy on your property and I’m afraid you’ll dig him up while building your dream house.”