Oh, God. He meant me. My heart took a dive.
“You guys know the story,” he said to the crowd, but he was looking at me. “I took a header into a fire hydrant and ended my rather illegal after-school activities.” When he waggled his thick brows, a whistle sounded behind me somewhere.
Cade’s eyes smiled.
He hopped off the bench and started in my direction, holding the megaphone to his lips and depressing the button. “I lost everything I cared about. My future, my car, my family.”
He walked closer, bringing himself within a few feet of me.
“But I gained something, too,” he said. “I gained a friend who was determined to pull me out of the pit I had happily buried myself in.”
He took another step closer and I stopped glancing around. Our gazes were locked, his brown eyes lit by the sun and by a healthy dose of confidence.
“I didn’t deserve her loyalty.” His voice rose, addressing the crowd again. “Then she kissed me.” Wolf whistles sliced the air and Cade smiled. “The clouds parted!” he announced theatrically. “I fell hard for that girl.”
My nose tingled with impending tears.
Cade erased the space between us. “I still love her and I’m hoping like hell she’ll forgive me for the shitty things I said. I’m a giant coward.”
I nodded my agreement.
“I also am not going to be a lawyer.” The students around us were split on that statement. Some clapped, others booed. “I’ll be starting at Littman’s GMC next Thursday, and”—he held a finger into the air, broadcasting to the crowd—“I can get you a really great deal on a used car with cut-rate, low, low financing.”
In spite of my skittering pulse and the blood rushing through my veins, I laughed at his attempt to break the tension. There was a lot of it. He might be putting on a show, but he was also nervous. I could see it in the thin sheen of sweat decorating his temple. In the way his eyes darted to his shoes before he lowered the megaphone and looked me in the eyes.
“Will you please forgive me, Tasha? For accusing you of being something you’re not? For pretending for one second I could live without your voice in my ear or your lips on mine?”
He dropped to his knees and my gasp was echoed by a choir of others.
“I love you and I’m sorry.”
That sincere pronouncement was for me. Not the crowd.
I looked down at the guy I still loved, feeling unsure, confused, and wanting to believe him—to be happy. To grasp what he was offering with both hands.
“Why are you doing this?” I said, my voice low so only he could hear.
“You are more important than my pride, my reputation, or the chance that I could stammer in front of one hundred people who know me.”
“I’ll forgive you, Cade!” a girl shouted from the distance.
“You’re the only one who matters.” He kept his eyes on mine.
“I’m not shallow because I have nice things.”
“I know.”
“I kept the Z4.”
“You should. It’s yours.”
“Are you really a used-car salesman?”
“Yes, but I also signed up for business classes. In case BMW needs a new CEO someday.” He swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’m so damn sorry, Tasha. I never should have said so many mean words to you. I was mad at myself and scared shitless you’d leave me. And then you did, and I—God, I can’t breathe. I swear as I kneel here, this is the first full breath I’ve taken.”
He swallowed again and asked, “Can you forgive me?”
“Yes,” I answered.