“Trouble in paradise already?” Cassidy asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to figure out what’s going on,” I said.
“Awe, your first fight,” she cooed. “Good luck.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. Thanks.”
I ended the call, turned off all of the burners, and headed toward the window next to the front door. I pushed the curtains to the side and peered out. Cadence was stomping through the snow toward her car. Once she reached it, she furiously started knocking the snow off the top.
“What the actual fuck?” I muttered as I left the window and quickly headed outside. Once I made it to her, I said, “What are you doing?”
“Leave me alone,” she said and opened her driver’s side door, sliding into the seat. Her teeth chattered and she shivered like no tomorrow as she inserted her key into the ignition and gave it a turn. Her car revved to life.
I stared at her with a pinch settling into the center of my forehead. “Cadence, I have no idea what is going on. Why are you mad at me? And where do you think you are going?”
“Go away, Guy,” she said meeting my gaze with her hardened glare. Her dark blue eyes bore into mine, cold as ice, but just as devastatingly beautiful as before. It was hard not to think she was beautiful. More so when she was angry.
To further prove her point, she slammed her door shut.
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair before looking around the vehicle. There was no way she could get out of the snow. Plus, her tires didn’t have the right tread. She could start her vehicle and try all she wanted, but she wasn’t going anywhere. Not until this stuff melted off.
“You’re not going to get out of this,” I said, speaking loud enough to filter through the window. She was trying to play like she couldn’t hear me. But she could. She listened to every word I said. “Like it or not, you’re stuck here. And seeing as how you aren’t going anywhere any time soon, you might as well tell me what the hell I did wrong.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Then I will stay here until I can go home.”
“You’ll freeze to death,” I said my heart had yet to slow down since the front door of the cabin slammed shut, and now it started to skip a few beats like it was struggling to keep from shattering. “Stop being stubborn and talk to me.”
She pressed her lips together and refused to look at me.
“Cadence, whatever I did wrong… I’m sorry,” I said.
She shook her head.
My heart broke, and I got a little petty.
I threw up my hands in surrender. “You know what? Fine. I have no idea what I did to deserve this much less force you to want to leave without explanation, but if you are not too hell-bent on killing yourself then the least you can do is turn off your car, so you don’t get carbon monoxide poisoning.”
I turned around and started for the front door again. My feet crunched the snow beneath my feet. Cadence’s car engine fell silent. Seconds after that, before I reached the porch, the car door opened and slammed closed. My foot rested on the first step leading up to the porch when her voice reached me.
“Who is she?” Her words were harsh, full of disgust.
I turned around, facing her. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She barely met my gaze. I sucked in a breath. “Who?”
“The woman you were talking to on the phone,” she said.
I sighed… fantastic. She’s angry because I was talking to Cassidy? I wasn’t sure what developed in her mind, but I was positive she had it all wrong. “How do you know I was talking to a woman?”
“Man… woman… it doesn’t matter. The point is, your conversation proved to me that what we did was wrong,” she said, sniffing. Tears streamed down his face.
I stepped off the stair and lifted up my hands. It took everything inside me not to rush to her and wrap her in my arms. To kiss away the tears and the pain and the hurt she brought on herself. She jumped to conclusions with my call, and now I was about to lose her.
“You have it all wrong,” I said. “Whatever you thought you heard, I promise it isn’t what you think.”
“Do I have it all wrong, Guy?” she asked, snapping each word. “Am I wrong about the ‘new beginnings are long overdue for us?’ Or ‘you deserve someone who’s going to give you the moon and stars?’”
I simply stood there, unable to answer for what was said. Though I did say those words, they weren’t spoken in the context she had taken them in. But it didn’t matter. My silence was also mistaken as an admission of guilt.
Whatever I had done to deserve this, I deeply regretted.