Page 201 of Tessa and Nash

She lifts her chin. “Yes. Oh.”

“Tessa, that was an auction.”

“You appeared extremely comfortable.”

“That’s because people were bidding on a trail ride, not my emotional stability.”

Her mouth tightens. “You certainly didn’t look heartbroken.”

I run a hand through my hair. “Do you want me to stand on stage and announce that I’ve been miserable for two weeks?”

“Have you been?”

“I already did the honesty thing,” I say. “Remember the council meeting?”

Her expression flashes.

“Yes,” she replies. “That was… memorable.”

The sarcasm stings.

“I did that to fix things,” I say quietly.

“You humiliated me. Do you have any idea what that was like? Standing there while half the town realized I’d been part of a lie without me knowing you were going to do that?” She lets out a sharp breath. “I work in that building, Nash. I have to walk back in there every day.”

“I thought I was freeing you. I know, I wasn’t thinking straight. I was all wound up and messy.”

She stares at me as if I’ve said something absurd. “You exposed the lie in front of the entire town.”

“I ended it.”

Tessa shakes her head slowly. “You could have spoken to me first. You don’t get to decide what freedom looks like for me. That’s my choice.”

“If I had warned you,” I say, “you would have stopped me.”

“That’s because it was reckless.”

“No,” I reply, meeting her gaze. “It was necessary.”

The wind drifts across the porch, stirring loose strands of her hair.

“You were trapped in that story,” I continue. “Your uncle was using the engagement as leverage, and the town believed it meant the families were working together. The only way to break that illusion was to tell the truth.”

Her voice softens slightly. “You destroyed your own reputation.”

“That wasn’t exactly thriving.”

“That isn’t funny.”

“I’m serious.”

Silence settles between us.

Then she says quietly, “You also destroyed whatever dignity I had left.”

My chest tightens. “That was never the intention. But I did it anyway. I didn’t ask you. I didn’t warn you. I just decided what was best and dragged you into it in front of the whole town.” Ice-cold shame washes over me. “And yeah… I know that probably made things harder for you. Your job. Your reputation. Everything.”

“What was your intention?”