Page 50 of Hearts on the Mend

“Doesn’t it?”

She hesitated the other night on the couch. She keeps pulling back, and I won’t break her rules.

She grabs my hand and drags me out into the hallway.

Why does popcorn have such a chokehold on this school? Between that and the smell of Elmer’s glue and tempera paint, my stomach turns, desperate for fresh air. Or maybe it’s the buzzing fluorescent lights overhead.

“I texted you because I was venting, not because I needed you to show up. I don’t need this, Nolan. Don’t need you to act like some fucking knight in shining armor. Ruby and I have dealt with Matt for a long time now. We know where we stand, and then you show up in our lives. What if she thinks that you’re always going to show up now?”

“She’s been talking about today for a month.”

“But what about next month? What about next year?”

Ahh, so it is about me leaving.

“I’m leaving at the start of the fire season. That hasn’t been a secret. So why exactly are you asking me about next year?”

“Ruby likes you,” Cassie snaps. “She really likes you, and she’s already had her heart broken once. I can’t let her heart be broken again.”

“Hers or yours?”

She rears back as if struck. “Fuck all the way off,” she whisper-yells. “This has nothing to do with me.”

I lean in, fighting the urge to wrap my hand around her waist and draw her close.

“This has everything to do with you.” My voice is more a promise than a threat. She knows that.

“I don’t want complicated, Nolan. Thanks for today, but you don’t need to do it anymore. Whatever this superhero agenda is that you seem to have. You just love to swoop in and fix everything. I’ll be fine.” She shoves back her bangs from her eyes. “She’ll be fine,” Cassie quickly corrects.

There it is. The correction takes less than a second, but I catch it. I don’t know why it lands the way it does. I showed up today because I wanted to, because for a few hours, I got to feel like I belonged somewhere, and now I’m being told I read it wrong.

“Right.” I step back, studying her once more. “Sorry” is all I say before I turn around and head out to fix the house I’ve agreed to fix, because that’s all this is—all it can be. Even if I feel like we’re slipping into more. Even if I’m more than flirting with the idea of wanting this. But Cassie made herself clear, and I don’t push where I’m not wanted. Even when everything in me is screaming that she wants it too.

Chapter 16

Cassie

“I’ll drive.” Nolan clutches his steaming coffee mug in his hand as he whisks Ruby and me out of the door. He plucks the keys from the dish in the hallway before shutting the front door behind him.

There’re three inches of fresh snow on the driveway, along with a coating of ice. With the slight breeze, the trees snap and crackle.

Ruby runs ahead, and I chase after, catching her before she dives into the snow to make a snow angel. “Let’s stay dry. Not sure Mrs. Beil will appreciate me sending you to school soaking wet.”

“Mooooomm,” she whines. “I have backup clothes.”

“Not the point.” My mind is already racing ahead on what to tackle on my giant to-do list today. I open the rear door of the Jeep and shoot her a look. “In, Ruby.”

She grumbles, tossing in her backpack before climbing in. “You were a lot nicer when Dad was around.”

I ignore the dig. I’m sure I was a bitch then too. But I like to think eventually, when I come out on the other side of this mess, I’ll be happier standing up for myself—for the two of us really.

Nolan settles into the driver’s seat beside me, his hair curling around the edges of his hat, his jaw covered in thick stubble. I swear my stomach tumbles the second I catch myself staring at his lips. All I can smell is wood shavings and that piney scent that clings to his clothes, like some brawny seaside lumberjack.

“Hey, Rue, let’s be nicer to your mom this morning,” he says. “Everyone buckled?”

Nope. No. No. None of that, sir.

I blink hard, completely thrown at how he just stuck up for me. If I don’t find a reason to hate him in the next three seconds, I’m going to make a terrible mistake and kiss him again.