Kallie

The bags crunch as they hit the countertop, and Mom starts sorting through the groceries. She doesn’t even have to look at me to know something is wrong.

“Are you going to tell me or do you want me to guess?” she asks.

Curled up on a kitchen chair, my hair in a messy bun, I sniffle. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“If you didn’t want to talk about it, you would be in your bedroom or driving around a back road, not sitting in the kitchen.”

Putting my feet on the floor, I straighten my shirt. I don’t know how to talk about this with my mother. She loves Cross maybe as much as she loves me, and I’m not sure her opinion will be unbiased. Yet, she’s my mom. I just need my mom.

“Did you date Daddy in a small town?” I ask.

Her hand stills in the air before she puts the jar of peanut butter in the cabinet. “We dated in Detroit, mostly. We were newlyweds when we moved down here. Why do you ask?”

“Nora and I went into Carlson’s today and Veronica told me Cross had a woman in his car today, buying lunch.”

“I see.” She turns around and leans against the counter. “And that’s where you were all night? At Cross’s?”

“Yes.”

She nods her head, her face twisted in thought. “Did you ask him if it was true?”

“Yes, and he admitted it.”

“He did?”

“He said she wouldn’t leave the gym and he had somewhere to be,” I say, testing the words out loud for the first time since I calmed down.

“Do you believe that?”

“Megan is that way…but he shouldn’t have had her in his truck.”

She takes a deep breath before turning back to her groceries. “I’m a little bit in shock.”

“Me too.” I sigh. “I hate this, Mom. I hate the way everyone gossips and almost sets you up to be a joke.”

“No one made a joke out of you.” She spins on her heel. “She made a tramp out of herself, but that’s the end of that.”

A flood of warmth trickles through my body as I watch my mother watch me. Just knowing she has my back and is in my corner helps—a lot.

“I left here because he wouldn’t grow up and I was sick of the gossip,” I remind her. “Then my ex in Indiana cheated on me, and now I’m back and it’s the same damn thing.”

She sticks a gallon of milk in the fridge before pausing. “Maybe what you are seeing is how the world really works, Kal. I know you see pictures of perfect little houses and marriages and friendships, but it’s not real. Life is a bitch.”

“Don’t I know it.” I chuckle.

“The key to happy relationships is trust. It’s the hardest thing to master, but if you can, it’s the secret key that opens a world you can never know otherwise.”

“But doesn’t trusting someone leave you exposed? They can stick a knife in you and twist it.” I wince, thinking that’s exactly how I felt this afternoon.

“Yeah, it does. It leaves you wide open, but you can’t get through that door without doing it. You just have to learn who you can trust and who you can’t.”

“So, basically, conquer Rome in a day? Got it.” Wiping the fog off my glass of ice water, I think back to Cross’s face. “He was mad at me, Mom. Can you believe that?”

“I’d be more worried if he wasn’t.”

“Why?”

A soft smile ghosts across her lips. “Maybe it insulted him that you would accuse him of something. Maybe he thought you knew him better than that.”

“It still doesn’t make this any easier.”

“The world isn’t black and white, Kal. It’s a wonderful mixture of the two that has a lot of blurry lines, and if you care what people do and say, you have a long life ahead of you, honey.” She sits across from me and folds her hands on the table. “Trust your gut, and remember what led you back to him in the first place.”

She gets up, kisses me on the head, and walks down the hallway. Her words, however, stay behind.

* * *

Kallie

The dog across the street barks, breaking the late-night silence. My car starts up, the lights shining into the living room as I back down the driveway.

My stomach is all twisted, an ulcer beginning to form somewhere in the pit of my bowels. No matter what I do—read, sing, or create—I can’t stop thinking about Cross.

Walking five miles just got me a sore hamstring, doing the dishes left me with a sliced finger, and I’ve sung the hell out of my favorite playlist on my phone. Through it all, I’ve thought about him.

It’s those nights in Indiana all over again. It’s the emptiness in my soul, the craving to love and be loved…by him, only him. It’s only ever been him.

As I sort through my memories, I see his face from earlier when he was telling me nothing happened. Even though I didn’t want to at first, I believe him. Something in my gut tells me to, says to at least hear him out without being pissed off to start.

The car glides down the street, heading into town, the streetlights getting more frequent as I go. The clock reads almost one in the morning, and my body shivers against the cool summer night.

A set of headlights comes my way and the driver clicks them down, turning off the brights. As we pass, I glance over my shoulder and see Cross’s face.

My heart leaps in my chest as his tail lights come on in the rear view, his tires squealing as he rips the truck around. Before I know what’s happening, he’s behind me, traveling in the same direction.

The high school is a block ahead and I turn my turn signal on in hopes he’ll slow down a bit and get off my ass. My throat is constricted as I pull in, my blood pounding in my veins as I stop the car. He’s out of his truck and around the front before I ever even get the door open. He does the honors for me.

His hair is wild, his shirt soaked with sweat. “You okay?”

My feet on the asphalt, I stand and breathe him in. “I was coming to look for you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nope,” I say, shaking my head.

“Dammit, Kal—”

I take the words out of his mouth with my own, pressing my lips against his so quickly it shocks him. My hands go to his damp hair, urging him to kiss me harder. I need this. I need…him.

He finally pulls away, dragging in a lungful of air. “Kallie?”

“I am sorry,” I say, resting my forehead on his.

“It was me that had her in my truck.”

“And it was my insecurities that let that matter. I mean, yeah, don’t do it again”—I laugh—“but you didn’t exactly do something wrong.”

“It was wrong if it makes you feel anything but great.” He wraps me up in his arms, pulling me to his chest. “I was at the gym, working out, and all I could see was you standing there mad at me.”

“I was sitting on my bed and kept thinking about how last night I was in yours, how many nights I wished to be there, and how tonight I wasn’t because I was mad, like a child.”

He squeezes me tighter. “I was also wrong when I said I couldn’t make you love me. I damn sure am going to try for the rest of my life.”

My hand stills on his back, his heartbeat picking up against my cheek. “Cross?”

“Yes, I want to marry you,” he whispers under the lights of the parking lot. “But I want to ask your mother before I ask you, and I want to find the perfect ring and the perfect spot first. You deserve that.”

“I don’t need any of that,” I say, choking back a sob. I’m so desperate for him, my chest coming undone and overflowing. “I just need you. I’m never letting you go again.”

“Damn right you’re not.” His body shakes with his chuckle. “Do you want to ride with me back to my house or have me follow you?”

Grinning through my tears, I pull away and look into his spectacular green eyes. “Follow me.”

“The view of your behind is one of my favorites.”

I swat at his arm, but he pulls me in for a quick kiss instead.

“Hey, Cross?”

“Yeah?”

I grab his hand and lace our fingers together. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”