Page 46 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

“And don’t even get me started on my girlfriends this year.” He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head.

She’d been curious about that herself. Since she’d met him when she was eleven and he was twelve, girls had fawned all over him, but he’d not given them much notice—not until the end of his junior year, that was. It’d bothered her when he’d started dating, even more when he became a serial dater—if she were being honest, she’d been afraid that he’d no longer have time for her and Allie. Really, that’d terrified her more than a little. But girls came and went, and he was always still around.

She lifted her chin. If he was coming clean, then she wanted to know everything. “What was that about? It didn’t even seem like you liked any of them.”

“I didn’t hate them.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “They were just . . . I know you know about all the fights I’ve been getting in lately, even though you’ve said nothing.”

She nodded.

“Well, those girls, they were just a shield to pull attention away from that. I’m a mess, Jo.” He took a step closer to her, and she took a step back.

She raised a hand in a stop gesture. “Tell me.”

“I’m so angry, Jo. I’m angry at my parents. I’m angry with myself. I needed an outlet.”

A lump rose in her throat. She understood that. She’d be mad if she had to deal with what he had to deal with all the time. And she was also pretty sure she understood now why he was smiling all the time. It was a mask that he only ever let drop in the Ward household. But that wasn’t why they were having this conversation. They were here because he’d asked her out. “Why did you ask me to prom?”

The muscles in his jaw pulsed. “Because for just one night, I wanted to have something real. And you’re the only real thing in my life.”

Her jaw dropped. He couldn’t be serious, could he? He rubbed the back of his neck, all the stress of the last however long, aging him well beyond his eighteen years. He was tired. He was sad. And he was in front of her, asking for her to help him ease that burden. Why? Because she was real.

Every other time he’d asked her that week had been accompanied with large bouquets of flowers, homemade pastries, balloons, and on one occasion the A Capella group from their high school showing up to her first period class singing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. It’d infuriated her because it’d been so embarrassing. She’d felt like all the other girls he’d dated, and she didn’t want to be. But now she understood. Just like he said, it was all fake because that was all he knew how to do. Even with her.

Her muscles twitched, then she moved, closing the space between them before she really knew what she’d done. Three steps and she was in his arms, wrapping him in a tight embrace, and he’d hugged her back tighter than he’d ever hugged her before.

She’d relented then, agreed to go to prom, and she’d seen genuine joy in his eyes for the first time in a long time. In that moment, she realized she’d been losing him, and had missed it because she didn’t know what to do about it.

Two weeks later, she’d stood on her porch with Allie, decked out in their prom dresses, and Cash had never shown. The next day, all anyone at school could talk about was Cash, and how several people had seen him drive through town, his truck filled with all his belongings.

She’d called.

She’d left a message.

He’d never responded.

Now, she stood in the office ofSticky and Sweet, all that hurt returning. “Why’d you do it, Cash?”

He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I had to get out of here.”

She clenched her teeth and nodded. Right. That explained everything. “You should change your flight back.”

He moved closer to her. “No, I said I’d be here to help you and I will.”

She shook her head. “You’ve done everything you could, you went above and beyond, really. But if they don’t sign the contract tomorrow now because you’re not here, then they’re not investors we need.”

“Jo, don’t do this—”

“Do what?” she snapped. She hated this. Hated being put in this situation twice. Mad at herself for letting it get so far. “Send you home? You were planning on leaving this morning anyway, you only changed that plan because of me. And I don’t need your help anymore. You have a home and a business to get back too. You don’t belong here. You don’t belong with me.”

He took a step back, as if she’d just punched him.

“We don’t need to drag this out any longer. It’ll be better for both of us if you just leave.” She took a step to the side, clearing a path to the door. “Go home, Cash.”

He narrowed his gaze and clenched his fists before straightening his fingers out again.

The bell rang for a third time that night, and it took all her willpower to pull her gaze from his to answer it. Ethan and Roger stood in her back door, dressed in their deputy uniforms.

“Hey Jo, can we come in?” Ethan asked.

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