Page 37 of Cash

“For Tommy. I know that, too.”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

He made me wait for an answer.

My heart was in my throat the entire time. Having a little more clarity, thanks to sleep and food and a hot shower and knowing there were people on my side, gave me the chance to reflect on how I wanted things to be different between us.

I wanted him to like me, to trust and respect me. Maybe even more than that. We had started off well enough. Other forces had gotten in our way.

“I don’t know that there’s anything to forgive,” he decided, speaking slowly. Like he was just working it out for himself as he said it. “I mean, I don’t love knowing you lied to me. I especially don’t love knowing you kept lying even when I kept trying to get you to open up. But I know there are reasons, too. You didn’t want them to hurt your nephew. If you hadn’t collapsed last night, you would still be lying, and I would still be knowing you were lying. And you would keep insisting you weren’t.”

“I don’t know how much longer I could’ve kept it to myself.”

“Neither do I.”

I looked down at my hand, surprised to find his fingers closing around it. Even more surprised at how good it felt. How much I had wanted him to do just that. And more. There hadn’t been any time to indulge the attraction between us when the need to free Tommy consumed me. The slightest touch of Cash’s hand unlocked everything I’d forced down inside.

I didn’t say anything. It seemed unnecessary.

It was enough to sit beside him, arms touching, fingers laced.

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