Page 104 of Tell Me All Your Lies

“I’ll see you down there,” I say and place another kiss on top of her head.

“That smells great,”Cara says as she walks into the living room.

The news is on low in the background, and I’ve opened the curtains to let the natural light in. Cara’s in a fitted tank top and yoga pants.

She picks up her coffee and gets settled, curled up at my side. I wrap my arm around her and start to rub her arm.

“This is nice,” she says.

Cara takes a sip of her coffee and then glances up at me. Indecision fills her expression.

“You know how I like my coffee?” she asks.

“We’ve been living together for a while. It’s an easy thing to learn.”

“Not for everyone.”

“Catching on to how you like your coffee is the bare minimum, love.”

Cara smiles shyly before focusing back on the news.

“I have a question for you,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“Why didn’t you meet me in Willow Park that night?”

“The night we discovered one another?”

“Yes.”

Cara moves up and shifts on the couch to face me. She grips her coffee mug.

“I couldn’t believe it was you.”

“That I know.”

“I didn’t know what to say.”

“We could have started off differently.”

“I was afraid. This job is something that is mine. At the time, I was so young and unsure of my direction. This job made me who I am, and I didn’t want to share it with anyone in the real world.”

“Which would have been me.”

“Yes. You’re such good friends with my parents, and even though I knew you wouldn’t tell them, it just felt like this special thing I had for myself was going to be taken away. So I just decided to pretend like it didn’t happen.”

“Until we kept running into each other.”

She smiles, but then it turns down.

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I wish I had handled it differently.”

“Well, I don’t think either of us assumed this would happen between us.”

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