Page 10 of Take My Heart
She looks at me. ‘Seriously? We just met.’
‘Yeah? So? It should be easier to tell a stranger than someone you know. There’s no judgment. I don’t care that you left some guy at the altar. The bastard probably didn’t deserve you.’
She smiles a little. ‘Thanks.’
‘For what?’
‘Saying that. Everyone assumes I’m the problem and that Cam is perfect.’
‘Nobody’s perfect.’ I glance at her. ‘Cam’s the guy you were going to marry?’
‘Yes,’ she mutters. ‘It’s short for Camden.’
As we approach the downtown I press on the brakes and feel the truck sliding.
Kate grabs hold of the dash.
‘We’re fine,’ I assure her, steering us back in the lane. ‘I drive in this stuff all the time.’
She lets out a breath. ‘I was having a flashback of going in the ditch. I can’t believe that happened. Cam is going to kill me.’
‘That’s his car in the ditch?’
‘Yes. My parents took me to the church this morning. I didn’t want to go home with them so I asked Cam if I could borrow his car.’ She looks over at me. ‘Are you always like this?’
‘Like what?’
‘Asking all these questions. Most guys don’t even want to talk, unless it’s about themselves.’
‘I was just wondering what your story was. It’s not every day I find a girl in the middle of the highway during a blizzard wearing a wedding dress.’
‘I tried to change clothes at a truck stop but the restroom was closed for cleaning.’
‘So going back to the wedding, did you leave before the ceremony started?’
‘No,’ she says, gazing down. ‘The ceremony had started. We were about to say our vows and .?.?.’ She shakes her head. ‘I just couldn’t do it.’
‘And that’s when you took off?’
‘Yes. Well, I told Cam I couldn’t marry him and then I took off. I know it sounds horrible, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t marry him.’
‘Nothing wrong with that.’
‘Unfortunately, you’re the only one who thinks that. I’m pretty sure my whole family hates me for leaving and Cam’s family definitely hates me.’
‘Why would you marry a guy just because other people want you to?’
‘I didn’t marry him.’
‘But you almost did.’
‘It’s complicated, okay? Can we just talk about something else? How far is your house from here?’
‘A couple minutes. It’s the next street over.’
‘Is there a hotel I could stay at?’
‘We only have two hotels and they’re both booked with people waiting out the storm.’
