Page 67 of Camilla & Dallas
Camilla shut off her engine and climbed out, but she didn’t approach. They stared at each other in the darkness, lit only by the house lights. He waited for her to speak first. If she told him to get lost, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t comply despite needing to say his piece. “What do you want, Dallas?” she asked, her voice sounding exhausted.
He remained fixed in his place. “Can we talk?”
She sighed and her shoulders drooped. “I’m tired, Dallas.”
“Five minutes.”
For a moment, she hesitated. Then she gave a sharp nod.
They were seated side by side on the porch steps, and he itched to take her hand in his but refrained. Blowing out a breath, he sent a prayer for courage to get everything off his chest in a way that would make sense. “Seven years ago—when I left—I was thinking about us. Our future.”
She scoffed but didn’t offer any commentary.
“I was going to—” He cut himself off. He couldn’t tell her he planned on proposing. That would sound manipulative. “We were getting closer, and I could see our future like it was written in the stars.” He swallowed hard, his eyes on his hands clasped in front of him. “I wanted to be the man you needed—a man you could be proud to call your own.”
Camilla sighed. “You already were.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t. I didn’t have a job that could provide for us. I know we were good together, but I needed to be everything.” He sent her a beseeching look. “Cheyenne convinced me that if I got a good, steady job and built up some savings, then I could be that man. I let her put so much doubt in my mind because… well, because you two were so close. Youwere best friends. I know girls talk about everything, and when she said that was your only complaint…”
Her eyes widened, making it painfully obvious that Cheyenne had meddled far more than either of them wanted to admit.
“Anyway, I believed her. So, I got the best job I could find to get more training in my field. I couldn’t tell you that I’d be leaving because it was out of state. I didn’t think I could take your sadness. So…” He blew out a puff of air. “I wrote that letter. I wanted you to know I loved you and I was doing this for both of us. I wanted to give you space to forgive me and told you in that letter to write to me or call me when you were ready.” Dallas glanced up at the starry sky. “But you never did. And when I asked Cheyenne about it, she said you were furious, and you said you’d never forgive me. She told me I’d only make it worse if I went against the promise in my letter—to wait for you to come to me.”
When he glanced back in her direction, his heart stuttered. Tears fell down her cheeks. She brushed at them and looked away. “All I had ever wanted was you, Dallas. Only you.”
The pain that ripped through him was excruciating. He’d done this to her. He’d broken her. Trust. Faith. Love. All of it shattered because he let his concerns take a front seat when he should have come to her about what he thought they both needed.
He’d been dumb, in love, and easily manipulated.
Well, not anymore.
Dallas reached for her hand, pleased beyond everything when she didn’t immediately pull away. “I’m trying, Camilla. I’m really trying to make this right. Do you think… if I can figure out a few things… that we could try to make it work? Again?’
The silence between them was deafening. The fact that she didn’t answer right away could mean anything.
Finally, she tugged her hand free and got to her feet. “I don’t know, Dallas.”
He watched her head up the stairs toward the door. Then she paused with her hand on the knob. “Goodnight, Dallas.”
The only thing that entered his mind with the soft click of the door shutting wasshe didn’t say no.
Progress.
28
Camilla
“Oh my gosh, are you okay? I’ve been calling and messaging—” Cheyenne launched toward Camilla but was cut short when Camilla held up a hand.
“No, Cheyenne.”
Her friend frowned and fidgeted where she stood. Camilla had asked Cheyenne to meet her at one of her favorite trailheads. It was public enough that she didn’t feel concerned that Cheyenne would do anything to hurt her, but it was private enough for a conversation of this magnitude.
They couldn’t have this discussion at the ranch. If Camilla’s brothers overheard the alleged lengths that Cheyenne had gone to in order to sabotage her brother’s relationship, they wouldn’t likely stay out of it.
No, this conversation needed to be handled delicately. It was Dallas’s word against Cheyenne’s, and Camilla didn’t know who she could trust.
Her gut?
