Page 69 of Waitress at the Shadow Ridge Inn
His expression softened, but his voice didn’t. “No more secrets, Casey.”
“No more secrets,” I agreed, pressing my lips to his.
He hesitated at first, but then I felt his hands move up my back and pull me closer. He deepened the kiss, telling me more than words could ever say.
He held me like that, cradled against his chest, stroking my back. We had a couple of hours to bask in relative peace. Both of us were exhausted and mentally drained. We managed a few much-needed hours of sleep on the comfy couch before Steve’s family arrived en masse.
News traveled fast in Shadow Ridge, even more so when you were related to the sheriff. Apparently, Sheriff Kerrigan was Steve’s mother’s brother and therefore Steve’s uncle.
We were inundated with comfort food and company. Most shocking to me was the fact that no one seemed to blame me. In some ways, that made me feel even worse.
I wanted them to yell at me. To tell me how stupid I was. To demand to know why I’d brought this to their doorstep. Why, that one day seven weeks ago, when I’d stopped for food and fuel, I hadn’t just kept going.
Because those were the questions I was asking myself.
Regardless of what Steve or anyone else said, this was my fault. If I’d seen the signs, if I’d paid more attention, if I’d thought about someone besides myself, I could have prevented all of it.
25
After a full dayand a half of being pampered at Steve’s, I returned to the cottage to clean and pack up the rest of my things. It didn’t take long. I didn’t have much, and I’d already packed most of it before Angie’s arrival. It seemed like so long ago, but really, it’d been less than a week.
Convincing Steve that I’d recovered enough for him to go back to work took some doing. As much as I loved having him around, I needed time to myself. I’d spent most of the last decade handling things on my own. Learning to talk and share and lean on someone else was going to take time.
Steve had said he understood, but I wasn’t sure he did. Our life experiences had given us different perspectives. He had a big, close-knit family that he saw practically every day and friends that he’d had since preschool. He had grown up in a town where everyone knew everyone else, and when someone was in trouble, the community pitched in.
I’d started out with a loving family, though it had just been my parents and me. And in the upscale Chicago suburb where I’d grown up, people generally kept to themselves. When my parents died, there was no one there to help me through it. In one fell swoop, I’d lost practically everything. I had, in fact, become an island.
The important thing was, Steve was willing to let me do what I needed to do despite the fact that it was the last thing he wanted. It was a true-life example of the old adage,If you love something, set it free.
Steve was setting me free, metaphorically speaking. Giving me space while letting me know he was only a call or text away. Trusting me enough to take care of my business so that I could return to him, whole and sure and without doubt. If there was one thing I was absolutely one hundred percent certain of, it was that I loved that man.
Another thing I knew?Hewas my future.
Once the cottage was scrubbed clean, I loaded everything into my Jeep and drove out to the hospital. I stopped by Aaron’s room, pleased to find him sitting up in bed, scowling at his laptop. Despite the hospital gown he wore, he looked more like the Aaron I remembered. His hair was combed and tidy, his jaw shaven, his Clark Kent glasses perched on his nose.
I rapped on the door, poked my head in, and said, “Can I come in?”
“Casey, yes. Of course.”
He closed the laptop and set it beside him. “Are you okay?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re the one in the hospital.”
“I’ll be fine.”
I sat down in the chair beside his bed and waved at the computer. “Are you supposed to be doing that?”
“Only in small increments,” he said, his mouth curving down at the ends. “Looking at the screen too long gives me a headache.”
I dropped my head. “Mr. Carrington, I’m so sorry.”
“I think you can call me Aaron,” he said with a slight quirk to his lips. “The doctors assured me it’s temporary. But what areyousorry about?Youdidn’t hit me.”
“No, but you got hurt because of me.”
He tilted his head and considered me. “I suppose that’s true, but it’s not your fault.”
We’d have to agree to disagree about that. He wouldn’t have gotten hurt if he hadn’t been trying to help me, which was yet another thing I didn’t understand.
