“Yeah?” she called, not letting him break the embrace.
Patrick popped his head in the door. “Dad said breakfast is ready.”
“Be right there,” Makenna said. Her brother ducked back out. “Are we okay?” she asked.
Caden blew out a breath, some of the tension bleeding out of his body with it. It was just, on top of Ian’s comments, he’d been so ready for more bad news. Instead, she’d given him her honesty and understanding, and it made him love her even more. No sense in denying that’s what it was anymore.
“Yeah. I’m sorry,” he said, feeling a little drained. Life was a lot fucking easier without all these emotions coming at him all the time. Makenna had opened him up, and sometimes it made him feel like an exposed nerve that was too sensitive, too vulnerable, too unprotected.
He was always going to be a lot to take on board, wasn’t he?
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she said. “I’m sorry you even have to deal with any of this.”
“No, I’m glad you told me,” he said. And he was.
Sometimes his brain got stuck on a loop of negativity, spiraling him down and down and down, and having her words saying the things she’d said was the best cure for when that happened. He needed her words, just like he’d needed them that night they’d been trapped in the elevator. Then they’d kept him from succumbing to his claustrophobia. Now they kept him from handing a microphone to his darkest fears so they could convince him those fears were real. Both times, she’d pulled him back from the brink.
“And for the record, I like you, too. A lot.” His feelings ran deeper than that, obviously, but he was too bare, too raw, to contemplate confronting his fears by saying anything more just then.
Her smile was radiant. “Best thing I’ve heard all day.” She rested her hands on his chest. “Look, if you want to go back to Virginia, we could leave today. I know Cameron being here made this trip more stressful than it should’ve been.”
Caden immediately shook his head. “No. No way. I’m enjoying your family.” Well, most of them. “And I know you love being here. I don’t want to go home early.” No way would he do that to her. He knew how important her family was to her.
“I would go, for you.” Earnest blue eyes stared up at him.
He knew she would, and it was part of why he loved her. He shook his head. “And I’m staying for you.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Despite the rocky start to the morning, Makenna had a great day with Caden and her family. Breakfast, a late lunch full of yummy leftovers, and an afternoon of board games that had everyone laughing and teasing. With Cameron gone, the whole atmosphere changed from tense to easy, at least that was the way it felt to her. She was itching to confront Ian about inviting him, but she didn’t want to create new tension. It could wait until after the holiday.
It was late as their group walked out of the movie theater after seeing the last showing of a new action flick, their bellies full of Chinese food and popcorn—everyone had been ready for a change of menu after several meals in a row of turkey and stuffing. The sidewalks were crunchy with rock salt and patches of ice that hadn’t been shoveled away.
Four inches of snow had fallen yesterday, which wasn’t bad for Pennsylvania. But then freezing rain had fallen over night after the streets had been plowed, so driving had been more hazardous today then it’d been yesterday, but luckily her dad and Caden hadn’t minded bringing them out to the movies.
“Be safe heading home, kids,” her dad called as he, Ian, Collin, and Shima passed Caden’s Jeep and headed over to Dad’s Ford Explorer.
“Will do,” Caden said, unlocking the doors. Makenna hopped in the back seat so Patrick could have the front.
Yawning, Makenna secured her seatbelt and sagged back against the seat as Caden pulled out of the lot. He followed her dad’s car through the commercial area around the mall to where the surroundings became surburban and then almost rural-looking on the way to their house.
As the lights receded, Makenna’s eyelids grew heavy. And against the backdrop of Caden and Patrick talking, she finally stopped fighting it and let herself drift off.
A sudden jerk startled Makenna awake. Screeching tires. The Jeep fishtailed hard in one direction and then the other.
“Fuck,” Patrick bit out.
The Jeep came to a hard stop, jolting Makenna against her seatbelt and knocking the breath out of her.
Both men seat turned to her. “Are you okay?” they asked.
“Yeah. What happened?” Her eyes focused on the scene out the front window. Two cars sat just off the road at an intersection. One was an Explorer. “Oh, my God. Dad.” She ripped at the seat belt buckle.