“This is not your fault. It’s mine.” He didn’t mean to shout, but rage tore through him. “You took those pictures for me, remember? If you were dating some normal guy, you wouldn’t be the target of every asshole that wants to make a buck. I’m going to fix this, Willow. I promise you I will. And I’m coming home with you.”
“No. You’re not.” She stepped forward, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks, and astonishingly, a small smile lifted her lips and a tender tone followed. “I love you, and I know you want to swoop in and make those pictures disappear, but you can’t. They’re out there. Forever. You start filming at six tomorrow morning here in LA, and I am not going to let you screw that up because of something I did.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he held her tighter than he ever had, wishing he could wrap her up in a protective bubble and whisk her away from all of this. The press, the hurt, the embarrassment.
“Our lives are a world apart, and right now I have to go back to mine and you need to go back to yours. I love you,” she whispered, and it caused his anger to swell and dampen his own damn eyes. “I’ll call you when I’ve got things under control.”
“Willow, I’m not letting you go.”
She took a step away. “I know. You never will.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
FOR THE SECOND time in as many weeks, entering Sweetwater failed to bring warmth and comfort to Willow. Only this time it wasn’t just because she’d been lying to her family, which was weighing heavily on her, or because of the stupid pictures that would embarrass the people she loved most. No. This time was worse, because the leak of those racy pictures drove home what it really meant to be with Zane.
During the long plane trip, she’d come up with a plan to go straight to her parents’ house and explain everything: the fake engagement, the pictures, and why she’d taken them. She was an adult. It wasn’t like they’d shame her for what she’d done as a teenager. Her father would be disappointed, though, and her mother? Willow had no idea how her mother would react, but she was pretty sure she’d feel like she’d failed Willow in some way by not making it clear that she could have talked to her. Even though she had made it abundantly clear. As conservative as her father was, her mother had always been as open about sex and emotions as Willow and her sisters would allow her to be. But as an insecure teenager taking a bold step, Willow hadn’t trusted anyone with her secret. Not even Bridgette.
Except Zane.
I’ve always trusted you.
Now, as she parked behind the bakery, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t face her parents. Her heart was too broken, her emotions too raw. She went up to her apartment. Only the place where she and Zane had been so happy made her feel even emptier inside, and the tears she’d held in for more than seven hours came crashing down. She staggered to the bedroom and sank down to the bed. Her family would have to wait for an explanation until she wrapped her mind around the situation, and at the moment she wasn’t even close. She grabbed the pillow Zane had slept with and curled up. This situation would not beat her. She would not let it change the confident woman she’d worked so hard to become. She would rise above this the same way she’d risen above her heartbreak all those years ago. This time she wasn’t in it alone, though it was her choice to handle it by herself.
But the rest?
Trying to figure out how to navigate this new world with Zane?
That was like making what should be a perfect cake and taking it out of the oven too early—over and over again. For that she needed strength, and she was too emotionally drained and pissed off to think straight. She closed her eyes, clutching the pillow to her chest. His scent suffused with her tears, and the next thing she knew she was waking up and it was dark outside.
She sat up, disoriented, and checked the time on her phone. It was after seven o’clock, and she’d missed three calls from Zane and two from her mother. She needed to call them both, but first she needed sustenance. After washing her face, she went down to the bakery, moving robotically through the dark kitchen, and made a beeline for the freezer. She was pretty good at baking only what would sell each day, but Friday she’d had three leftover cupcakes, and now she wondered if the cupcake gods had been in on this cruel joke.
She set them on the counter, but even the thought of eating turned her stomach. There were too many lies rotting inside her. She hopped up on the counter beside the box of cupcakes, remembering when Zane had lifted her onto the counter.
How can I do it, Z? Your life is too exposed for me.
She couldn’t bring herself to let him go. She didn’t want to, no matter how hard things got.
She called her mother, closing her eyes in preparation.
“Willow? Honey, are you okay?”
She opened her eyes, noticing for the first time the shiny new oven across the room. She pushed from the counter, dumbfounded.
“Honey. Where are you?” her mother asked. “I’m coming to get you.”
“No,” she said quickly, kneeling to touch the pristine oven. “I’m okay, but . . .” I’m not okay. Zane had the oven put in. He had to. But how?
“Honey, we saw the pictures, and I know you’re not okay. I hear it in your voice. Talk to me, sweetie.”
You saw the pictures? Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d hoped they hadn’t seen them. Snapping out of her shock, she turned away from the oven and focused on the more important issue. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you and Dad.” She told her mother why she’d had the pictures taken. Her mother listened in silence, allowing her to confess how hard she’d fallen for Zane that long-ago summer and how the guy she’d brought home from college that Christmas was just to make it appear as if she’d moved on, when in reality it had taken more than a decade. The only cure for true love was more of the person she loved.
“I’m sorry for lying to you, Mom, but I’m not sorry for what I did. I’m glad Zane was my first.”
“You don’t need to be sorry for any of it. Your body, your decision. I’ve always told you that. But I’m sad that you thought you had to go through it alone. You’re not the only Dalton child to have their heart broken or to do something embarrassing. It’s like a rite of passage in our family.”
Willow didn’t believe that. She couldn’t even imagine Talia doing anything embarrassing, much less getting her heart broken. “Thanks for understanding, but I am sorry about the pictures. Daddy must be livid.”
“No, honey. He’s confused, as is the entire family. But once you explain it to them, you know they’ll be there for you. But you might want to leave out the part about Zane being your first. Maybe you can just tell them you had a major crush on him.”
Tears of relief for her mother’s unconditional love slid down her cheeks.