Layton: Your dad said you’re coming back for Kids Speak’s gala. This has gone on long enough. We need to talk.
Then, when I hadn’t responded, he’d sent another.
Layton: I won’t be ignored.
I wasn’t sure what there was to say besides I’m not interested. I think I was clear when I said no to his marriage proposal.
I took my coffee out on my side porch and slid into the rocking chair overlooking the water. I placed my steaming mug of coffee on the small wicker side table and pulled out my phone.
Hadley: I’m not ready to get married to you or anyone else. We should have talked about marriage before you proposed publicly.
We’d had a similar text exchange the night of the proposal.
But something else niggled in my brain. I’d sifted Cade’s words through my head all night as I weighed them for accuracy—your dad withheld his love.
Had he purposely dangled the promise of love in front of us? I could see how I’d gone out of my way over the years to gain his approval. I wrapped my sweater tighter around me before I picked up my mug and blew on it. Taking a sip to warm myself, I drew my knees to my chest and placed my feet on the seat of the rocker.
Then a different thought entered my mind—was he capable of loving us at all, or was I chasing an impossible feat? Had I run myself ragged to please someone who not only was impossible to please but couldn’t provide the love I needed?
As the coffee slid down my throat, warming me from the inside out, I blocked out thoughts of my dad. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the cool air and the smell of the water. I focused on my evening with Cade before things got personal. My heart clenched, thinking about last night.
Cade was confident and sure of himself, even if he wasn’t overly demanding of his clients for payment. He was hard-working, was proud of the charity he started. He was older than me, but it was more than that. He knew who he was, what he was capable of, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to tell him differently. Why couldn’t I be more like that?
My phone buzzed, interrupting my guilt.
Cade: Are you coming to class this morning?
I smiled. It was only seven a.m. and Cade was texting me? My heart pinched. Was I the first thing he thought of when he’d woken up?
Hadley: I hadn’t planned on it.
Cade: I’ll make it worth your while.
I smiled even as the small voice in my head said—but he’s your client.
Cade: Breakfast? Crepes by the water?
It was so tempting, but he was my client. We’d crossed a line last night from a professional relationship to friendship. I could pass off the chance-encounter in the bar, but the walk alone to the harbor? That was reckless.
Then I rationalized it. I could use a friend and he’d proved last night he was a good one. If it seemed like he wanted more, I’d remind him we couldn’t date because of our professional relationship.
Hadley: Sure.
My heart thumped harder in my chest. Was I making a huge mistake, or was it the best decision I’d made since moving to Annapolis? Cade was honest and real. All of those facts made him more attractive, not less. He was the opposite of any guy I’d met before.
I put down my phone. Picking up my mug, I watched the birds dive into the water, looking for their breakfast. Anticipation coursed through my veins that in a few short hours, I’d see Cade again.
I wanted to know more about him, but I had to be patient. If men like Layton were everywhere—men like Cade weren’t. It would be worth being his friend, being there for him, and when our attorney-client relationship came to an end, maybe he’d be ready for more with me.
Cade
My conversation last night with Hadley agitated me. I’d ripped out the small bathroom on the first floor when I got home, questioning if I’d made the right decision. I hated that something I said hurt her even if it was the truth.
No, there was no way to sugarcoat how her dad had handled her over the years. The longer she’d talked, the more anger coursed through my body. My muscles tensed. No one should treat their children like chess pieces—pieces to some game they don’t even know they’re playing. The part that kept me ripping out tile at two a.m. was that he was still doing it.
Her father wanted her to come home and work for him. To make nice with an asshole, maybe even marry him. He was using her love for her family to twist her arm. Hadley hadn’t even seen it.
I wanted to ask where her mother was, but something inside of me knew there wasn’t a good answer. I sensed her soul-deep pain as similar to mine.
I wanted to be there for her. I wanted to help her. But my competing desire to be more for her prompted me to tear down another wall between a tiny bedroom upstairs and the master. With every swing of the hammer and impact with the drywall, I wondered if I could be her friend or I should stay away from Hadley Winters. The problem was, I was physically attracted to her even if I wanted to ignore it and push it down deep in the box labeled I don’t deserve love again.
“Cade—are you upstairs?” Nolan’s voice drifted up the staircase where he stood at the bottom.
“In the master.” Or I should have said the expanded master since I was looking from the master bedroom into the small bedroom. I’d acted a little spontaneously last night when I demoed the wall, but considering it in the daylight, it was the right decision. The room was brighter.
“I didn’t realize you wanted
