“I explained that.”
“Explained it?” she repeated incredulously. “When was that? Until you walked through the door at Stella’s a few minutes ago, I hadn’t seen or heard from you since the night you stole my virginity.”
He winced. “Dammit, Cassie, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t steal anything. We made love. It was a mutual decision. Besides, I left you a note. I know you got it, because you sent me an answer. Do I have to remind you what was in it? You said you wanted nothing more to do with me, that I should go back to college and forget all about you. You said you intended to get on with your life and that I was no longer a part of it.”
Disbelief washed over her. This was ridiculous. Why would he make up such an absurd lie? No doubt to soothe his own conscience.
“I never wrote such a note and you know it.”
“Really?” he said scathingly. “Remind me to show it to you sometime. I’ve kept it all these years as a reminder not to trust a woman’s pretty words of love, especially when she says them in my bed.”
Before she could recover, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Cassie staring after him, wide-eyed with shock. Not one single word he’d said made a lick of sense. She’d never gotten any letter from him. Nor had she sent a reply. But it was clear that Cole believed otherwise.
She felt a blast of cool air as the door to Stella’s opened behind her. “You okay?” Gina asked, draping an arm around her shoulders.
“I’m...” She thought about what had just happened. “Confused, I guess.”
“About what? Your feelings for Cole?”
“No. He said some things. Things that didn’t make any sense.”
Gina’s gaze narrowed. “What things? If he upset you, I’ll get the others and we’ll beat him up for you.”
The comment drew a weak smile. They would do it, too. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Cassie said. “But I love you for offering.”
“Come back inside and eat your burger.”
“I can’t. I need to find Jake and my mother. I want to make sure that Cole didn’t catch a glimpse of them.” She thought then of his odd reaction to her claim that her mother was fine. “I need to talk to Mom about something else, too.”
“But you’ll be at the party tomorrow, right?”
“I’ll be there,” Cassie promised. She met Gina’s gaze evenly. “You and I need to have a long talk.”
“About?”
“Whatever’s going on with you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Gina said, giving her a hug.
“Then what was that remark to Cole all about? You sounded as if you might actually consider hanging around Winding River instead of going back to New York. I can’t believe you would ever walk away from your restaurant.”
“I was joking,” Gina insisted. “Surely you didn’t think I would seriously consider marrying your guy?”
“Cole’s not my guy, and that wasn’t the point. You might have been joking about that, but you sounded serious about the rest, about staying here.”
“So?” Gina said, her expression defiant. “It’s home. Are you telling me that the thought of staying here hasn’t crossed your mind since you’ve been back?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“It just is,” Cassie said. She looked up and saw Jake and her mother emerge from the restaurant down the block carrying ice cream cones. They caught sight of her and headed in her direction.
“We’ll finish this conversation tomorrow,” she warned Gina. “I’m not buying a word you’ve said so far.”
“And I’m not buying for a second that you’re over Cole Davis,” Gina retorted. She waved at Cassie’s mother, then retreated inside Stella’s.
Cassie sighed. Gina was right. If she’d learned nothing else in the past half hour, it was that she was a long, long way from being over Cole Davis.
“Mom!”
Grappling with the discovery that her feelings for Cole were as powerful as ever, Cassie barely registered Jake’s cry. Then she felt an impatient tug on her arm and gazed down into her son’s eyes, eyes the same shade of blue as those of the man who’d just dropped a bombshell, then strolled away.
“What, Jake?” she asked, still distracted by her realization that not even years of bitterness had dimmed what she’d once felt for Cole Davis. Add to that Cole’s charge that she’d been at fault, that he hadn’t abandoned her at all, but rather she had turned her back on him, and it was little wonder that she was confused. How could he have gotten it so wrong?
“Mom!” Jake said impatiently. “You’re not listening.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning her attention to him.
“Do you know who that was?” Jake demanded, his cheeks flushed with excitement, his eyes sparkling.
Her heart seemed to slam to a stop. “Who?” she asked cautiously, fighting panic.
Had Jake guessed? Had he seen the resemblance between himself and the man with whom she’d been talking? Would a nine-year-old be intuitive enough to guess that a stranger was his father?
A quick glance at her mother reassured her. Her mother gave a slight shake of her head, indicating that so far her secret was safe, both from Cole and her son. No, this was about something else, though she couldn’t imagine what.
“That man you were talking to,” Jake explained. “Do you know who he is?”
“Of course I know. He’s a rancher. He’s lived here all his life.”
“And you know him?” Jake demanded, clearly awestruck.
“Yes,” she said slowly. Clearly she was missing something. “How do you know him?”
“He’s Cole Davis,” Jake said. “The Cole Davis.”
When she failed to react, her son regarded her with exasperation. “Mom, you know, the guy who makes all the neat computer programs, remember? Like I told you I wanted to do someday. He’s, like, the smartest guy in the whole tech world. I’ve told you about him, remember?”
She had a vague recollection of that, but it couldn’t possibly be the same man. This Cole, her Cole, was a rancher, not a computer programmer. Or was he? She had no idea what he’d studied in college. Back then they’d been far too caught up in their hormones to spend a lot of time talking about Cole’s plans for the future.
“Are you sure, honey? Cole’s from a ranching family. His father owns the biggest spread in this county.”
“I know. I read all about it on the internet. It is so awesome that you actually know him.” He turned to his grandmother. “Do you know him, too?”
She nodded, looking distraught.
“Will you introduce me?” Jake begged Cassie.
“No,” she said so sharply that Jake’s eyes filled with tears.
“Why not?” he asked, practically quivering with indignation.
Because she couldn’t