the town was, that added to the moment. The aisles in the store were a bit more cramped than what he remembered back in California, and that detail alone made the store all the more charming.
She looked up at him with slightly wide eyes, as though she were lost. The raw emotions she presented to him were too much to take at times. When she was in any kind of distress, the only thing he wanted to do was fix things and make her sure of herself again. She deserved that just as much as anyone else. Every time she mentioned anyone giving her grief for being herself and pursuing the desires of her heart, he had to push aside his anger. Who were they to crush the dreams of such an amazing young woman? What made her unworthy of having those desires come to pass?
****
Arial took in a deep breath, determined to calm herself. “What are we celebrating exactly?”
“Being passionate again,” he said. “There's something special about remembering why you love something. Don't you think?”
“Yes,” she agreed. She felt it all the time every moment the two of them spent together. Each day she learned something new about him and fell harder. Did he even realize she thought about him that way? She picked up the spaghetti noodles she would need for her dinner and glanced up at him.
Clearing her throat, Arial decided to take a leap. “I was thinking tonight we could do dinner.” Hopefully, it came off as casual and not desperate. He smiled at her in response. That had to be a good sign. They continued to gather up everything they needed.
“I like dinner. It is one of my favorite things to do. Being with you would be an added bonus,” he said.
“Then I'll cook something up, and you can come by around six.”
They pushed up to a cashier, and she started to unload the cart. When she noticed how Bryce wasn't helping, she was a little taken aback. He was always a gentleman. What was wrong? When she noticed how pale and expressionless his face had become, she knew her worries weren't unfounded.
****
“Katie Daniels finds new love with Hunter Riley. Details on their secret five-month affair on page fifty-two.” The headline was in big bold letters over a picture of Katie, Bryce's ex-girlfriend, locking lips with her rather dreamy co-star from her new movie. They were in Hawaii, wearing bathing suits, and looking awfully comfortable with one another. Too comfortable for his taste, and it disgusted him. Dirty was the other feeling to wash over him, because it didn't take rocket science for him to put together the obvious.
“She cheated on me,” he whispered. His hands clenched at his side for a second before he decided to help Arial unload the cart.
Arial's eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
He tossed a copy of the magazine onto the counter. “She cheated on me.” And sure enough, underneath the huge picture and headline was a small image of him drunk from the after party. “Bryce Valentine's reaction and heartbreaking plea.”
Arial picked up the magazine. “Don't believe this filth. You know better than that.”
“It makes sense.” Things had been different for a while. Her seeing another man might have been the reason behind the distance between them. He shook his head. “I don't want to talk about this here. I shouldn't have brought it up.”
She touched his arm gently. “You don't have to apologize. We can talk about it more over dinner and —”
“No,” he said. “Let's wait on that. Rain check for tomorrow night or something.” His stomach was in too many knots to even think about eating. “I need to go back home and think about all of this for tonight. We'll talk about it all tomorrow. I promise.”
****
Defeated, Arial nodded. “Okay, tomorrow. When you say home, you mean… here, right? At the Henderlites’, not L.A.?”
“Yeah, here. Home,” he said.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Tomorrow.” But all of the courage she had mustered up for her date was now gone. Clearly, he was still in love with Katie.
Chapter Fourteen
Bryce knew it was a bad idea, but he bought the magazine and read through the entire article — three times. He found every detail, analyzed it, and tried to sort through the facts and the exaggerations. One thing he knew for certain: if he didn't call Katie and talk to her, he would never know anything.
He swallowed, picking up his cell phone so he could