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Caden turns back to me. “Want to go for a drive?”
“Yeah,” I say eagerly. We get back on the Ducati, and he revs the engine and takes off. For a while, we just zig and zig along pretty country roads, the wind whipping at my hair where it escapes the helmet, the sun shining warmly on our backs.
Suddenly, I smell the sharp tang of the ocean. Caden pulls into the parking lot of one of the many small beaches that dot Long Island Sound. I’m not familiar with this one. There’s a little sandwich shop and my stomach gives a sudden, embarrassing growl.
“Hungry?” Caden asks.
“Starved,” I admit.
“Me too. Be right back.” He strides off, returning with two bottles of root beer and two sandwiches.
“Come on,” he says, making his way across the sand. I kick my sandals off and follow him. We find a spot away from the laughing families and chattering children, on a dune surrounded by sprigs of seagrass. Caden plops down and holds up the sandwiches.
“Ham or turkey?” he asks.
“Turkey,” I say. He hands me a sandwich and for a moment, we just sit in silence and eat. I didn’t realize how famished I was. I guess interrogating people really takes it out of you.
“You were pretty great back there,” Caden says.
“Thanks,” I say, swallowing a mouthful of turkey and cheese. “You were pretty…”
“Intense?”
I laugh. “Yeah. I didn’t realize we were going to be playing Good Cop, Bad Cop.”
Caden sighs. “I couldn’t help myself. He started talking and I just saw red. He used to come to the house. He knew where the security cameras were, he knew about the entrance to the garden. He knew my mom loved to work in her shed. I was just imagining him, sneaking onto our property that morning, with the intention of hurting her.”
His hand clenches around his root beer bottle.
“After all this time,” he murmurs. “We can finally get some answers.”
“I’m so happy for you,” I say.
“Couldn’t have done it without you.”
I blush. “Have I earned my own Junior Detective badge?”
“And then some.”
We smile at each other. The moment seems to stretch out into endless seconds. The salty air tousles his hair and his gaze slices into mine, turning from playful to determined.
“You deserve answers too,” he says quietly.
My stomach dips. I wait. I don’t want to say anything to break the moment. There’s a long pause. I feel encased in glass, unable to move. Caden places the bottle in the sand then rests his elbows on his knees.
“The night of the party, my dad called me into his study. He told me that in order to inherit the winery, I would have to first get married and pop out some kids. Otherwise, he’d leave Everton Estate to Siobhan. I would get cut out completely.”
“What?” I gasp.
“Yeah. It was insane. But that’s Dad. Power and control. Over every aspect of my life.”
“But…” I splutter thinking back over everything that happened that night. My heart drops. “Caden, did you only want me so that you could get your inheritance?”
“No!” he cries. “I almostdidn’task you out because of what Dad said. That’s exactly why it was so—I’d been wanting to ask you out for months! Probably more than months, if I’m being honest. I’d…I’d wanted you for years, Isla.”
My head is spinning. These are words I had once been so desperate to hear. But now…what was the point now? My ring feels heavy on my finger.
“Noah was the one who told me to get Dad out of my head,” Caden continues. It’s like I can see the reel of that night replaying in his mind. “To do whatIwanted to do for once. And Mom was always a moderating influence—I figured she could talk Dad out of this insanity. But then…” His shoulders tense and he rubs the back of his neck. “She was gone. Sheriff Briggs told us we couldn’t stay at the house. We went into the city, to stay at the apartment on the Upper East Side.”