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“No. What happened was worse.”
He turned, raising a knee so he could sit sideways, facing her. He reached out and took hold of her upper arms, rubbing the delicate skin with his thumbs.
“Emma… that night of the accident was the night of the party. You were found by your mom halfway between my place and yours, on a small access road that would have taken you straight to my family’s cabin.”
Emma took a deep shaky breath, her eyes brightening with the telltale shine of tears. “I was coming to see you?”
He studied her stricken expression, his chest so tight it felt like he was going to explode.
“You must have been. But I had no idea because you never made it there.”
He cleared his throat, the self-recrimination nearly choking him. “I couldn’t see past my hurt to consider any other reason for your absence. I assumedthe worst.”
Her voice wavered. “You thought Edward and I had gotten back together.”
He nodded. “I tried to drink my sorrows away that night but couldn’t even work up a buzz. I packed my bags and left early the next morning. I haven’t set foot in Verdant Falls since.”
She took several shallow breaths. But her voice still quavered when she spoke. “You swear you didn’t know about the accident?”
Garrett edged closer, pressing her against his side. “If I’d known, I would have been there.”
Taking care of her would have become his life’s mission that much sooner. “But you didn’t return my calls.”
She closed her eyes, giving herself a little shake. “Wait, you called meafteryou left town?”
“A few dozen times,” he admitted. “Maybe more.”
He swallowed over the lump in his throat. “I had no idea your phone had been shattered that night.”
Emma leaned forward, grabbing his hand. “It was?”
He nodded, still ashamed that he hadn’t done anything else.
“I have a picture of it,” he shared. “The screen was smashed. The investigators couldn’t get it to work again. That was all detailed in the accident report.”
Her head jerked back. “You have that?”
“I got it from the sheriff in Verdant Falls.” Garrett passed a rough hand through his hair. “So, you see, I’ve known what happened to us for a few weeks.”
“To me, you mean.” She shivered again, twisting the knife he could feel in his gut. “You knew what happened tome.”
Garrett scooted closer. “Emma, I may not have been there, but that doesn’t change the facts. My asshole behavior led to your accident.”
Chapter Forty-Two
EMMA
The need to comfort Garrett was almost visceral. She could feel his pain and his panic. He was worried she was going to walk away from him.
His eyes and nose were red, and he kept making fists as if he were checking the impulse to reach for her.
She wanted to crawl back into his lap, but he’d just shattered her world and remade it at the same time.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
She had to believe that, to believe everything he’d said. The alternative was too unbearable to consider. Her heart couldn’t take it.
“Emma, if I hadn’t been such a colossal asshole, you wouldn’t have been in those woods at all!” Garrett pointed out, not done with his self-flagellation.