“Aaaaah.”

“Instead, it ended up being a blowout fight.” I rubbed at an invisible spot on the handle of my mug. “He said it made him question what else I was hiding from him.”

Kennedy straightened on the banquette. “Excuse me?”

“I think maybe his sister’s words got in his head.”

“You mean her paranoid, selfish tantrums.”

“Or you could call them that.” I wanted to smile. Almost got my mouth to cooperate but couldn’t quite get there.

“What a freaking idiot. And he just left?”

That was what hurt the most. After all of his talk about being a team, when things got hard, he walked away. Maybe we weren’t as strong as I’d thought we were. “He said he needed to cool down.”

Kennedy set her mug down with a thud. “Well, maybe he should just go jump in Sutter Lake, then.”

That startled a laugh out of me. My sweet, kind, empathetic friend had a bit of a vengeful streak when someone hurt the people she cared about. “I love you, Kenz.”

Her expression softened, and she laid a hand over mine. “Love you, too. And as much I’m pissed as all get out at Mase right now, he loves you, too.”

My stomach cramped at her words, wanting to hold onto them as truth. “This won’t work if every time I mess up, he thinks it’s a sign I’m hiding a whole secret life.”

“You guys moved really fast. And did things a little out of order.” Kennedy held up a hand when I opened my mouth to say something. “I’m not asking the whys of it. I’m pretty sure I already know. But what I’m saying is that you both need to give yourselves some grace. Give yourselves time to catch up to where you catapulted yourselves to a couple of months ago.”

She had a point. Mason and I had done everything backwards and upside down. We were still getting to know one another, how we operated, how we reacted in times of stress. Maybe the walk was exactly what Mason needed when things got heated. And if that was the case, I needed to give it to him.

“How’d you get so wise, anyway?”

Her eyes seemed to almost twinkle. “I went through the wringer with my broody bastard.”

I barked out a laugh. “How would Cain feel if he knew you were calling him a broody bastard?”

“He’d probably be flattered.”

“I think you’re right.”

She squeezed my hand and then released it. “There was a time when I thought there was no hope for me and Cain. He hurt me. Badly. But we made it through. And I’ve never been happier that I walked through that valley to get to the mountaintop. Just keep walking forward. You’ll find your way.”