“I wondered,” she admitted. “I recognized it when I saw your arm.”

I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, not sure if you’ve caught on, but we tend to leave a lot of things unsaid. We should probably work on that.”

My jaw flexed as I searched for the words I owed her. “I’m sorry you saw that today.”

“Which part? Oscar being an ass or you losing your temper?”

“Yes.”

A wry smile fleeted across her lips. “You don’t owe me an apology for either.”

“Willow, those kinds of comments aren’t going to stop. Not around here. Not if you stay with me.”

“Okay.” She shrugged, and little seeds of frustration took root in my stomach.

“It’s not okay. I know how much this town means to you—”

“Don’t act like it means nothing to you. Not with all your talk of greenhouses and electric systems. You’re just as invested in the future here as I am. Otherwise I’d suggest we move to where it would be easy to be together.” She braced her hands on either side of her hips, gripping the stool, but she didn’t close herself off from me. “We have roots here. We’ve both chosen to live here, so don’t pretend this town doesn’t mean anything.”

“I won’t deny that, but I’ve never given a shit what anyone said about me.”

“What’s your next issue? This one is a dead horse. People are going to talk, Cam. There’s literally nothing else to do here besides prep for the season and make babies. I dated Sully. Now I’m dating you. So go ahead and make peace with whatever kind of derogatory comments people are going to come up with, because we can’t change what people think.”

“Yes, we can. You can walk away from this. Right here. Right now.” My entire body tensed, waiting for her to do just that.

“No.”

“No?”

“No. Do you know why you won’t sleep with me?” she asked, leaning forward and pinning me with her stare.

“Are you serious right now? You want to talk about sex?”

“Kind of. Just bear with me here. You’re afraid that jumping into this”—she motioned between us—“will give me regrets later on that you’re not prepared to cope with.”

“Considering I pretty much said that—”

“And if that were the truth, it would be super sweet, but since you’re lying to yourself—”

“Lying to myself?” I came off the doorframe but halted at the desk.

“Shhh, my turn. You can talk in a minute.” She held her finger up to her lips.

My eyes widened.

“You think you won’t sleep with me because it gives me less to cry about when you break my heart. Which, logically, looking at the bullshit you pulled today—”