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“I’m surprised you remember anythin’ about that.”
“Course I remember. So, do you still do that?”
“Yeah, I do. But that’s not what the blue ones mean. And for your information, this dressdoeshave pockets, thank you very much.”
I chuckled, warmth blooming in my chest at the sight of her smile, no matter how fleeting. “Well, I’ve got one last question for you, and then I’ll leave you alone.”
Paisley sighed, nodding resignedly. “Go ahead and get it over with, then. Someone’s bound to wonder where we are.”
“If our night had ended the way you thought it would, with us partin’ ways with my number in your phone and me not havin’ any way to get ahold of you... would you have ever called me?”
“You could’ve asked Laney who I was. You’d already figured out I worked for her somehow.”
I shook my head. “If you didn’t want me to have a way to contact you, which you made pretty clear by not givin’ me your number, I wouldn’t have gone around that by askin’ Laney for it.”
Paisley scoffed, her eyes flashing. “Right, because your sense of duty is so important to you.”
“It is,” I said firmly, holding her gaze. “And I won’t apologize for that.”
She looked away, her jaw clenching. I could see the internal battle raging behind her eyes. I needed to know the truth, needed to hear her say the words.
“Answer the question, Paisley.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath before finally shaking her head. “No, I wouldn’t have called you. I was so busy with work—back then and now. I don’t have time for everythin’ that comes with a relationship.”
Her words slammed into me with a heavy thud, but I forced myself to keep listening.
“And it wasn’t just about work,” she continued. “It was about lookin’ out for Tyler too. If you hadn’t participated in his arrest, he would’ve been on Laney’s road crew like I’d planned, and makin’ sure he stayed on the straight and narrow would’ve felt like havin’ another full-time job on top of the one I already had.”
I nodded once, a bitter taste filling my mouth. “Well, I guess that’s it, then. I won’t bring it up again.”
Paisley sighed, running a hand through her hair. “You’re probably wrong about how much we’ll see each other anyway. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal for either of us to just walk away.”
A harsh laugh escaped my throat, the sound grating even to my own ears. “Walkin’ away from you feels like the biggest deal in the world. We could’ve been perfect for each other if it weren’t for how messed up your priorities are.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think it’smypriorities that are messed up, Adam Wilson.”
With that, she turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving me alone in the moonlit yard. I leaned back against the trellis with a heavy sigh, my heart aching in my chest.
I knew I wasn’t wrong about Everett and Laney. They were destined to find their way back to each other, no matter how long it took. And that meant I was destined to spend the next sixty years in Paisley’s orbit, always close but never able to have her.
Well, if we made it that long without killin’ each other, anyway.
21/
paisley
We were all gathered in the living room at the Cole house for girls’ night—me, Aubree, Laney, Bailey, Rory and Dakota. Bailey was passed out on the couch, exhausted from being up all night with her new baby. The rest of us were chatting and laughing about some hilarious story Dakota was telling about work.
But my mind was elsewhere, spinning with thoughts of Adam and everything that had happened between us lately. I couldn’t keep it bottled up anymore. Before I could second guess myself, I blurted out, “Y’all, I gotta talk to you about somethin’.”
The room fell silent, and all eyes turned to me. Dakota paused mid-sentence, her eyebrows raised.
“What’s on your mind?” Aubree asked gently, setting down her glass of sweet tea.
Finally, Laney leaned forward to gently place Bailey’s sleeping baby in the bassinet on the floor. Then she turned to me, her blue eyes twinkling.
“Pais, is this about Adam?” she asked softly.
