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Her face melts into concern. “Are you okay, though?”
“I’m fine. There’s just a lot going on, and there’s pressure from all these sides…”
She crosses her arms, and her gaze focuses on the ground. “I’m sorry I added to it.”
“No, no.” I wave off her comment. “My stepdad is retiring. End of the week, actually. I’m taking over his dental practice.”
“Wow, that’s finally happening.” She looks disappointed. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah,” I say, although it feels odd coming out of my mouth. “Absolutely. It was the plan all along. I mean, it’s fine.”
“And Noelle?”
I laugh. “That’s complicated.”
She touches my arm, and I stare at her hand. How are feelings still there? It’s been ten years; a lot of life has happened in that time. Still, maybe things that were real never truly go away.
When I look up at her, she rips her hand away and grumbles. “This is a mess.”
“Yeah,” I say, my gaze drifting to her. “We’re fixing it, though.”
“Definitely,” she says.
“It’s just…I wish…” My words trail off, and she looks up.
“You wish what?”
It was ten years ago. It’s fine to admit now. “I tried to find you. The Thanksgiving after that summer. I came to Goldheart.”
“You did?” Her glossy lips are parted, her eyes wide.
“I just swung by here from San Francisco. Called it a detour.”
Her eyes grow wider. “Did you see me?”
“I did. Briefly.” I wipe my face, since my nose started running, and I point. “You were with a guy. I talked to an employee at Goldmine, and she said you were happy. I figured you had already moved on.”
“Oh,” Emily says rubbing her forehead. “That had to be one of my brothers. Probably Jackson. He had just moved to Seattle, and he was home for the holiday. Fuck.”
“Really? You weren’t dating anyone?”
“No.” She crosses her arms again and tucks her hands into her armpits. “Burke is the first guy I’ve dated since you.”
“It’s been ten years.”
“Yeah, I know,” she says. She spins to take a step without looking at me and swings back. “Why did you come to see me this time? If you thought I had moved on?”
“Because…” Because I was in love with you. Because you smashed my heart into a million tiny pieces. That one week meant everything to me, and I haven’t forgotten it. It haunts me to this day.
“Why didn’t you doubt me?” Emily asks. “If you saw me with another guy?”
“Doubt you about what?”
“When I said Olive was yours?”
“I trust you.”
“You barely knew me.”
