“Are you saying you’re hopeful about all of this?”
Mackenzie shrugged. “I understand my reality.”But I want to believe in the dream.Because bythisMackenzie knew her friend was referring to more than just working with Hunter again.
It was her inability to let go of the hope of more that made Mackenzie such a great writer. It also made her a heartbreak waiting to happen. And Mackenzie’s heart had been broken enough for a lifetime.
“And what reality would that be?” Savannah asked.
Mackenzie laughed, but it was heavy and raw, andwell, shoot, she was going to cry. Something she rarely did, and never in public.
She wasn’t sure if she was angry or hurt or relieved. Maybe it was a mixture of all three that had her eyes burning. Or maybe the part of her that refused to let go of Hunter was pushing through common sense, because she knew letting go would eventually help ease the pain. She should be jumping into survival mode, but all she could think about was this second chance she’d been presented.
Not at love or forever—those weren’t in the cards for her. But maybe she could find closure. Repair the damage she’d caused by leaving and find whatever it was she needed to finally let go.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, I guess let him get off his chest whatever he needs to,” Mackenzie admitted. “He has the right to have his questions answered.”
“And what if he asks you about how you feel now?” Savannah asked, and Mackenzie shrugged. “Do youknowhow you feel? About him?”
Sadly, yes.She felt the same way she always had when it came to Hunter. She was hopelessly in love with a man she couldn’t be with. Time may have passed, her life had been flipped on its head, but her feelings for him hadn’t changed in the slightest.
“I am such a loser.” Mackenzie dropped her head to the countertop. “It has been three years, and I still can’t move on.”
“Love doesn’t work like that. It’s forever.”
“Even when you wish it wasn’t?”
“Especially then. You can either hide from it or face it, but it isn’t going away.”
Mackenzie had hidden from it before, and look where that had gotten her—relying on Savannah’s home-crafted courage in a mason jar to get her through the night. She wasn’t sure that confronting it would end any differently, but at least there wouldn’t be those annoyingcoulda-shoulda-wouldashaunting her.
Savannah gave Mackenzie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “You okay?”
“I will be,” she said, lifting her head. “But ice cream might help.”
