Until I saw his girlfriend.
Swedish, bohemian, and with legs that seemed to stretch for miles. Exactly the right woman to highlight his globetrotting adventures—as if he’d managed to find the female version of himself. Everything I could never be.
“So what?” I hissed, wrapping my coat tighter. “You’rescaredof me now?”
“Of course not. But I didn’t want to reach out in case… well, you know—”
“What?” My voice dropped an octave as I froze and squinted at him.
Teddy flushed. “It just seemed that maybe—you still…”
“Say it.”
“You still had feelings for me,” he finished in a rush.
It hit like a comically large anvil to the chest. All I could do was laugh, dry and harsh and foreign to my ears. I didn’t miss the way he winced and rocked back on his heels, blue eyes flashing with something inexplicable.
And then, as if I was a character in a tragicomedy, the heavens tore open and the downpour began.
CHAPTER SEVEN
2016
By sixteen, I didn’t ask Mom to drive me anymore. Too many late arrivals, too many empty promises and forgotten rain checks. So, I walked. The bag dug into my shoulder, my cleats clattering inside with every step, sweat rolling down my back by the time I reached the field.
I didn’t bother glancing at the bleachers during warm-up. Parents waved handmade signs, cheering their names and doling out ice-cold waters from their coolers. The one face I wanted to see never showed. I’d gotten used to it.
The game blurred with motion—sprinting, shouting, lungs burning. When the whistle blew, the girls flocked to the stands, laughing as their parents’ congratulated them with bear hugs and pats on the back. I peeled my shin guards off alone, shoving them into the bag.
“Hey,” a voice called. Teddy. He leaned against the chain-link fence, one hand holding a Styrofoam cup that looked like it had come from the gas station down the street. He lifted it with a sparkle in his eyes. “Orange soda. Closest I could get to Gatorade.”
I blinked at him, sweat streaking down my face. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough to see you score.” He grinned, sheepish, and passed the cup through the fence.
Warm soda, sticky hands, and one less solo walk home. Small to some, but it was something. And at sixteen, something was more than I ever expected.
???
PRESENT DAY
“My shoes!” I squeaked, all color having drained from my face as the rain pelted the once-beautiful Italian leather. I gasped and wrenched my suede coat off, balling it inside out in some attempt to keep it dry.
Teddy watched me, infuriatingly calm as the onslaught steadily drenched him.
Then, because I was well aware of my coat’s price tag, I shoved it under my sweater.
He arched an eyebrow. “You look ridiculous.”
“No, Ilooklike I’m ruining thousands of dollars!” I shouted, whirling around as I debated which refuge was closer. My brain seemed to short circuit. Or maybe I was too preoccupied by the sound of discoloring leather. I didn’t bother with an explanation as I started out in a full sprint toward the diner.
“Where are you going, you lunatic?” Teddy yelled after me with a laugh, grabbing my sodden sleeve. “Follow me!”
Perhaps I’d gone insane without Candice’s weekly guidance, because I turned and ran after my ex-boyfriend without another word.
I clutched my ball of coat to my chest as Teddy set a brisk pace down Bluebell Lane. In all the absurd events of that day, I was too tired to question where he was taking me, or why we hadn’t turned away from the street lined with palatial estates.
He cut across an absurdly green lawn and beneath the portico of a home with vibrant yellow flowers climbing the pillars. I eyed Teddy as he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the towering mahogany door.
