Abandoned daughters had something of a sixth sense for their estranged fathers.
“Well, I better be going,” I said, offering Teddy a casual smile. “Thanks for the company.”
Truthfully, I had nowhere to go—but he didn’t need to know that.
“When can I see you again?” he called after me when I was already standing on the curb.
My heart did its best impression of an organ-turned-sparkler. Fingers wrapped tightly around the book, I spun on my heel and looked somewhere over his right ear. “I’m really quite busy. Besides, don’t you have work to do? Isn’t that the entire reason you’re here?”
Teddy seemed to chew for a while on his response. “I can take my work anywhere.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. The hurt didn’t make any sense.
“Just… text me,” I muttered, suddenly overwhelmingly ready to be alone.
His response was lost to the wind as I lurched off the curb and across Main Street. I maneuvered through a stagnant crowd before coming to a stop in front of Captain’s. If I was smart, I would’ve gone to Georgie’s Pottery Shop, but I couldn’t exactly turn back now thathewas right next door, looking like a confused puppy.
I cursed myself under my breath and retrieved my phone. Serena’s texts all remained unanswered, and the latest one looked particularly alarming.
Serena Zayas: Will you and Teddy meet me at the country club?
As if on cue, Teddy’s eyes met mine across the street. He smiled—that wide, self-satisfied grin I hadn’t seen since high school—before his head dipped down.
My phone buzzed again.
Teddy Bowman: You free now?
I pinched the bridge of my nose and briefly ran through every possible excuse to get myself out of this. Maybe urgent Fallfest business. Or maybe I could see when the next flight to New York left. The latter being a totally reasonable and completely proportionate response to the circumstance.
Pocketing my phone, I finally looked back at Teddy. He leaned against his Jeep, arms crossed, crisp breeze ruffling his hair.
I should’ve resented how heknewI’d come to him.
Instead, I drifted back across the street, heart in my throat. Because at the end of the day, the old Margot was still alive and well—no matter how many times I tried to deny her.
All I needed was to get through this week in one piece.
“Don’t say anything,” I quipped, holding my hand up as Teddy opened the passenger door for me. He repositioned the hem of my coat inside the car before slamming it shut and running around the hood to the driver’s side.
If I closed my eyes, I could remember the song that played on the radio when he picked me up for our first date. From the sun faded steering wheel, to the tear in the center console, to all five of our initials carved on a corner of the plastic dashboard. Nothing had really changed.
He draped his arm out the window despite the cold and tossed me a sidelong glance as we pulled down Main Street. “I take it that your work day cleared up?”
“That sounds an awful lot like yousayingsomething,” I grumbled.
Teddy threw up his hands, driving with his knee until I swatted him on the arm.
“I can’t believe that still bugs you,” he said, pretending to rub his shoulder.
“Yes, I never stopped liking staying alive.”
Teddy grinned in response, turning the dial on the radio until The Cranberries wafted through the air. I tipped my head back against the seat.
As we pulled off Main Street and toward the interstate, roads lined with auburn oaks opened up to rolling green hills and tufts of wildflowers. I didn’t mind the numbing wind against my face or the way it whistled in my ears—anything to keep my eyes from sliding shut and another memory from playing.
Driving up the gravel path for the second time that week, I tossed Teddy a quick, wary look. I couldn’t think of a reason Serena called us back there. Not a good one, anyway.
When his brakes squealed into a visitor spot out front, I slid outside, my stomach immediately turning.
