Page 20 of On One Condition

“It all came down to pedigree. Something I didn’t—don’t—have. He looked at me as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Think about it. I have no parents who claim me. I live in this small town that’s a blip on a map. There is no way I could ever be good enough for the golden son he was grooming to take over his empire.” Even saying the words now cause a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

“I’d like to say it makes sense but only in the worst kind of way.”

“I know what you mean—and I agree.”

“What did Gran and Pop say about it?”

“Whatever Pop talked to him about that night outside is a mystery. Pop grumbled about assholes and avoided all talk of the Sharpes, while Gran babied me and my broken heart for months. She told me that’s what the boys we don’t want in our lives did and was glad he was gone.” I take a sip of wine and savor its tartness on my tongue. “I think it was easier for them to let me be heartbroken than to believe I wasn’t good enough.”

“So his dad lied to you. He was fine being blunt and honest about his reasons until he came face-to-face with you. Then what? For some reason he took pity on you and decided to blame his son for breaking your heart rather than Ledger doing it himself?”

“That’s my guess,” I murmur.

“Did you ever try to call him? Ledger? Get in touch with him? Did he try to call you? I mean, it’s the twenty-first century, there are so many ways to talk.”

“I did try. My texts and calls didn’t go through so I’m assuming his dad did block my number. Either that or Ledger got a new cell. I left messages on his social media. His email. Nothing. That’s why at first, it was so easy to believe that Ledger did use me. If that weren’t the case and he still loved me as I loved him, he would have tried to get ahold of me, right?”

“True, but his dad was a powerful man who—”

“Controlled him? I don’t know, Nita. He was an adult going to college that next month. Surely, he could have reached out once he was living on campus. It just . . . it just never made sense to me.” I push the swing. “And then I got to the point where I realized that even if we did reconnect, it wouldn’t matter. It’s not like his father would suddenly approve of me or think I was good enough for Ledger. I didn’t want to open myself up to that kind of humiliation all over again.”

“So, you let it go?”

“I did. I had to. Besides, a guy like Ledger was a catch. It was easier to think he’d already moved on to some girl with a prestigious last name and a fat bank account.”

“What if you thought wrong?” she asks softly.

“I can’t live my life in what-ifs.”

“I can understand that.”

“You know what stung the most though?” What told me what we had wasn’t real . . .

“He never contacted you.”

“Exactly.” I give a definitive nod. “He knew where I lived and could have written me. He knew my phone number because it didn’t change. If you truly love something, you fight for it.”

“And he didn’t fight for you,” she murmurs.

And yes, it’s ridiculous to expect that from a teenage boy about to start his life out from beneath his father’s wings, and yet what we had was special. Unique. Ours.

“Pop would have fought for Gran.” My smile is bittersweet thinking of their love. “That’s the only real relationship I’ve known to compare it against.”

Nita leans her head back, closes her eyes, and pushes the swing with her foot. “That was fifteen years ago. You’ve changed for the better in that time. I’m sure he has too. Maybe tonight was Fate’s way of stepping in to try and fix past wrongs.”

“That’s absurd.”

“I don’t think so.” She places her hand on mine. “If you think it was his dad’s doing, then maybe there’s more to the story. Maybe there’s a reason he didn’t reach out. Maybe this is your second chance.”

“That’s a lot of maybes.”

“Maybe it is,” she jokes.

I smile and remember the way Ledger looked at me tonight before I left. As if there was a story in his eyes he was ready to tell. A story I’m not certain it matters that I hear.

“When he stopped me at the end of the bar, it was to ask me if we could meet to catch up sometime.”

“And?”