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“Hey,” Eliza said. “Your nana told me I’d find you here. I hope that’s okay.”

“Okay”?

It was more than okay. It would always be more than okay.

Small flyaways framed her face, and she had a smudge of green paint on her cheek. I shoved my hands into my pockets to keep myself from reaching out to wipe it off. To play it cool despite the way my heart hammered inside my chest.

“H-how are you?”

“I’m okay.” She nodded to my arm. “Does that hurt?”

“This? Nah.” I pointed to the bandages. “Not much anymore.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Good.”

I stepped around the hood of my truck and started moving toward her. But she took a step back.

Oh.

Something sharp like a chisel pierced my heart.

“I wanted to come here to thank you.” She rubbed her thumb against her palm. “Thank you for coming into the theater to save me.”

I leaned against my passenger door. “If I remember correctly, you didn’t need saving.”

“True.” She smiled and fumbled with her keys.

Say something, idiot.

Tell her you miss her.

Tell her you were wrong about taking a break.

Tell her you could do both. Baseball and be with her. Even if you weren’t sure in the moment that it was possible.

“I…um, I gotta go.” Her eyes searched my face and settled on my mouth for just a second before moving back to my eyes. “I have rehearsal.”

“At Clairview, right?” I pushed off the truck. “Nana said the whole town’s talkin’ about how you came up with the idea to have it at the old amphitheater.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have thought of it had I…had we not…” Her cheeks flushed pink. “I should go.” She opened her door.

“Eliza?”

“Yes?” She looked at me expectantly.

Now’s your chance. Fix this.

I took a step closer to her Jeep, but the magazine on her dashboard with the title Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts made me stop short. She was already looking at other high schools. Already planning the what-if-we-lose scenario for her family.

But Philadelphia? How many hours away was that from North Carolina? And how could I expect her to want to be with me right now when she had so much on her own plate?

The pieces of my broken heart dropped to my feet. The least I could do was help her keep her head in the game and focus on her big night. She didn’t need to worry about me or mine.

I swallowed hard and forced a smile. “I just wanted to say…break a leg, Crowley.”

A tear fell onto Eliza’s cheek. Fuck, it killed me not to wipe it away. Not to hold her.

“Thank you,” she said before wiping it away herself. “Good luck out there, Fulton.”