Page 49

“Thanks, Cam.” He smiles proudly.

“Hey, I’m staying in the bridesmaids' suite tonight if you want to come join us.” Ivy chimes in, reaching down to squeeze my hand tightly.

I instinctively look over my shoulder, my gaze darting to the exact spot in the darkness where Drew just disappeared.

“Um…” I murmur, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips as I look back at my brother and sister-in-law. “I think I actually need to be elsewhere tonight.”

Ivy’s grin widens, her eyes flashing with pure excitement. “Yeah, you do!” she winks.

Cooper immediately lifts his hands, covering his ears with a groan. “Gross.”

“Not like that!” I laugh, reaching over to smack him hard on the arm.

“Better get used to it, babe.” Ivy teases, nudging Cooper with her shoulder.

Cooper lets out a long dramatic sigh, a genuine smile breaking through his pretend disgust. “And so it begins.”

I grab my freshly refilled wine glass and step into the warm courtyard, walking along the edge of the property, away from the music and laughter, until I spot him sitting on the lakeshore, gazing out over the water.

“Hey you,” I say softly, stepping into the sand and sitting down beside him. “Mind if I join you?”

A bright smile stretches across his features as he looks over at me. “Why did you saying ‘Hey you’ just send me back in time?”

“A lot of things this week have been sending me back in time,” I admit, taking a slow sip of my wine.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like you coming to find me in a busy crowd, knowing exactly when I'm overwhelmed.”

“Like you're doing for me right now?” He smiles, the moonlight glinting in his eyes.

“It’s our unspoken bond, I suppose,” I say, a small tug pulling on my lips.

We sit quietly as we watch the water lap against the shore. The moon is bright, casting an iridescent glow over the water.

“What made you choose to travel?”

He lets out a long sigh. “In the beginning… It was to run away. I needed an escape. I made it halfway through my sophomore year at UCLA. Barely.” He lets out a low, humorless chuckle. “I couldn't be on that campus anymore, watching my dream continue without me. So I transferred back to online classes, packed a single bag, and booked a plane ticket to Colorado.”

I stay quiet, giving him my full attention as the missing pieces of the past few years fall into place. “My mom's sister lives out there, so I stayed with her for a while.” His voice cracks a bit under the weight of the memory. “I fell in love with the mountains and the smell of the cold, clean air. I felt like I could finally breathe again.” His eyes fix on the water. “I started hiking, just trying to rebuild the strength in my knee. I brought a camera and a journal with me on every trail, and I'd find a peaceful place to sit down and just write out exactly what I was feeling in the moment. It became my way of healing. I started smiling again, for the first time in two years.” My eyes start to water as a soft smile forms on my face, picturing a twenty-year-old Drew finding peace in the mountains.

“So, I built a small website,” Drew says, a hint of pride in his tone. “I would upload my photos and write out the scene to go with them. Eventually, a travel magazine stumbled across it and picked me up. They started sending me to different places all over the world to take pictures and write for them. It became a job that I genuinely love, and I felt like I found a piece of my happiness again.”

“I’m so happy for you, Drew,” I say, a single tear breaking free and sliding down my cheek.

“It’s been amazing, don't get me wrong,” he says, but his shoulders droop, the vulnerability of his confession stripping him bare. “But... I have nowhere to call home. And that makes it really hard.”

The admission fractures my heart. Without a word, I lean my head against his shoulder. He responds by wrapping his heavy arm around me and pulling me tightly into his side.

“No matter where I was in the world, when night fell, I would go out and find a spot. Preferably a roof,” he murmurs, smiling down into my hair. “I’d look up at the stars and the moon, and it was the only time I felt connected to home. I’d picture you looking up at the same dark sky, hoping you were doing the same.”

“You thought about me?” I whisper against his chest, butterflies of nostalgia flutter through my stomach.

“Every single day.”

I lift my head from his shoulder and find his eyes. “I never stopped thinking about you either,” I whisper.

He smiles, gently swiping his thumb against my cheek, slowly lacing his fingers deep into my hair. Our breathing becomes shallow, the distance between us evaporating as we both start to lean in for a kiss. Before our lips can touch, loud screaming and laughter rip across the shore. The whole bridal party goes diving into the lake. Taken by surprise, we both start laughing at the absurdity. Drew springs to his feet, flashing a carefree grin as he holds his hand out to me. I grab it, and without a second thought, the two of us launch ourselves straight across the sand, plunging into the water after them. The chill of the water shocks my system. August is much too late in the season to be jumping into a lake at night. But the thrill and adrenaline take over my body.