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“Jesus.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, at least one of us can grab them if we need to. Mollie and Wren did a good job about that. Oh, I should tell you who they are. They moved here recently⁠—”

“I know.” When Mark blinked, I knew I needed to explain. “I met them on my first day here. Plus, I kept loose tabs on things.”

He laughed. “What have you heard about me?”

“That I shouldn’t look at your closet with a black light.”

His smile faded immediately. “That’s not my fault. It’s the wild people in town, especially Jade⁠—”

He realized what he said before he finished the sentence, and his face went pale. I sucked in an involuntary breath.

I wasn’t a fool. There was no way she’d not found someone else. When my teenage brain finally wrapped around the fact that she did want kids someday, I knew she wouldn’t delay the inevitable. She would want love. She would want a family. All with someone else.

Her relationship status, from what I could hunt down, never changed. So there was hope.

Or maybe I was fooling myself.

“Sorry,” Mark said. “I really stepped in it there.”

“No, I get it. She probably didn’t stay single.”

“Oh, she stayed single. No one lasts more than a night.”

I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse, but I gave him a tight smile anyway. Behind me, the bell above the door jingled, announcing someone else was walking in. I didn’t turn because I wasn’t sure that I could handle any more shock from the people in town.

“Oh, fuck.” Mark’s shoulders were tight.

And then I felt her.

Jade had walked in. Instead of the faded green hair she’d had yesterday, it was now bright purple. Her lips were bright red, and she wore a skirt with a high slit and fishnet tights underneath. What was worse was that she had on a leather harness over a fitted T-shirt, making her jaw-dropping.

Age had only made her sexier. Time had only made me want her more.

Just the sight of her made my body respond. I felt like that teenager again who couldn’t wait to see her.

Her eyes met mine and I silently begged for her to come over. One corner of her lips turned up when she saw me, and suddenly, it felt like all of the past was erased. It was just the two of us, like always.

Then, she walked right up to someone else.

He was the complete opposite of me. Instead of dark clothes, he wore a polo and khakis. He smiled the second he saw her, and she leaned on the table in front of him.

My heart shattered and reality turned.

Of course she could do this. There was no way she would ever talk to me again. She wanted me to see this.

“So . . .” Mark said. “Want something stronger?”

“I can’t.”

“Need to leave?”

I blew out a breath. “No, I’ll stay until Atticus calls me home.”

“Seems a little like torture.”