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A heart-shaped locket on a long silver chain.
Tears streamed down both sides of my face now. They joined the rain, dripping off the sides of my cheeks as I pulled the locket around my neck and engaged the clasp. It fit perfectly, not like a little girl’s locket at all. And that’s because it was my mother’s locket.
“Hi, mom.”
She’d handed it to me with a smile the day we buried the capsule, taking it off her own neck in the kitchen. I remembered her words too, when I’d tried to protest. She’d told me it was okay, and that we’d see the locket again soon. That it would be even more special to dig it up and wear it later on, when I got a little older.
Somehow I let out a happy laugh, as the drizzle turned into a downpour. The silver locket gleamed as I cradled it in my palm. I took a full minute to stare at it, just marveling at its beauty.
Then I dropped it back to my chest, and let myself cry.
Eight
KAYLA
Of the many things that had changed in North Glade, there were also a few that hadn’t. So when it came down to ending my long, emotional day, I was glad to see that theLucky Spotwas still the same.
The interior seemed a little brighter and more in line with the times, and none of the bartenders I knew were still around. Still, all five of us had been sneaking in here since we were nineteen. Our fake ID’s weren’t all that good to be honest, so either the place had been really struggling or the owners were just turning a blind eye.
Right now I sat at one of our old stools, in the spot where the bar made a hard left. I was three beers in and considering a fourth. My mood had improved with my success at the park, and I’d chosen this place because the memories I had here were all good ones.
I thought about what it meant to be fresh out of high school, with a whole world of open-ended possibilities still ahead. Elizabeth had made toasts every time we came here. They were mostly silly — usually to something in our distant futures, or some wild achievement none of us could ever hope to accomplish. But now…
Now Elizabeth had no future, and our possibilities weren’t so boundless. Adulthood took freedom away, although no one ever really told you that. Sometimes it even made you jaded at twenty-seven.
I drained my beer and looked up, just as the bartender returned with something already in hand and passed it to me. A buyback maybe. Only this drink was in a glass, not a bottle.
“That…” said the bartender, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, “is courtesy of the gentleman right down at the end, there.”
I looked, and did my best to suppress a smile. The man at the end of the bar was a sleeveless tattooed monster. He had flowing dark hair, green eyes, and acres of sexy stubble that had blossomed into a well-trimmed beard and matching goatee. His well-tanned arms exploded with muscle. He didn’t even look my way as he drained his beer.
“Yeah? Well tell him to come over.”
The bartender smiled, then did what I’d told him. Thirty seconds later the man rose and headed my way. The heavy sound of big black boots against the pub floor was masculine as hell. The sounds were accompanied by the creak of leather, and the faint rattle of a wallet chain.
“I don’t drink these anymore,” I said, pushing the light brown liquid of the Long Island Iced Tea his way. Ice rattled noisily within the glass.
“Oh no?”
“No. Too sweet.”
He slid into the stool beside me with practiced ease, as a wave of pleasant smells washed over me. Steel. Oil. Something that could’ve been cologne, or maybe his natural musk.
“You?” he smiled charmingly. “Too sweet?”
“Afraid so.”
“Not a chance.”
God, he looked so fuckinggood!Bigger and broader, with a V-shaped torso and a thick neck that ended at two granite-like shoulders. He looked very much the same as he did seven years ago. But also, so much more like aman.
“Hello Adrian.”
He picked up my beer and sniffed it, then finished it off.
“When’d you move on to these?”
“An old boyfriend turned me on to it.”
