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It’s a text from Aiden.Would you be willing to meet at the Little Sunbeam Park tomorrow afternoon? Owen wants to play with Edward.
I grab them both, and they crowd around me reading what he wrote.
My fingers shake so hard I have to retype my message three times to fix the typos. Finally, I settle for a simpleSure!
I get a one-word reply.Thanks.
Piper puts her arm around my shoulder and squeezes. “Looks like you’ve got your chance to say you’re sorry. You’d better make it good.”
I hope she’s right.
CHAPTER25
AIDEN
“Good thing we didn’t wash these socks!” Owen bounces in the backseat of my truck, holding Zander and waving his dirty socks around. “Edward loves the smell of my stinky socks. He’s so weird.”
“He’s a dog.” My voice is flat, and I’m having second thoughts about this idea.
It feels like a visitation, and we were never even officially a couple—even if the whole town seemed to know about us. I just couldn’t keep listening to Owen talk about Edward, and after I saw Britt hug him at work, something cracked inside me.
I still meant every word I said to my brother about her, but lying alone in my bed staring into the darkness, that day on the boat seventeen years ago haunted me, the way Gwen screamed when the metal box was pulled out of the water, when we all realized at the same time something had gone terribly wrong.
I thought about losing my own dad four years later, and while I didn’t scream and wail, my insides made the same sound she did.
I’m not ready to let my guard down again, but I’ll let Owen play with her dog.
When I pull into the parking lot, my mom’s bike is already parked beside a post, and Britt’s inside the park with Edward. She’s wearing a long-sleeved white tee and cutoff blue jeans with her cowboy boots, just like the first day she crashed into my life.
A low growl vibrates in my throat, and I’m pissed at how much I still feel for her. I’m pissed at how fucking pretty she is and how fucking weak I am when it comes to her. One look, and I want her.
“Edward!” Owen is out of the truck before I’ve killed the engine, and I sit for a moment watching him run to her.
I watch her lean down and hug him tight. A smile breaks over her pretty face, and all the charitable feelings I had on the drive over twist into frustration in my stomach. Something about her is different. Maybe it is a kind of spell she casts—which I’d considered that night so long ago on the back porch.
All I know is I’ve never felt this way for a woman. She could hurt me in a way no one ever has, and I don’t like it.
Climbing from the truck, I walk slowly to where she stands watching Owen run all over the park waving his socks as Edward bounds andRooosbeside him. She pushes her long bangs behind her ears, and the closer I get, I see her eyes are red. She’s smiling, but it’s sad. The sunniness I’d grown to love about her is missing.
“Thanks for doing this.” My voice is rough, so I clear it. “He hasn’t stopped talking about Edward all week.”
“Edward misses him, too.” She blinks up at me and her bottom lip slips inside her mouth.
I put my hands in the back pockets of my jeans to head off any temptation to touch her. “How’s it going with Doug?”
“Good.” She nods, looking down and pushing her hair behind her ears. “He’s so upbeat and positive all the time.”
“I think it’s the donuts.”
She exhales a smile, and Owen and Edward charge back to where we are, circling her.
“Did you see our picture in the paper for winning the race?” His little voice is loud and happy, creating a sharp contrast to the mood between us.
“I sure did.” She scrubs her fingers through the top of his hair. “I cut it out to save.”
“Dad did, too.” He drops to his knees, hugging Edward’s head, and I shift my stance when her eyes flicker to me. “I wonder if I could teach him to play hide-and-seek. Can you play hide-and-seek, old boy?”
“I’ll hold him and count to twenty if you want to try.” She takes a knee beside the dog, putting her hand on his collar. “I think he’ll probably find you pretty quick.”
