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Chapter1
Hannah
The buzzer sounded and chair legs immediately scraped against the linoleum floor.
“Bye, Miss Hannah,” my high school students said as they quickly filed out of my art room, ready to start their spring break.
“Bye, see you in a week. Be safe,” I shouted above their boisterous voices, knowing full well they weren’t listening.
Despite our class project of making signs for my upcoming reunion, I still couldn’t believe fifteen years had passed since I received my diploma. Not much at Blossom Berry Falls High School had changed. The cinder block walls were painted the same canary yellow, the combined cafeteria and auditorium still had that lingering school-lunch scent mingled with antiseptic, and the main lobby continued to feature the pictures of illustrious alumni who had gone on to do great things.
I wasn’t knocking the wall of fame. It did boast quite a few remarkable people who had attended our small school. The entire town of Blossom Berry Falls, Virginia, was very proud of them—and rightfully so. But from my graduating class, there was none other than Cash Jameson. Each day when I walked through the doors to start my day, I had to look at his gorgeous face—chiseled jaw, light-brown hair that had that effortlessly sexy look, and a confident gleam in his pretty sea-blue eyes that could (and did) garner him a lot of attention. Then there was that damn smile. It used to turn me on. Now it just irritated me.
One hundred years could pass, and I still wouldn’t forget the day he stepped into the main office. I happened to be there to turn in my crossing guard sash (yes, I wasthatstudent) when the prettiest cerulean eyes met mine. He knew the magic they possessed. Then he smiled, and I didn’t stand a chance. When the principal’s secretary, Mrs. Higgins, pulled up Cash’s schedule—and realized we had the same homeroom—she paired us together.
And that was how it started. From that day forward, it was me, the art student, and the hot new boy. All the girls vied for his attention, but for some reason, he gave it all to me.
Not that I complained. Why would I? Back then, and even now, I was average—which I was more than fine with. I wasn’t tall, thin, or glamorous. My hair was a soft brown that would get blonder highlights during the summer. I wasn’t a complete nerd and had a lot of friends, loved painting and didn’t bother with high school drama unless it was on the auditorium’s stage.
Life was quiet. Just how I liked it.
It hadn’t taken long for Cash to change all of that.
He quickly became my best friend, my first love, my first everything. And the first guy to break my heart. We were the couple no one saw coming and that everyone envied. To us, we were friends who one day cozied up a bit closer than normal while watching a movie in my basement. His thumbs had traced small circles on my shoulder, I’d snuggled into his side, enjoying the way his strong arm wrapped around me, and then I’d looked up the same time he looked down, and for some reason, our lips had met.
It wasn’t just an average kiss—not to us. It changed everything. In that moment, time suspended, our friendship morphed into something neither of us imagined, and sayingI love youaltered. We used to repeat those words all the time. Mostly because we were inseparable, and it rolled off our tongues easily. Except, it used to be a quick “Love you.” Then he added the “I” and said it in a tone so irreverent I could feel it down to my toes. Even my heart realized the difference. Those three words, combined with his unwavering gaze, changed everything.
“Knock, knock.” Mia stood in the doorway, pulling me from my thoughts. She and I had been friends since the eighth grade, and now we both taught at our alma mater. No one, not even my sister, knew me as well as Mia did.
“Hi.” I hung up my smock and grabbed my purse out of the bottom drawer of my desk.
Walking into my classroom, Mia let out her breath. “I can’t believe it’s spring break already. Thank God I decided to have the class watch a movie rather than discuss historical literature. No disrespect to the genre, but it was hard enough to keep them entertained withThe Breakfast Club. But as soon as the bell rang, they were up and out as though their asses were on fire.” She laughed and glanced over at the long counters in front of the windows, where various styles of artwork sat to dry. “Oh wow, these are great. You’re such a good teacher.”
“The kids are talented.” I loved my students, and seeing their creativity made coming to work fun.
“You’retalented too. Don’t you forget that.” Mia’s phone chimed, and her eyes rolled as she looked at the screen. “The meeting is starting. Janice is getting antsy. You’d think this was a meeting to discuss world hunger, not our class reunion.”
I huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “Okay, let me just text Jimmy and wish him luck.” My son was the starting pitcher on Blossom Berry Falls High School’s varsity baseball team, the Bobcats. Normally I saw him before games, but they weren’t playing at home. In addition, I’d committed to help organize our class reunion, and the final meeting was this afternoon.
“Tell him Aunt Mia says to kick ass.”
Shaking my head, I tapped out and voiced, “Aunt Mia said to have a great game.”
“That’s not even close.”
Laughing once more, I put my phone back into my bag. “Okay, I’m ready.”
We walked down the hall to the library, where the reunion committee had gathered, and took our seats at the large table. Janice, who had been our class president back in the day, sat at the end of the table as a CEO would during a board meeting. She couldn’t have been more excited about this event, while Mia and I—well, mostly me—weren’t as excited. All I hoped was that Cash would be too busy to come back.
Aside from watching him on television, thanks to my son being one of his biggest fans, I hadn’t seen Cash since he left for the big leagues right out of high school. Jimmy knew we had graduated together but never asked many questions about him, probably assuming Cash was way too cool to hang out with his dorky mom—thank God. How do you explain to your son that the man he idolized was his father, who never called his mom back? You didn’t.
After a while, I’d let it go.
How long could I have gone on telling myself that Cash was busy and that once the season was over, he’d call or come home? Or that he’d read my emails or the letter I sent to the ball club. Granted, it had been about ten years since I’d done any of those things, but a girl could take a hint.
Then, two years ago, Cash got injured, so he was no longer a player for the Utah Hawks but a scout for them instead. Jimmy felt awful about his injury and even sent a get-well-soon card to the team’s address. Each time my son mentioned his idol’s name, I itched to tell him the truth, but getting the words out was a different story.
What if Cash didn’t take the news well? Or act like his father had? The last thing I wanted was for my son to feel rejected. We were doing well, the two of us.
