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Louise’s lips part. “Riley, I almost flunked out of college because of you.”
“I’m sorry! I’m so—fuck.” I turn away and run a hand over my face in an effort to collect myself. I put that hand on my hip and turn back to Lu. “I’m really fucking sorry that happened, Lu. I had no idea.”
“You would have if you’d returned any of my calls or texts.”
The rain is coming down hard enough to ricochet off the deck, spraying my legs and feet. “I knew you’d fight me on it—knew you’d come back—so I did what I could to make sure you stayed away. I intentionally hurt you.”
“You almost killed me, Riley. I’m not about to let you do it again.” She looks me in the eye. “Leave. Me. The hell. Alone.”
Then she brushes past me, shoulder bumping mine as she heads for the dock.
For half a heartbeat I can only stare at her retreating back. Do I leave her alone? Or do I listen to the voice screaming in my head, my chest, telling me to chase her?
“You don’t think I didn’t die inside too?” I shout, stepping out into the rain. “It’s why I’m sober now. Or part of the reason. I hit rock bottom after we broke up. Between my parents’ divorce and losing you, I was a wreck. If I wasn’t working, I was drinking. It was the only thing that made the pain go away. Mom and Tuck had an intervention with me three weeks before my twenty-first birthday. I haven’t had a drink since.”
She pauses at the step that leads to the swimming platform. Turns her head to look at me over her shoulder.
She’s crying, face crumpled. Raindrops roll down her temples. Off the tip of her nose. The urge to spill it all—to throw the people she loves to the wolves—is strong enough to make me dizzy.
But I made her want to strangle me once upon a time. I’m not about to make her detest anyone else. Especially the person she adored so much.
“Please,” she says. “Please tell me you’re not lying about that.”
I put a hand over my heart. The rain feels good on my overheated skin. “I’m not a fucking liar, Lu. I was just a kid with his back against the wall.”
She looks at me, chest heaving. “Why’d you never reach out, then? You had so much time—”
“I did reach out. I came back for you three years ago.”
“Are you kidding?” Her eyes are wide again. She shivers.
I frown. “Aw, Lu, you’re freezing. Let’s get you inside—”
“Tell me,” she says with a slight shake of her head. “Tell me, Riley.”
I draw a sharp breath through my nose. “I drove my ass to Charlotte with the intention of winning you back. I was going to tell you the truth then—try to undo the damage I’ve done. I knew you’d still hate me, but I had to try. So I did a little research and found out you worked at The Gibbes Group uptown. My plan was to wait outside your building in the hopes you’d come out at some point. And you did. Only you came out on the arm of a good-lookin’ guy. Y’all were talking, clearly having a good time." I swallow the moon in my throat. “He made you laugh. You looked so happy, Lu. Broke my fucking heart, but I wasn’t about to mess with the good thing you had.”
My blood leaps when she turns around and takes a step toward me. Her hair is plastered to her head now. Her dress clings to her torso, the outline of her pebbled nipples clearly visible through the thin material.
“You’re kidding,” she repeats.
I keep shaking my head. “Nope. Still have the speech I was gonna give you on my phone if you wanna see it.”
“Why?”
“Why’d I keep the speech?”
“Why do you still want me?” She’s close enough now that I can see the way the rain’s clumped together her dark eyelashes. “Why go through all that trouble for a girl you dumped ten years ago?”
I search her eyes. Pulse leaps when I see a glimmer in them. Hope? Belief?
Fire? Not the kind she’d use to burn me to the ground.
The kind I’d use to make her come.
Swallowing, I say, “I never stopped thinking about you. You opened up the world for me, Lu, and I wanted to give you the world in return. Still do.”
Her expression softens. “I introduced you to Stevie Nicks and romance books. Hardly the world.”
“It was enough for a country boy like me. You showed me what was possible—what to aim for—and without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Which is why I want to make sure the girl I fell so hard for is still alive and well.” I nod at her. “Lu Wade, cookbook author, brunette, Dolly Parton fan. Dreamer. I want you to be who you really are, Lu, and I’m worried the world’s chipping away at you, piece by piece.”
