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“What happened?” my mom asks, concern and interest in her voice.
I hear my aunt sigh. It’s a sad sound. Coming from someone I’ve always known as so vivacious and positive, it makes my heart sink.
“He’s with his new woman,” Ava huffs.
Mom gasps, outraged. “What?”
“He said we’ve been together too long andlost our spark. He said he felt like he was settling and, get this, said heowes himself betterthan that.”
My jaw drops. I have half a mind to take a few paces backwards, pick up the sharp chef’s knife I was just using on the herbs, and go find Jack, wherever he is.
“When did this happen?” Mom asks in a low voice.
I can tell Aunt Ava’s trying to stay strong and keep herself together, but when she sniffles, the way her breath warbles tells me she’s holding back a sob. “Last week.”
Stunned, I stagger back to the kitchen island, not wanting to appear like I’m eavesdropping.
I can’t believe this. Ava and Jack always seemed … perfect for each other.
Like the best, happiest part of a romcom come to life. I always wondered if I’d ever find a relationship like that, love like that.
And over the last couple weeks, when things between Hunter and me have been so good, I’ve often thought that maybe I finally have.
More than once, when Hunter’s stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, or flirted with me in public in a way that made me blush, or laced his fingers into mine when I wasn’t expecting it, I’ve thought that this feels the way I always imagined it would feel when I was a girl at a family get-together, watching Ava and Jack sneak away for a minute to be lovey-dovey with each other.
Disappointment and anger swirl inside me.
Was it a lie all along for Jack?
A new emotion laces into my chest: worry.
Is it a lie right now for Hunter?
I push the thought away.
At least, I try to. But it keeps inching back into my consciousness.
Isn’t he just like Jack? Handsome, charismatic, a total player before he got together with me? The kind of guy girls keep looking at shamelessly even though they know he’s taken?
And when he joins the NHL and becomes a famous superstar, women aren’t going to be looking at him anylessthan they are now.
For the last couple weeks, I’ve felt myself falling harder and harder for Hunter.
Every time my feelings ratcheted up a notch, I felt a sliver of worry. But each time, I told myself to ignore that worry. I told myself not to overthink things, to just enjoy things for what they are right now.
Maybe now I should stop taking my own advice.
Just over the past twenty-four hours I’ve fallen even further for Hunter. I know it’ll only get deeper the more time we spend together.
Am I setting myself up for a big fall?
Next year, he’ll be in Vancouver. A continent away. Endless temptation as a professional hockey player, traveling across Canada and America during the season.
How long until he decides there’s nosparkbetween us anymore?
Sadness prickles all over me. The thought of things between me and Hunter ending hurts. How much more will it hurt six months from now? A year from now?
Ten years from now, which is about how long Ava and Jack were together?
