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I’d never forget the haunted look he’d get when it was time to leave the safety of our house to return to his. And because his mother insisted on pretending that nothing was wrong over there, and because his dad was as smart as he was cruel, no one in our tiny town even knew what a monster he really was. No one but Paul and me. And even then, by the time we found out that it was worse than we’d feared, we had no idea how to help him. He’d made us swear not to tell our parents since he was scared he’d be forced to go live with strangers. His mom had told him all about Child Protective Services and how he had to keep everything a secret or they’d take him away. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want to be taken away from his parents. It was that he didn’t want to be taken away from us.
At the time, Paul and I didn’t think we had a choice. We hated the thought of Will being taken away just as much as he did. I can see now that we shouldn’t have done that, though. If we’d told my parents, they could have come up with another plan. In fact, maybe they would have volunteered to take him. I had no idea how any of that worked, so maybe it wouldn’t have been an option. But hindsight was twenty-twenty, so there was no use dwelling on it now.
“Well,” I said, swallowing past the boulder lodged in my throat, “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too. I’ve missed—”
“What?” I asked, maybe a little too eagerly. Had he been about to say he missedme? Or just Bluffton?
His full lips parted when he turned to me, but before he could reply, the front door whipped open, and Shelby appeared. “Hey, guys. Dinner’s ready.”
Will stood up in a flash, his butt out of the swing before she’d even finished speaking. I numbly stood and followed him into the house, giving Shelby a small smile as I crossed the threshold, even though inside, I was screaming. She could not have had worse timing if she tried.
“Everything okay?” she whispered.
I nodded and furrowed my brow like it was a silly question. “Yep. Just chatting. He thought I was bringing Beau to your wedding.”
We’d had that conversation last night, not tonight, but still. Better than telling her I’d been on the edge of my seat waiting to see if we were going to have another front-porch moment. This time maybe with a better ending.
Shelby cackled. “Ha. Like you’d have time for a date with everything you have to do that night.”
“Exactly what I said,” I replied, loving that she knew how hard I worked and didn’t try to convince me to have a little fun, too. Shelby was one of my best friends. She knew I knew how to have fun and didn’t feel the need to pressure me into it during what was both a work event and a family gathering. I’d make time for both, but I didn’t need a date to do it.
Will met my dad and Paul at the dinner table and took the beer they gave him with a nod of thanks. I passed him on my way to the kitchen with Shelby on my heels, immediately reaching for a stack of plates to bring to the table.
“Aria,” my mom said with a bright smile, “were you outside with Will?”
I nodded, holding the plates in front of me like a shield. “Yep. Why?”
“You know, I’ve always wondered if you two would wind up together someday. I wondered the same thing about Paul and Shelby and look how that turned out. Is there anything there?”
Even though my insides were on fire at her suggestion, I laughed like it was silly. “Mom, come on. You called him your third child.”
She shared a look with Shelby, who’d been standing there with a stunned expression. “So what?”
“So, doesn’t that imply some kind of brother-sister thing that would make that a really gross situation?”
Mom frowned. “I mean, just because I took him in as a second son when he needed me doesn’t have anything to do with whatyouthought of him.”
“Well, I didn’t. Think of him, that is. In any way. He’s like family to us, right?”
Mom didn’t look convinced, and judging from her expression, neither did Shelby. Great. Just great. I’d worked hard to keep any whispers of my feelings for Will away from my friends. Not because I didn’t want to confide in them, but because it felt like if I spoke my true feelings into the air they would eat me alive. I couldn’t force Will to feel differently about me than he did, so what was the use in pining over him out loud? It was bad enough in my head.
“Mom, Shel, seriously. I don’t have feelings for Will. In fact, you guys should see the hot new head groundskeeper at the property. Seriously, when Trevor stepped out of that shed looking like Jason Momoa in a set of coveralls, I almost died right there in the grass.”
Figuring it was time to hightail it out of there before they could dissect my lies, I turned and headed for the dining room, running smack dab into a wall of muscle. The plates crashed to the ground at our feet as I looked up at Will. The tears that sprang to my eyes a second later had a lot less to do with the shards of ceramic that sliced into my bare feet than they did with the look of pure pain I saw in his.
