Bachelor of Arts – Summa Cum Laude.
Master of Science – Awarded Posthumously.
The transcripts that accompanied the diplomas were immaculate: rows of “A”s without a single blemish, glowing remarks from professors, and accolades for academic excellence.
Ashley ran her fingers lightly over the embossed seal, her stomach twisting.Dale’s name sat there, so formal and distant.
She sank back onto her heels, her mind spinning.Cole had never mentioned they’d studied at Yale together–or had they?Dale’s graduation date was a year ahead of Cole’s.Did they cross paths every day in the same halls, attending the same events?She tried to picture it: the two of them walking across campus, sharing lectures, books, and friends.
A knot tightened in her chest.She stared at the folder in her lap, a thousand questions bubbling to the surface.She closed it carefully, her fingers lingering on the edge before tucking it back into the box.
“Hey, Ash?”Cole’s voice jolted her from her thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Dinner’s ready.”
She exhaled, brushing her hands over her dress as she stood.
When she reached the dining table, Cole was already waiting, the flicker of a candle casting warm light across their patchwork chaos.One corner of the table held a half-empty box of utensils, and another was stacked with mismatched plates waiting to be wrapped.The scent of roasted vegetables mingled with the faint tang of packing tape that lingered in the air.
Ashley paused in the doorway.The weight of what she’d found lingered like the static of an unfinished conversation.She took a slow breath, letting the pull of the present steady her.
Cole glanced up as she stepped closer, setting a glass of water by her plate with his usual precision.His movements were calm, deliberate, and so perfectly in tune with the man she knew that it almost made her smile.
“Long day?”he asked, pulling out her chair for her.
“Something like that,” she replied, lowering herself into the seat.
The chair creaked softly under her, and the questions in her mind momentarily quieted as Cole sat across from her.His shirt was wrinkled from a long day, and the sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms smudged faintly with ink–remnants of whatever notes he’d scribbled earlier.She watched as he reached for his fork, his casual steadiness grounding her in the moment.
“Did I ever tell you about my first–and only–college party?”she asked, breaking the quiet.
Cole glanced up, his gray eyes softening as his lips curved into a faint smile.“No.Let me guess–you spent the entire night organizing the bookshelves.”
She laughed, the sound light but tinged with self-awareness.“Close.I was such a nerd back then.The first two years of college, I didn’t even consider going to a party.I was too busy studying and waiting for my long-distance boyfriend to call.You’d think I was running a hotline with how attached I was to that phone.”
Cole arched a brow, resting his chin on his hand.“And then?”
“And then,” she said, dragging out the words, “he dumped me at the end of my sophomore year.By text, no less.Sarah finally convinced me to go out and said I needed to ‘see what I’d been missing.’So, I went.”
Cole’s smirk deepened.“And?”
“It was like stepping into the twilight zone,” she said, shaking her head.“Picture this: a room full of Harvard students–future surgeons, CEOs, and, I don’t know, Supreme Court judges–completely plastered.There was this one guy pouring vodka into a fishbowl.I thought it was a joke until I saw people drinking out of it with straws.”
Cole laughed, the sound low and genuine.
“And then there was the hallway,” she continued, gesturing animatedly.“At one point, I found a guy passed out in the bathtub.Two girls were crying over the same guy, and the guy in question?Oh, he was thebiggestdouchebag I’d ever met.Football scholarship, wore his varsity jacket indoors like it was his armor, and had the kind of smirk that made you want to shove him out a window.”
Cole chuckled, leaning back slightly.“Sounds like quite the character.”
“Character?He was insufferable,” she said, laughing.“Anyway, by 2 a.m., I’d given up on the whole party thing and started walking around with a water bottle, handing it out like a door-to-door salesperson.That’s when I realized I liked being the person who kept it together when everyone else fell apart.That’s when I thought… maybe I could actually make something of that.”
“Not Professor Larkin’s course?”Cole asked, a playful glint in his eyes.“Didn’t you once call her Behavioral Decision-Making class life-changing?”
“Well, yes,” Ashley admitted, her expression softening.“Professor Larkin gave me direction, but it was that party that made me realize I wanted to take care of people.To help them when they didn’t even realize they needed it.”
Her gaze warmed as she reached across the table, her fingers brushing his.
