Every bit of color drains from his face.
He blinks. Laughs again—nervous, sharp, and unsure. “Come on, stop messing with me.”
But Sara doesn’t smile.
She looks at him with the kind of weight only truth can carry.
“Sweetie,” she says, turning to Jaqueline, “why don’t you go sit on the couch with your tablet? Jaxon and I need to talk, okay?”
The girl nods and wanders off. The second she’s out of earshot, Sara grabs Jaxon’s hand and leads him into the kitchen.
They stop just short of the sink, standing in the space where laughter and heartbreak seem to hang in the air like fog.
“Talk to me,” Jaxon says. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“She’s yours, Jax. Claire found out she was pregnant the day before she was supposed to fly back.”
He stares at her, silent.
“She couldn’t get on that plane. She came to my house in tears, not knowing what to do. She cried the entire night, panicking, trying to figure out how to tell you without ruining your life.”
“She wouldn’t have ruined anything,” he snaps. “All she had to do was call. I would’ve dropped everything. Everything.”
“I know that. She knew that. But she was scared. She said she wanted to wait for the right time—to tell you when it wouldn’t destroy the good parts of you she loved.”
“So instead, she sends a breakup text? Like I never meant anything?”
Sara sighs, breaking. “I don’t know why she did it that way. Maybe she was protecting you. Maybe she thought she was doing the right thing. But I do know this—she regretted it. Every day.”
Jaxon sinks into a kitchen chair like he’s been knocked off his feet.
“She came back, you know. After Atlanta. She wanted to tell you. We made the drive down together.”
He lifts his head slowly. “What?”
“She was ready. She was scared, but she was ready to tell you everything. We went to Tides Rising that night.”
His brow furrows. “I was there. That was the night—”
“She saw you. Sitting with a woman. Red hair. Ring on her finger. Hand on your arm.”
The memory clicks into place like a trap.
“Oh my God… that was my sister.”
Sara’s eyebrows raise in disbelief.
“She hadn’t been down to the island in forever. I took her out to dinner while she visited. That wasn’t a date. Claire thought—” He stops. “Shit.”
“She saw that and froze. She just… unraveled. She wouldn’t even get out of the car. She said she wouldn’t be the one to ruin your happiness, not again.”
Jaxon leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands covering his face. “I looked over. I remember seeing a car running nearby. Couldn’t see inside because of the tint.”
“That was us,” Sara whispers. “Two women, sitting in silence, hearts breaking in a parking lot because of a misunderstanding.”
A beat passes.
Then another.
