“Yes. It was a peck on the cheek, nothing more. That chapter of my life is closed. I told him I was grateful for him because?—”
“Grateful?” Brock’s voice boomed. “After what he did to you?”
“If you’d stop interrupting me and let me finish,” she snapped back.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” His shoulders dropped. “Please continue.”
A strange sense of relief settled over Juliette. It was then she realized Brock’s hostility was directed toward Rodrigo, and not toward her.
“All I told him was I’m glad we broke up. It gave me the opportunity to find myself again.” She grabbed hold of her last bit of courage. “To find you.”
There was a shift in his eyes, and over the call of the ocean, a pained silence fell between them. He stepped toward her, entwining their fingers together. His hands were warm despite the chill in the afternoon air.
“These past few days with you have been amazing, Jules. I’ve loved having you back in my life.” His amber eyes searched hers, looking for something she couldn’t quite name. “But I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Juliette’s heart tumbled into the pit of her stomach. Her breathing grew shallow. Her chest was heavy, like it was going to explode, or combust completely from within. The jackhammer of her pulse sent a wave of trepidation crashing over her.
She must have misread the signs. Had she gotten this all wrong again?
“I need to talk to you about when we broke up.”
“Wait. What?” Confusion muddled her mind, and then panic slammed into her. This was the talk she’d been wanting to avoid, the moment when the truth would come out. “You mean in high school?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” She drew the last syllable out, not knowing the direction the conversation was headed.
He drew small circles with his thumb along the back of her hand. But she wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort her or distract her.
“When I left for boot camp and…” Brock shifted his weight, uncomfortable.
“And never came back,” she finished for him.
“Right.” He swallowed, and his amber gaze landed on hers. “It wasn’t because I didn’t love you anymore. I didn’t change my mind or find someone else, like I said. I never stopped loving you.”
Raw emotion, a tangled mess of misunderstanding and frustration, slammed into her. He loved her—then and now. All those years, wasted. All their dreams and wishes, gone. All the heartache she’d suffered at the loss of him, all the tears that stained her pillows, all of it had been for no reason.
She shook her head and pulled her hands from his hold.
“Then why?” her voice broke.
“I stayed away because…” His mouth drew into a tight line and shadows of remorse haunted his eyes. “Because your mother asked me to leave you alone.”
Juliette’s world came crashing down upon her, the weight of it so heavy, so unbearable, she could hardly breathe. She inhaled sharply but it was like she was being suffocated, the air simply wouldn’t come. Wind rolling in off the coast slammed into her, and she gasped. Her mother told Brock to stay away from her? Raking both hands through her tangled, windswept hair, she shook her head. No. Gigi wouldn’t stoop so low. Would she?
Her chest heaved. It was impossible to focus, to understand, to rationalize how such a cruel and unjust arrangement could have been made. Was it even an arrangement at all? Or was it her mother just making sure Juliette was forced into the life she wanted for her? Sure, she’d been seventeen, but she was crazy about Brock. She loved him. Fully. Deeply. Fiercely. And becauseof her own mother’s self-righteous indignation, he’d broken her heart.
She stumbled back and turned away from him. She faced the beach, the endless abyss of gray skies, cold sand, and white-capped waters. “So you lied to me?”
He blinked, and she recognized the moment his own realization struck him. Because Brock told her he had found someone else after boot camp. He’d lied.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he countered.
“Why?” The word came out of her mouth, but it was strangled. “That’s what I don’t understand in all of this, is why? You should have told me the truth from the beginning. But why would my mother do such a thing? And worse, why would you ever agree?”
“Gigi told me she was trying to protect you. She told me if I left and cut you out of my life, that it would be the best thing I could ever do for you.” He spread his arms wide, but the space between them now seemed foreign. Empty and desolate. Just like her heart. “She said I was too much like my father, that I wasn’t good enough for you."
“I don’t understand.” She couldn’t find the words. Her thoughts were blank spaces, spinning around and around in her head with zero direction. She whipped around to face him, and the harsh wind lashed her hair across her face. “So, you let my mom trick you into leaving me? You let her win?”
