"Wow,"AmeliabreathedwhenI finished telling her my sorry tale. Her face was stunned. "Why didn't you tell me?"
I shrugged. "I was embarrassed. Here I was promising that I would never forgive Harrison, only to crumble within a few weeks of him flashing me his pretty boy smile."
"Have you talked to Harrison about this since you've been back?"
"No," I huffed. "And I don't want to. He's tried to bring it up several times, but I shut it down. I know he's different now, but if I think about those last few weeks again, it'll break me."
Amelia nibbled on her bottom lip. "I don't blame you. If true, it's a pretty gross thing for someone to do."
I threw my hands in the air. "Of course it's true! How could she have known about Harrison asking me to prom if he hadn't told her? She knew exactly what he had said to me."
"I don't know," Amelia shook her head. "I truly hope there's more to the story. If not, I'd be really disappointed in him. He never mentioned this during his redemption tour with Liam and me."
She glanced up at me with gentle eyes before squeezing my arm. "I do know, though, that that man is in love with you."
I blew my breath out in disbelief, dislodging her touch. I was still pretty pissed at Amelia.
"C'mon," I scoffed.
"Grace, a few years ago, Harrison came to me and apologized for his behavior. He told me he always had a thing for you and wanted to see if I could put him in touch with you."
I stared at her, wide-eyed. "Wh-what?" I stammered.
"I refused. After high school, he and Jessica continued a thing for about a year, maybe more. They were never serious, but I always saw him hooking up with different women whenever we saw him on a night out. I just thought he was a manwhore, and there was no way I would give your number to him. He told me that he was serious about you, started waxing some poetic shit about how you were the one who got away. I was shocked."
She wasn't the only one. I was staring open-mouthed at Amelia as she recounted the past.
At least she hadn't given him my number. It was nice to know she had some loyalty in her back then.
"Liam and I had front-row seats on how he used to treat you all those years ago. I still refused and told him why. Well, color me shocked when he cut ties with Jessica, cleaned up his act, and attended college. I watched him for a year before becoming friends with him." Amelia's green eyes were wide and earnest. I could see her urging me to listen, to believe her.
"For one year, I watched that man not even glance at another woman. Slowly, he started being friends with Liam before we also became close." She held up her right hand. "I swear to God, Grace, I have never seen Harrison with another woman since I've become friends with him."
My legs were buckling under the revelations Amelia was giving me. I was speechless. Floored. And, okay, majorly flattered.
"When Liam proposed, I immediately started planning my wedding. That's when Harrison came up with the idea of this school reunion. He wanted to recreate prom for you. He told me he really wanted to go with you but didn't have the guts to ask. He never told me about your connection for those few weeks. He roped James, Ruth, Liam, and me into helping him. You were always going to be working with him when you arrived back in Ashburton. You were right to be suspicious. I was never in the committee," she belatedly confessed with a tone of guilt.
"The plan was always to get you two alone and talking. I promised that I would do that, and the rest was up to him to woo you."
I stared a hole into the cream-colored carpet. I couldn't believe it. All of this was to get my attention? To get me close to Harrison? I had been so wrong about a lot of things regarding Harrison—could I have gotten our friendship wrong all those years ago?
But how did Jessica know? I knew Harrison had said something to his friends all those years ago to stop bullying me. That was why Jessica had remained quiet for those few weeks but also couldn't resist throwing her daggers whenever we crossed paths.
So Jessica must've been following his lead, but to guess right down to his comment regarding prom? How did she find that out if not through Harrison?
"You can stare blankly at the floor all day, but there's only one person who can give you the answers to your questions," Amelia gently chided.
Harrison. I had to see him. Now.
***
Pulling up outside Ashburton High, I took a deep, calming breath. I had first gone to Harrison's house, but after knocking for a few minutes, I realized he was either ignoring me or wasn't home. I was betting on the latter.
I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail. Once I calmed down enough to think, I realized that there was only one other place he could have gone—the school hall where the reunion was to take place tonight—the reunion that was manufactured for my benefit. Talk about pressure.
Walking up the steps, I could already see how amazing the transformed hall looked. The hardwood floor was covered in black carpet, and tables were set up sporadically with beautiful gold-colored chairs. The stage at the front had a large banner that read'Casino Royale.'It wasn't finished yet, but I could envision how beautiful it was going to be.
"Grace!" Ruth approached me with a soft and welcoming smile. "I wasn't sure if you would be coming."
