Jace Miller.
My brother’s best friend.
The boy whose initials I used to write in a heart with mine on all my notebooks when I was in grade school.
His perfect lips dance with a ghost of a smile and he half stumbles towards me. A chuckle vibrates in his chest as he plops down onto the bench beside me. “Hey Willy."
“What are you doing here?”
Jace is supposed to be in California. He was drafted to a professional hockey team during his freshman year of college and has only been back in the Hollow here and there during the off seasons.
I’m surprised to see him.
He chuckles again, a beer hanging between his fingers as he props his sculpted forearms against his knees. He turns his headto look at me, those damn eyes meeting mine once again. “It’s nice to see you too, Will.”
“Willow,” I correct him with a bite in my tone. As much as I like it when he calls me the little nickname he has for me, I don’t let on. “I’m just surprised to see you here. You haven’t been back home in a long time.”
“Oh, Willy,” he says, a smirk pulling on his lips as he ignores my correction. His eyes narrow halfway before returning to their normal size. “Did ya miss me?”
“Never,” I say, rolling my eyes as I look back out at the water. The crescent shaped moon hangs high above, slightly covered by wispy clouds. Growing up, Jace was always around. He felt like a permanent fixture in my life. Even when he and Finn both left for college, he always had a way of coming back.
“Didn’t think so,” he murmurs, slurring his words a bit as he adjusts himself to sit more upright. I turn my head enough to watch him from the corner of my eye as he leans back against the bench. He extends his left arm to rest it along the top of the backrest and lifts the rim of the bottle to his lips with his right hand, taking a long draw of his beer. “What have I missed since I’ve been gone?”
I slowly sit back, careful not to touch his arm as I rest against the wooden backrest. “I don’t know, Jace. It’s been a while since you’ve been home.”
“Just give me the main points then.”
An exaggerated sigh escapes me as I play a highlight reel inside my head for the last three years. “Nothing has happened out of the ordinary, honestly. Mrs. Jekins still can’t keep her goats on her property, and Miss Maggie’s pumpkin muffins are still the best in Maine.”
Jace’s soft laughter fills my ears. “Sounds about right.” He stares at me for a moment as his arm brushes against the topsof my shoulders. “What about you? What’s new with my favorite girl?”
My heart stumbles over itself. “I’ve been busy with school, so not much is new. I started college last fall."
The dimples in Jace’s cheeks grow as he smiles at me. “Of course you did,” he slurs. “You’ve always been the smartest person I know.” He lifts a perfectly arched brow. “Remember how I told you I’d build you a clinic one day?”
Jace’s family owns the biggest construction company in Sugar Hill. All throughout high school, he worked on the jobsites with his uncle.
“Yeah, right. You don’t want to hurt your precious hockey hands by building a vet clinic.” I bite back a grin, ducking my head, my hair creating a blonde curtain in front of my face as heat creeps up my neck thinking about him building with those hands.
His tongue darts out to wet his lips. “You don’t know what I want, Will,” he murmurs, his eyes drifting to my mouth before bouncing up to meet my gaze. A fire burns within his irises, just past his heavy lids. “Tell me about college. Are there any guys I need to beat up?”
A lump lodges in my throat as my mind drifts back to the betrayal I experienced less than an hour ago. I shake my head, tucking my hair behind my ear as I turn to look at him. “No.”
“Hmph,” he murmurs, his eyes hooded as they slowly search mine. A shiver trails down my spine as his fingers lightly brush the bare skin of my left shoulder. “Good. College boys are all fucking losers.” His fingers linger. “None of them deserve you.”
“Why are you back, Jace?”
His throat bobs on a hard swallow as he diverts his gaze to look past me. “My parents’ house,” he admits, before draining the rest of his beer. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “They want to sell it.”
My heart sinks at the realization. Sugar Hill Hollow has always been Jace’s home. He was born and raised in the town, just like my brothers and me. He may not live here full-time anymore, but this place still holds our entire childhood. It’s the place where Jace and Finn got driven home by Sheriff Dan after they were caught trying to goat-nap one of Mrs. Jenkins' kids when I told them I wanted one. It’s the same place where Jace tried to teach me how to ride his dirt bike, and I ended up face first in the dirt.
Jace’s mom has been traveling back and forth to Arizona for her treatments, and I know they’ve considered moving there all together.
“Shit,” I murmur under my breath as his gaze focuses back on mine. “I’m sorry.”
Jace shrugs with indifference, and I’m not surprised. He’s always been the one to brush things off, to act as though he isn’t bothered by anything. He’s never been the most forthcoming with his feelings, but I also know him better than that.
There’s more to Jace Miller than meets the eye—he just does a good job hiding it from the rest of the world.
