“It’s not even 10:00 in the morning, Dane,” I said, taking the seat across from him.?
“My trial ended earlier than I anticipated, so I thought I would surprise you. Turns out, I’m the one surprised,” he replied, sliding a glass across the desk to me.?
“Well, this sounds cliche, but it wasn’t what it looked like,” I offered, deciding to take a long pull of the thick, amber liquid, time of day be damned.?
“It was exactly what it looked like, Magnolia. I can’t say I’m surprised, though. Lee bounces back in town, and everything is different between all of us, especially with you and me. I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught you in his arms.”?
I let out a nervous laugh. “It’s not like we had our pants down around our ankles, Dane.”?
“Again, it was only a matter of time.”
I imagined that the cool, firm tone he was using came from several years of courtroom practice. “Your brother was my first real friend, and he was my friend for a long time before anything happened between us. He’s been my friend, first and foremost, since he came back. What he is trying to do for me and the bar isout of nothing but that friendship. You can’t take that kind of bond away from us. We’ve all loved having him home. Just like we’ve all missed you while you’ve been gone.”?
He looked thoughtfully down at the desk, silence enveloping us. Perhaps he believed me. Maybe my words had sufficiently stroked his ego, allowing us to sidestep the explosive confrontation that had been brewing.
Dane grabbed his glass and hurled it across the room with a force that made me shudder. The deafening crash shattered the silence, sending shards flying and making me leap from my seat, my heart pounding and my skin crawling with a mixture of fear and shock.
“I can’t undo what happened between your brother and me, Dane.” I stood up and walked out of the office to grab a push broom and dustpan. At the broom closet door, I paused, leaning against it as I struggled to regain my composure. I didn’t want him to see how deeply he had unsettled me, how my insides were shaking. I steadied myself, forcing my hands to stop trembling.?
I needed him to believe he hadn’t gotten under my skin—that was exactly what he wanted, after all.
As I cleaned up his mess, Dane just sat at the desk with his head in his hands.?
“Please look at me, Dane.” I dropped the broken glass into the garbage can, fighting against myself not to turn on my heel and run out of that room as fast as I could. I had to stay. Walking away would be just as good as signing the paperwork and handing this place over to him on a silver platter. “Again, I can’t erase what happened between your brother and me just as much as I can’t erase anything else that’s ever happened to me. It’s all a cocktail that’s made me who I am today, this girl, the one standing before you, that you love. You love me, right?”?
“Well, it’s a pretty shitty cocktail, Magnolia. I’m sick of feeling like you’re being pulled in three different directions. First, I have to compete with your obsession with this bar, which, by the way, is a sinking ship. And if my brother didn’t swoop in to save your ass, you’d probably be declaring bankruptcy by now. Then, I have to compete with everyone else in the friend group. You and Sutton are on the phone with each other twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, if you’re not attached at the hip. And then my brother comes back, and you two are slow dancing in the dark and giving each other ‘fuck me’ eyes across the bar everychance you get. I came over to spend Christmas with you and celebrate the end of my trial, and I find you in his arms.”?
He flew up and paced the room, his hands raking through his dark hair. “Him coming back here like he has something to prove to you just never sat right with me. I just don’t get it.” He locked eyes with me as he said, “Why come back for your own sloppy seconds?”
I recoiled, fighting to keep the tears from spilling over. His words hit me like a punch to the gut, not just for the insult, but because he still wouldn’t answer when I asked if he loved me. I struggled to hold back the tears as they threatened to pour down my face. “I’m the one that told him to go. Everyone thinks Lee is the one that up and left me, that he chose his guitar over our relationship, but it wasme.I did it. I broke up with him over ten years ago, and I’m the one that told him to go. I’m the reason he went to Nashville.”
I dumped the rest of the broken glass in the trash, staring at the shards for a minute, choosing my words carefully.
“Your brother is my best friend. We’ve shared countless memories and have supported each other through thick and thin, but what happened between us is behind us now. I was young and in love for the first time in my life, but I was a kid then. Years and distance have changed all of that, and everything is different now. And despite it all, I’m with you. This is how it’s supposed to be, Dane.”?
“What? But I thought he broke your heart and ran off and met some girl who…”
I watched the wheels in his head moving and churning.
“The album,allof the albums, they’re about you!”?
“Maybe you should have another drink, Dane. And a seat.” I pushed the bottle toward him, and he plunked back down in the chair opposite mine.?“I should have told you, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But you have to understand how young we were and how we felt a lot of things for each other very slowly over time, but it was true and honest and innocent, like we both were.”
?At the time, I didn’t know what the future held for any of us, but I did know that I was a part of a love story that was so unbelievable—even to me as I lived and breathed it—that I would wake up in the morning wondering if it was all real.?
The thing about young love is that it needs space to grow, room tobreathe, and, most importantly, roots to anchor it. Instead of nurturing what we had, I had uprooted it completely, allowing Lee the freedom to grow on his own. By tearing us from the ground we shared, I gave him the chance to flourish, even if it meant sacrificing our shared future for his singular dreams.
There were nights when I’d lie awake, replaying memories of laughter and stolen kisses, wondering if I’d made the right choice. My life felt emptier, and blossoming into adulthood without Lee by my side was no easy feat.?
I continued on, “I knew I was never leaving Savannah, not in my life and not for anyone, and I knew if I didn’t let your brother go, he would never go on his own. That’s quite the sacrifice for an eighteen-year-old girl who felt like she had already lost everything.”
I sipped on my drink and looked out the window behind Dane, wishing I could stop the memories from flooding back, but I couldn’t. They were relentless.?
I knew that years down the road, we’d all be better for it—after Lee and I healed, went our separate ways, and grew up a little. I imagined he’d come and go, and over time, we’d slowly rebuild our friendship, gradually peeling away the scab that had formed over what was once the two of us so tightly fused together. I didn’t expect him to stay away or to write an album about me that would become wildly successful. I never imagined he would move on with his life, while I’d be stuck here, listening to the same song on repeat, reliving our love story over and over again.
Yet, alongside the sorrow, there was an overwhelming sense of pride. Whenever I thought about Lee out in Nashville, a small, warm smile would tug at my lips. Once it stopped hurting so much, every time I heard one of his songs on the radio, I’d marvel at his talent and feel a deep sense of joy. I was so honored to have been a part of his journey, knowing that I had a hand in him sharing his music with the world. It wasn’t all regret and pain that filled my thoughts, but rather a bittersweet acknowledgment that maybe, just maybe, I did the right thing.
I wondered if he felt that way about me now that he was the one lettingmego.?
