“Thought I dropped a memory card,” I supply, smoothing down my hair as I scoot toward the window to give her room.
I’m terrible at pretending to be nonchalant. Especially when I feel the way she’s staring at me. When I finally give her my attention, I shrink back in my seat a little.
Her eyes narrow as she observes me, the fake thick lashes on them growing so close together I can barely see the brown of her irises.
“Sure you did. You two talked for a while. Did he ask you out?”
I frown. “Don’t you have kids to watch?”
“They’re on a bus, Chloe. Where can they go?” She waves a hand at me as if I’m ridiculous, then rises to her feet. “Jacob, feet on the floor, not on your neighbor. Thank you.”
Her transition from gossipy best friend to responsible teacher is seamless, earning a small chuckle from me. When she plops down next to me again, I bounce with the weight shift.
She looks at me expectantly. “Well?”
“Fine. We just… ran into each other out there. I hadn’t expected to. I wasn’t sure he’d even be here.”
But there it is: my anxious, rambling side blurting out everything when my heart’s in turmoil.
I’m also a terrible liar. I knew he’d be here. I just wasn’t expecting the rest.
Her eyes widen. “First of all, why wouldn’t he be here? His family owns the place. Second of all, do youknow him? I need every detail on how you know the most mysterious man in Storywood Ridge when you’ve only lived here a couple of holiday seasons.”
“It was a long time ago.” I squeeze my eyes closed and lean my head back on the seat.
“You’ve been holding out on me.” She elbows me in my ribs and grins. “I really thought all hope was lost on the romance front.”
It feels like a whole other lifetime ago, before leaks, and doing the math on how many mini sessions it takes to keep the lights on. Before I ever thought I might need…help. When romance seemed more important than the whole rest of my future. Because as far as I was concerned, Aidenwasmy future.
An old ache claws at my chest—a familiar, fierce longing. The pull that always left me desperately wanting to disappear into his arms and forget the world’s jagged edges.
He was in my world longer than I was in his, since he studied in Texas. I had a couple of magical visits with his family. Then plenty of video chats with his parents and siblings, because they rarely let us be alone when he visited. It was the perfect amount of annoying.
I thought it was the start of forever.
But I was wrong. We both moved on. Now I have Phoebe and a whole other world of responsibilities attached to my name. Whatever this feeling is, it needs to disappear.
There’s no room in my life for castles, curses, or complicated men.
“Chloe, you’re leaving out something very important. I can feel it.” Abby shifts to face me, and the air in the space wheezesout between us, our knees bumping from the proximity. “Miss Brooks, start talking.”
“I don’t want to do this,” I whisper and wave her away. “In fact, I’mnotdoing this. Not here, not ever. The past is in the past.”
“No, ma’am.” She shakes her head. “Your past is standing right outside the bus. And he is…hot.” Her tone is quiet, but she exaggerates the word with her entire mouth.
I almost laugh. “Hot” is an understatement. Aiden has a rugged attractiveness that always had women looking his way, even when he only had eyes for me. But there’s more to him—the way his smile reminds me of a sunrise, or his surprising gentleness despite his size and build.
Attraction was never the issue. If it had been, walking away would’ve been easy. It’s also not the foundation of a relationship, or we’d still be together.
Nor does it change the bottom line: we ended.
If my past heartbreaks have taught me anything, it’s this: love without a plan is just a pretty story. And stories don’t pay the bills, share the load, or guarantee stability in all aspects of life. Happily-ever-after is achoice. It’s choosing, even in the hardest moments, to stay.
And he didn’t choose me.
“It’s like Aquaman decided to wear flannel.” She lowers her voice so only I can hear her. “We are one hundred percent talking about this later.”
I begrudgingly rise to a fully upright position again, my eyes barely visible above the back of the seat in front of me. My gaze follows his movements, a little entranced by whatever he’s doing.
