I have a feeling I know where this is going. “I’ve got to go, Ma.”
“Astrid’s been spotted in town.”
The woman in question whips her head around. Her eyes look suspiciously glassy.
“I know she’s back, Ma,” I quietly say.
“You do? Why didn’t you?—”
“I have to go. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Bye, Ma. Love you.” I hang up before she can say anything else. I’ll get an earful for my rudeness tomorrow.
“You okay?” I ask, pulling my eyes from the road for a second.
She gulps and nods, averting her eyes again and looking out at the road.
“Where am I going?” I ask a few minutes later when we arrive in town.
“Sweet Maple Lane. It’s…”
“I know the place.” It’s a small little cul-de-sac, a ten-minute walk from the town. There are only three houses in the enclosure. All massive homes with large gardens and private entrances. I remember seeing one for sale in recent months. I wonder if her fiancé bought the place or did a deal to rent it.
We drive in silence for another few minutes, and I’m surprised when she breaks it first. “Your daughter sounds adorable.”
“Thank you. She is.”
I feel her gaze burning a hole in the side of my face, so I turn to her for a few beats. My heart turns cartwheels as we stare at one another. My eyes drift to her gorgeous mouth before I snap my gaze back to the windscreen.
She belongs to another man.
A man she’s planning to spend her life with.
I won’t get to hold her, kiss her, or make love to her ever again, and the thought is depressing.
Sadness presses down on me like a ton of bricks.
Even when she’s married to another, I will still love her.
It’s fact, pure and simple.
I don’t know how to not love her.
Not when I meant every promise I ever made her.
And every single one is still true.
I knew when I was seventeen there was only one girl for me.
Nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed.
That truth will remain the same.
For now and until I draw my last breath.
I turn left into the lane, fighting the tsunami of sadness threatening to drown me. “Where to?”
“It’s the house at the end.”
I swing the car to a stop in front of it. Thankfully, the rain has eased off, and there’s only a light trickle now.
