She stopped and turned to face him. Put up a finger. “Wait a minute. You honestly drove all the way down the mountain last night to enter a store two hours shy of midnight? To buythat? You honestly don’t own a single pair of pants that can get dirty?”
Theo rubbed the back of his neck.
When it was clear that his nonanswer would be his final answer, she laughed and turned toward her car. “Seriously. You haven’t changed at all.”
Both her breath and foot caught on the last word.
With effort, she planted her boot and kept walking.
She was losing herself so quickly, forgetting valid resentments in favor of childhood memories. Sure, he hadn’t changed at all. She was right to have said he hadn’t changed at all. Because he hadn’t. He was just like he was fourteen years ago.
Her eyes flitted over to the tallest Fraser fir in the center of the field. She’d given her heart to him then, on that blanket beneath that tree and a midnight sky. They’d whispered their first pronouncements of love to each other—not like the thousands of times they’d said it before, like the burst of a laugh before you take another’s hand and hop the creek, like friends. No, they’d peeled off the bravado that night, slowly, in layers, until they were looking into each other’s eyes and saying it with all the sincerity they could pour from their lungs. Bare before each other. Vulnerable. She had, for once, let herself be vulnerable.
And then he left for UVA.
The calls came every day that first year.
Then every other day the fall semester of the second.
Then every weekend.
Until one day, one brisk January day of his junior year, he held her hand once again as they walked along that long driveway, the wind nipping at their feet and flurries swirlingbetween trees, and she was just beginning to breathe again as he poured out all the fantastical stories of college memories and friends. She listened while quietly stacking away the insecurities and fears that had built up over the months, squeezing his hand until there was no space between their fingers at all. Months of tension in her shoulders and the consequential headaches started to ease.
And then, the growling of the gravel driveway. Both of their heads turning in surprise.
The white BMW packed with girls, halfway up the road, suddenly skidded to a stop.
The music poured out of the car as one girl, with rippling blonde curls, stepped out of the car to face the sweetheart of a boy she had driven so far to surprise. The wind stripped her neck of the white scarf she was just wrapping around herself and sent it flying, yet no one moved.
So Skye would remember that Theo hadn’t changed. After what she had seen of her father’s salary, she was certain of it. He was charming and said all the right things. He had an aptitude for appearing so loyal you’d trust him with your life, but when push came to shove, where was he?
He was Theodore Watkins III. Savvy financial adviser whom clients entrusted with all their money. Beloved employer whom employees slaved away for on a dime. Light of her childhood, best friend of her youth, man who collected hearts.
She needed to remember what was true. That he hadn’t changed.
She grinned suddenly, making for the Prius as she pulled out her phone and began tapping. She knew just the way to remind herself.
Chapter 7
Theo
The air shifted and he had no idea what he’d said to cause it.
One moment they were reminiscing and laughing; the next she was jabbing the car keys with her thumb and telling him quietly to get in.
He didn’t get it.
She even noted that he had aged well. Sure, she said it like the fact was a nail in her shoe, but still, the words were there. He’d heard them.
But then suddenly she was pivoting on her heel, furiously tapping out a text on her phone and charging toward the Prius with fresh determination.
Whatever was going on, this was a classic Skye move.
For all Skye’s gifts, communication was not one of them. Not when it came to something serious. Fun things, funny things, what to eat for dinner, or whether she liked your present—Skye could give you a thousand reasons for her honest opinion.But the raw things? The real things? The matters hidden deep within the heart? Well, you’d have better luck recovering gold from the 1715 Treasure Fleet in the middle of a hurricane than getting her to admit you hurt her feelings.
He knew that fact all too well. She’d once moved as far as she could across the country for that very reason.
The Prius rumbled beneath them as Skye pulled the gearshift into reverse and the car started moving backward. Theo hesitated. “And... is there a reason we are using the Prius instead of walking to get to the tractor?”
