Page 55 of Only Be Mine

He turned back, a faint, knowing smile tugging at his mouth. “I know.”

Chapter 18

Cate

Present

We followed the curve of the lake path toward the parking lot, our steps unhurried but restless, like neither of us was ready to go home yet.

The water glinted through the trees, catching the last of the afternoon sun. Families were packing up picnic blankets. A couple of joggers passed us, earbuds in, oblivious. Life continuing at a pace I hadn’t agreed to.

I spotted a car that looked just like mine.

The Lexus sat near the edge of the lot, clean and expensive and unmistakably out of place among the dusty sedans and pickup trucks. I could still remember when Trevor picked mine out himself. He said he wanted something reliable and safe. Something that wouldn’t leave me stranded.

I slowed without realizing it.

“Still not used to driving one of those, huh?” Amy said gently, following my gaze.

I exhaled. “It still feels weird. I drove a Civic for ten years.”

She smiled. “You drive a Lexus now.”

I nodded, but the knot in my chest didn’t loosen. The car wasn’t the point. What it represented was.

“He didn’t just do that for show,” Amy said. “You know that.”

“I know,” I said quietly.

We walked a few more steps before she spoke again.

“You remember what happened after that week at the lake, right?”

I stiffened slightly. Of course I did.

“How could I forget?”

Amy stopped walking and turned to face me. “Cate… John was a mess after that night. He scared himself. He scared you. And when he finally sobered up, do you remember what he did?”

I swallowed. “He apologized.”

“Yes. And then?”

The answer rose up whether I wanted it to or not.

“He talked to Trevor.”

Amy nodded. “Not just talked. He asked him something.”

The memory came into focus, John’s voice, serious in a way it rarely was. The weight behind his words.

I looked away toward the water. “He was grateful. He asked Trevor to look out for me, if-if anything ever happened to him.”

Amy’s voice softened. “And when something did happen?”

I didn’t answer right away.

Trevor stepping in. Trevor fixing what he could. Trevor showing up quietly, consistently, without asking for anything in return. Trevor being there when the world had gone silent.