Page 31 of A Simple Love

“You can finish school. I’ll see if there is anything in LA for me. You can go to school there too for your degree if I decide to stay.”

“I guess,” she sniffled.

“We can adjust. It’s not forever, it’s just for now. As long as you’re with me on this, we can do this. I know we can.”

“I’m frightened.”

“Don’t be. Nothing is going to happen. I’m yours. You know that. I’ve always been yours.”

But she was right.

Everything changed, and for the first time in as long as I could recall, I was on my own, without my rock. Adrift more than ever and alone.

And I still was.

12

KASSIE

Once again, my night was restless. Endless dreams of Oliver kept me tossing and turning. Fractured memories, things I hadn’t thought about in years, drifted through my mind. Laughter we shared. Private jokes no one else understood. Tears we’d dried for each other. Pain we’d shared. Moments of intense passion. Secrets and hopes we’d talked about in the dark of the night. Fears we’d confessed to each other we’d never breathed to another soul.

And the love.

Young, rich, filled with promise.

Until it was over.

I sat up, rubbing my aching temples. The what-ifs had started along with the memories I had buried.

What if I had kept writing?

What if he had called?

What if I had flown there as I wanted to one summer? Found him and demanded to know why he’d stopped loving me. Would he have told me everything and we could have found our way forward together?

I swung my legs out of the bed and stood. There was no point dwelling. The past was in the past, and that was where it would remain. There was no going back.

I pushed down the swell of sadness that made me feel as I headed to the shower to get ready for the day.

I didn’t see Oliver for the next few days. He was gone when I woke up, and he headed upstairs when he returned late in the day. I heard him above me, moving around. Caught the timbre of his voice as he spoke with someone on the phone. I knew his ringtone now. The first time I heard it, the memory it jarred from me was almost painful. It had been one of our favorite songs growing up. We’d sing it loudly every time it came on the radio. Oliver used to dance to the catchy tune. Our moms would laugh and dance with him. I always watched him, fascinated, first as a kid with how funny he was, then later as a teenager, awestruck by how lithe and graceful he was when he moved, thrilled that he was mine.

I found a bag tied to my door handle that morning, the empty pie plates inside and a small note.

Delicious pie.

Almost as delicious as your mouth.

I want more of both.

Oliver

I stared at it as I drank my coffee, confused and anxious. I had thought endlessly about that kiss. How right it felt to be in his arms again.

How dangerous.

I sighed as I looked over the backyard, my thoughts rampant.

Getting involved with Oliver Hart again would be a colossal mistake. He was only here for a short time. Then he would head back to his life in Hollywood and, once again, I would be without him.