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For a second, I think he's going to say something. Something moves across his face. Conflict. Fear. Whatever it is, the words don't come. Not yet. Behind him, Diana waits. Whatever brought her all the way to Oakridge matters. And whatever Javier and I need to say to each other doesn't belong here. Not like this.

"I'll talk to you later," I say.

He takes a step toward me. "Wait." I stop. His eyes hold mine. For one suspended second, I think this is it. That he's going to tell me. But he doesn't. My chest aches more than it should.

I nod once. "Okay." Then I get into my car.

This time, he doesn't stop me.

Chapter Sixteen

Javier

I watch Maddy drive away. Every instinct I have tells me to go after her. Diana is standing twenty feet behind me, and my son's name is somewhere inside whatever she drove all the way to Oakridge to say. And somehow I'm still watching the road where Maddy disappeared.

"You should go after her."

I turn. Diana hasn't moved from beside her car. Years have changed her. Of course they have. They've changed me too. There are faint lines beside her eyes that weren't there before. Her hair is shorter. She carries herself differently, steadier somehow, like a person who has made peace with something. But she's still Diana. The woman I married. The mother of my son. The person I spent years being angry with because anger was easier than admitting how much losing them both cost me.

"She didn't know about us," I say.

Diana glances toward the road, then back to me. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Javier, I didn't come here to cause problems."

"I know." And I do. That's the strange part. The woman standing in front of me doesn't look like someone who came to reopen old wounds. She looks nervous. Maybe even scared.

"Why are you here?"

Her eyes meet mine. "You read my email."

"I read it."

"Then you know."

"No. I know Diego's name was in it."

Saying his name out loud does something to my chest.

Diana looks down for a moment. "He wants to see you."

I hear every word. They just don't belong together. "What?"

"Diego wants to see you, Javier."

Everything around me goes quiet. The farm is still moving. A truck starts somewhere near the barn. Voices carry from the greenhouse. Metal hits metal behind the equipment shed. None of it sounds close anymore.

"When?"

"I don't know."

I stare at her. "You drove all the way to Oakridge to tell me you don't know?"

"I drove all the way to Oakridge to tell you he wants this." Her voice is steady. "He told me he'll come when he's ready. I don't know when that will be."

"And you think he will?"