Page 10

“So, I hear Yuri and you were still in touch while he was in prison.” Mrs. Colletta's face soured, her lips puckering up tight. “How does that work when you're a lawyer?”

“Excuse me?” Furrowing my brows, I stared at her with my mouth hanging open.

Flicking her finger in my direction, she smiled. It was a slimy, rumor filled smile that made my blood boil. “This is a small town, Gwen, eventually word gets around.”

This fucking lady. I never liked her.

Stiffening my shoulders, I parted my lips to rip her a new one. Touching my elbow lightly, my mother stepped in, taking the reigns.

“Denise, tell me how your son is doing. Is he still on work release?”

And that's how you shut up a woman who calls the kettle black.

Backing away from the counter, my mother tilted her head and gave her a smile, grabbing the bundle of croissants in her arms.

“What the hell was that?” I asked my mom as we stepped back out onto the sidewalk.

“That was someone who doesn't know when to put their foot in their mouth.” Opening the car door, she set the pastries on the floor, standing up to look at me across the roof. “People say things, Gwen, you know that. And around here, people like to create drama. That's all that was, it was rumors that don't mean a thing.”

My mother plopped into the driver's seat, ready to move on, while I stood still, unsure how far the rumor mill had gone with Yuri and myself.

Opening the door, I sat down, letting out a long sigh. “How far do these rumors go, Mom? I mean what are people saying?”

“Oh lord, Gwen, don't do this. You of all people should know better than to worry about what other people are saying.”

“I just want to know so I can be prepared for it. If everyone we see is going to start asking me questions like that, I think I have the right to know what's being said.”

“It doesn't matter, none of them are true, right?”

“Of course they're not true.”

“Then don't worry about it. You know the answers already.” Thinning her lips, she patted the top of my thigh. “Who cares what people are saying, it doesn't change anything.”

She was right.

At the center of everything, at the pure heart of it all, the only thing I lost was my first love. I had my career, I had my family, I had an entire life ahead of me. He was just a boy, a boy who had no place in my life anymore.

Then why does it still hurt so much?

Arriving at the store to pick up the decorations, I decided to sit this one out. My mother wasn't too pleased with the idea, but I promised her I'd go food shopping with her. Slouching down, I laid my head back, staring out the windshield into the sky.

From the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a familiar shadow. Twisting to look, a man was holding a door open to the hardware store. He was turned away from me, with shoulder length hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

Twisting to his side to make room for a customer coming out, I could see his face perfectly.

Yuri.

Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. It felt like all the air inside the car had been sucked out, leaving my lungs to struggle. I wanted to drop out of sight, I wanted to melt into the seat and disappear.

And yet, I couldn't take my eyes off of him, I couldn't move my muscles. I was frozen, trapped inside myself, unable to look away.

He looked the same, but different. His hair was longer, his face leaner and sharper. Every muscle he had was now ten times bigger and firmer. My skin buzzed as I watched him smile at the woman who had just left the store, his grin enough to make my stomach tumble.

Twisting his face in the direction of my car, he squinted his eyes and lifted a hand to his face to block the sun.

Oh fuck!

Ducking down, I hid from view as my heart pounded so forcefully I thought it was going to jump clear out of my chest.