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And the way she’d sat, hollow and barely able to breathe, waiting for more news.

How could Gideon be injured? He was too strong for that. Too full of life.

He most especially couldn’t die.

She hadn’t breathed again until Lydia had called to say he was stable enough to move to a military hospital in the States.

He had broken ribs, a broken pelvis. Shrapnel wounds. Burns. A concussion but, all in all, it had been minor compared to what you expected when you heard someone was injured in a bomb blast.

Lydia and her mom had gone to stay in Atlanta for a while after that. When Lydia came back, Gideon had been released and was home with his wife. Rory had gone back to following only vague updates.

She knew he’d been honorably discharged after his injury and given an award for his bravery. She knew that he’d split from his wife.

Even now that made her chest feel strange and sore.

The truth was Gideon Payne wasiconic, and not just as Rory’s first and fiercest crush. Not just her hero. He was iconic to this town and everyone in it.

Rory had never been iconic of much of anything. Perhaps the emblem of a small troupe of trembling chickens, or the patron saint of lowly burrowing animals, or...beige.

All of which had gotten worse after her father had left the family.

What had begun as a nervous disposition and vague awkwardness had turned into some pretty full-blown anxiety.

The only place she could have adventures was in books.

At least then she could be the fearless ship’s captain.

Or the beautiful interesting girl who got the attention of her best friend’s older brother.

Hypothetically.

Because when you couldn’t count on the one thing you had always felt like you could, what else was out there waiting to betray you? She had never quite been certain of the answer to that question, and it had made things—like rope climbs and team-building hikes—seem terrifying.

Likely, it was a contributing factor to why she had only lasted a couple of months away from home.

She was clinging to what was familiar.

Because so little was.

But she was determined to see things from a different perspective. If you wanted a different reputation, you didn’t wait to be at the mercy of the world. You had to decide. You had to take control. Yes, as a child, she’d had no control over whether or not her father stayed.

But she was a grown woman now, and she had control over whether or not she took charge of her life.

He’d built her up back then and she’d let those guys at college knock her back down.

But Gideon... Well, he’d been knocked down, too. And he was still coming back triumphant. That was what she needed. Some of that triumph.

And she knew that Gideon would come with triumph.

Because unlike Rory, he was a local legend.

He had left with the parade, and he would return with one, too.

CHAPTER TWO

GIDEONPAYNECAMEback to Pyrite Falls in silence, under cover of darkness.

Far from the way he’d left, with the roar of the crowd and the sun shining brightly.