Page 33 of The Lilac River

Without another word, he took Bertie’s hand and walked away. And I stood there, aching for something I could never have back.

Later, as I circulated around the classroom, trying to focus on anything but him, I caught sight of Nash again. He was talking to Mrs. Butler. Laughing. A sharp twist of jealousy stabbed through me, stupid and uninvited.

I was halfway across the room when Mrs. Butler waved me over.

"Miss. Gray! We were just talking about the Summer Fair!" she said brightly. "Nash had some ideas."

I smiled stiffly. "Oh?"

Mrs. Butler beamed. "A kissing booth! Isn’t that fun?"

I blinked. "A... kissing booth?"

Nash’s face flushed instantly. "Not me," he said hastily. "I’ll rope Wilder into it."

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

"What’s so funny?" Nash asked, a teasing glint, faint but real, in his eyes.

"You always used to volunteer Wilder for things you didn’t want to do," I said, smiling despite myself. “Because he’s the youngest.”

His mouth tugged into a reluctant half-smile. For a second, just a second, it felt like old times. Felt like a sliver of light breaking through the fog.

Then his face shuttered closed.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Happy memories, huh?"

Before I could respond, Bertie called for him again. He turned without another word, walking away.

But just before he disappeared, he glanced back at me, and I saw it.

A crack in the armor. A glimpse of the boy who had once loved me with everything he had.

And it broke my heart all over again.

Chapter 13

Stronger – Kelly Clarkson

Nash

Two hours of sheer hell.

Two hours of forced small talk with a bunch of moms because, of course, there were only two other dads there. One was stuck to his wife’s side like glue. The other was Danny Mason, Amber’s dad, and he was a dick.

Two hours of avoiding Lily, aside from the Kissing Booth fiasco. Her bringing up the past had pushed every single button I had, leaving me angry, tight-chested, and so damn raw. After that, I avoided even looking at her, pretending for Bertie's sake that I was having the best time ever.

I didn’t think I’d ever eaten so much in such a short span of time either. Cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, funnel cakes, pigs in blankets and something that tasted suspiciously like vomit masquerading as cheese dip.

If I had to hear one more parent brag about how their kid was going to be a doctor, a scientist, or cure cancer, I was going to lose it. Bertie could be whatever she wanted to be. I didn’t givea damn about titles. I just wanted her to be happy. Ideally, she'd fall in love with the lavender farm or ranching, but if she didn’t, that was okay too. She’d figure it out.

Looking across the room, everything else dropped away, the noise, the movement, the dozen other parents chatting around me. There was just her. Lily Jones.

I must have stopped breathing, because my chest ached, my vision narrowed, and something inside me, something broken for a long damn time, clicked painfully back into place. Like a dislocated joint finally popping into its socket.

It was stupid, maybe. It was reckless, definitely. But in that single heartbeat, I knew there had never been anyone else for me. Not really. Not where it mattered. Even when I tried to move on, even when I pretended to, it was always her shadow that walked beside me.

And now she was here. Laughing with my daughter. Smiling in a way that cracked my heart wide open.