Page 79 of The Lilac River

“No, Thursday.” She winced. “Didn’t you get the email from Suki? It has all the details on it.”

“I’ll check later.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“I said so.”

I turned before she could ask anything else.

“Bye, Nash,” she said softly.

I lifted my hand but didn’t look back.

If I had, I wasn’t sure I would’ve had the strength to walk away, because having seen her these past weeks with my daughter, it felt like every dream I’d ever had had come true. Yet it was all a lie. The universe’s way of tricking me into thinking she hadn’t broken my heart all those years ago.

I sat in my truck outside the school, gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white.

Dinner two nights ago had cracked something open. Tonight, had splintered it even further.

The way she smiled at Bertie. The way she still laughed like summer wind. The way her damn fingertips still burned my skin.

A hawk circled overhead, coasting the thermals above the school roof. The sun was starting to dip low, casting long shadows across the lot and turning the fields gold.

I banged my forehead lightly against the steering wheel.

"Pull yourself together, Miller."

But deep down, I knew it was already too late.

The thaw had started.

And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

Chapter 30

Family - Chainsmokers

Lily

As I parked my car outside the grocery store, Nash was still spinning around in my head.

Our meeting earlier had felt almost... normal. We’d laughed, even if it had been brief and cautious. I’d started to hope we could find a way to be civil. Maybe even friendly. But like a switch flipping, I’d seen him close off again. Like he remembered who I was and what I'd done. Like I was a bruise he kept pressing, just to see if it still hurt.

I sighed and grabbed my bag. Maybe I’d been kidding myself to think we could be anything other than polite strangers. Maybe all that warmth in his eyes wasn’t forgiveness. Maybe it was just... fatigue. A man too tired to hold on to the anger anymore but still unwilling to let go of the past.

"Hi Lily."

Turning, I found Dolores Swaine, the town librarian, juggling two heavy bags of groceries.

"Hi, Dolores. How are you?"

"I'm good, sweetheart." She smiled warmly, setting one bag on her hip. "It's great to have you back. Settling okay with your mom?"

I gave a small laugh. "You know how it is. And my grandma's there too."

Dolores chuckled. "Lord have mercy. Your mom mentioned it at book club last week. I think she’s starting to question her life choices."

"Maybe," I said, grinning. "But she couldn't leave Grandma where she was."