“Do you promise?”
He nods, grinning. “Yeah, I promise.”
I’d believed him.
Now I cross the wet sand and step into the surf, only now, it doesn’t feel the same. Back then, I was just a kid who idolized him, who looked up to him, who saw him as someone who would always matter. Now, I’m a woman and the man before me, is someone I don’t know.
The cold hits my legs like jagged knives, it’s nearing winter and it’s freezing, but something about that makes it more satisfying. I dive under, fighting to keep my panic at bay. When I break the surface, gasping, the hole in my chest yanks wide open again.
Behind me, I hear the water swish and I spin around to see Travis standing at the water’s edge, sleeves rolled up, watching me with an expression I can’t quite read. He’s studying my face, as if he can read me like a book.
“Jesus, Mischief, you really do fuckin’ hate me. I can see it all over your face.”
I sit where the waves curl around me and stare at him. “Seriously? Are you honestly shocked?”
He crosses his arms. “Gotta say, didn’t think you’d look at me the way you’re lookin’ at me now.”
I shake my head, angrily. “You were my friend, and you left. You didn’t say goodbye. You just walked away and never told me why. How the fuck do you think that felt, Travis? Then I find out you’ve been in town, and you knew, you fucking knew I visited Chief and you hid like a fucking coward. Why?”
His eyes darken, just a touch. “Figured you weren’t ready to see me, didn’t realize it was this bad.”
What a fucking cop-out.
I shake my head, fighting the urge to scream and throw something at him.
“I’m sorry. Not everything is always the way you think.”
“Sorry isn’t enough.” Rage and grief collide in my throat. “You promised me that you were always going to be here, no matter what.”
His eyes flare. “I was too young to keep those kinds of promises.”
“Then you shouldn’t have made it,” I whisper, shaking my head.
He steps closer, sand crumbling under his feet. “It was real, everything.”
My chest tightens. “No, Travis. It wasn’t.”
“It was to me.”
“Funny way of showing it,” I snap, walking out of the water and shoving past him.
He spins, grabbing my arm and pulling me back, forcing me to stop. My heart skips a beat as I meet his eyes. “You know you mattered to me, Violet. Not a single fuckin’ day went by that I didn’t think about you.”
“Oh bullshit,” I jerk my arm out of his grip. “Your charm might work on every other woman, Travis Phoenix, but it is long ago lost on me.”
With that, I turn and walk away.
I don’t want to look back.
I can’t, because if I do, he’ll see just how much he broke me.
I won’t give him that satisfaction.
2
I CRADLE THE PHONEbetween my shoulder and ear, thumb buried in my other ear as my best friend Reagan’s voice echoes down the line. Even through my muffled protests, she’s practically vibrating with excitement. We have been best friends for the last three years, and even though she has met Travis before, and knows about us, she still loses it like it is everything that he is around.
“Oh my God, are you serious?” she squeals, her breath coming in rapid-fire bursts.