No. I'm a sucker for punishment. Instead, I stood there, frozen, watching him laugh at something, watching the way his shoulders moved, the way his hands hung loose at his sides. He looked older and a little harder. The scrappy troublemaker I remembered had filled out.
He looked good.
I hated that I noticed.
Cal appeared from somewhere out of frame, clapping Knox on the shoulder, their voices too low to hear through the glass. They talked for a minute, easy and familiar, like this was normal. Like Knox Parker standing in my uncle's driveway was something that happened all the time.
Maybe it did. What did I know? I'd been gone for eight years. A lot could change in eight years.
Knox nodded at something Cal said. Glanced toward the cabin and looked up.
Our eyes met through the window and everything stopped.
I couldn't do anything but stare at the man who had broken my heart in a single silent act of abandonment.
He'd promised me forever. Promised me we'd leave together, build a life together, figure it out together. And then, the night before I left for school, he hadn't shown up. No call. No explanation. Nothing but empty silence and the slow, humiliating realization that I'd been a fool.
I'd waited at the overlook for three hours. Watched the sun set, then watched the stars come out. I told myself he was running late, that something had come up, that he'd have a reason.
He never came.
And now he was standing in my uncle's driveway, staring up at me like I was a ghost.
His expression was unreadable. He didn't wave, didn't smile and didn't look away.
Neither did I.
The moment stretched.
Then Cal said something, and Knox blinked. Looked away and said something back.
I stepped away from the window.
My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my teeth. My hands were shaking. I pressed them flat against the kitchen counter and forced myself to breathe.
It didn't matter. He didn't matter. Eight years was a long time. I was over it. Over him. Whatever we'd had, whatever I'd thought we'd had, was ancient history.
I was here to work and save money and leave. That was it.
Knox Parker was nothing to me.
I told myself that three more times.
My racing heart called me a liar.
Chapter 2: Knox
Iknew she was coming back.
Small town and word travels fast. Mae mentioned it three days ago while I was picking up coffee, casual as anything, like she wasn't dropping a grenade into the middle of my morning.
"Daisy Taylor's moving back for a bit. Staying with Cal. Heard her engagement fell through."
I'd kept my face blank. Nodded and said something like "that's too bad" and got the hell out of there before Mae could read whatever was happening behind my eyes.
Three days to prepare. Three days to remind myself that eight years was long enough to kill anything that still lingered in my thoughts about her. That I'd made my peace with it. That seeing her again wouldn't matter.
Three days of lying to myself.