Then I pulled into Cal's driveway to talk about the search and rescue training schedule, looked up at the cabin, and saw her standing in the window.
Damnit, she was still gorgeous. Hair longer than I remembered, tumbling past her shoulders. Curves I could trace from memory even at this distance.
Every lie I'd told myself crumbled.
She looked the same and yet she looked completely different. She looked like the woman I'd spent eight years trying to forget and failing every single night.
Our eyes met and the world went quiet.
I couldn't read her expression, but I didn't need to. I knew what she saw when she looked at me. The guy who'd made promises he didn't keep. The guy who'd let her wait alone in the dark while he walked away without a word.
The guy who'd broken her heart and never explained why.
She didn't know the truth. She couldn't. If she did, she wouldn't be looking at me like I was dirt under her shoe.
But that look was better than the alternative. Better than her knowing what I'd sacrificed. Better than her feeling guilty for a choice I'd made with my eyes open.
I'd rather have her hate than her pity.
"Knox." Cal's voice cut through the fog. "You hear me?"
I blinked. Looked away from the window. "Yeah. Sorry. What?"
Cal studied me with those cop eyes, the ones that missed nothing. I kept my face neutral. Years of practice.
"I said the water heater's acting up again. Can you take a look tomorrow?"
The water heater. Right. Because I was Cal's go-to handyman now. The irony wasn't lost on me. Eight years ago, he'd threatened to destroy my life if I didn't stay away from his niece.Not that I blamed him. I was angry at the world and got into every fight I could and ended up in the back of his cop car more times than I could remember. He had every right to warn me off his niece. I was trouble and had no future then. Now he called me for plumbing problems.
Funny how things worked out.
"Yeah," I said. "I'll come by in the morning."
"Appreciate it." Cal glanced toward the cabin. Toward the window where Daisy had been standing. "She's had a rough time. Try not to give her any trouble."
My jaw tightened. "When do I ever give anyone trouble?"
Cal almost smiled. Almost. "I've got a list."
He clapped me on the shoulder, the same way he'd done a hundred times over the past few years. Like we were now friends. Like he hadn't once held my future in his hands and crushed it without blinking.
I didn't blame him. That was the worst part. I understood why he'd done it. He'd been protecting her, the same way I'd been protecting her when I walked away.
We'd both loved her enough to let her go.
The difference was, she knew about his love. Mine, she'd never believe.
I got back in my truck and drove home on autopilot.
Home was a cabin on the north side of town, smaller than Cal's but mine. I'd bought it four years ago with money I'd saved working construction, guiding, and every odd job Hollow Peak had to offer. It wasn't much, but it was proof. Proof that I wasn't the waste of space everyone had expected me to become.
I parked in the driveway and sat there for a minute, hands on the wheel, staring at nothing.
She was back.
Daisy Taylor was back in Hollow Peak, and I was going to her cabin tomorrow morning to fix a water heater like it wasnothing. Like seeing her wouldn't rip open every scar I'd spent years stitching shut.
I thought about that summer. The one that had ruined me for anyone else.