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Irush into the master bedroom, shut the door, and crawl up on the bed. Seriously? What kind of person strips someone’s dream away from them?
A soft knock lands on the door. “Luce…y,” he says.
“I’m fine. Go back to your family.”
The doorknob slowly turns, and he opens the door. “I’m not gonna do that.” He steps in and shuts the door. “It’s not what you think.”
“I took away your chance of playing professional football.”
He chuckles. “No. It’s not like that.”
“That’s what they said down there.”
He sits on the edge of the bed, far enough away from me that he’s not too close, but more intimate than we’ve been. “I didn’t decline the offer because you didn’t want me to go.” I give him a blank look and he exhales. “Okay, partly, but only because you weren’t gonna come with me. Also, it was a chance to play in college, not the NFL. You know how many college athletes actually make it to pro? Not a helluva lot, so there was no sure thing I missed out on.”
“But—”
“What’s the last memory you’ve remembered so far?”
“Sixteen. Homecoming.” Sadly, I keep waiting for more and nothing comes.
“In that memory you have, we were pretty in love, right?”
I nod against the pillow.
“That love carried through the rest of high school. We were the couple. In Nikki’s segment, do you remember she called us Cory and Topanga? After the show Boy Meets World? We were like every high school sweetheart couple, and I didn’t want us to drift apart because we were going to separate colleges.” He stands and paces beside the bed. “True, you wouldn’t hear about leaving Sunrise Bay. You were going to Anchorage and had decided that you wanted to live the rest of your life in this town.”
“And you didn’t?”
“I wanted to get out for a while, but I always saw us here in the end. I just thought it’d be fun for us to see what’s outside Alaska for a bit.”
“I have to say, I have no idea why you loved me, Adam, I sound like a complete nightmare.”
He chuckles and sits back down on the bed, taking my hand. My breath hitches when the warmth of his palm meets my skin. “You weren’t. I promise. You were maybe a tad selfish at times, but I made the decision to stay here and be a park ranger all on my own. I could have easily told you no. That was a decision I made.” He squeezes my hand when I don’t look up.
“You didn’t want to be a park ranger, did you?”
He smiles—a real smile, and God how I love seeing this side of him. I’ve barely seen it since I returned. The one where all the shit bearing down on us is gone and it’s just me and Adam Greene, the boy I’ve always loved. “I was toying with doing something with my drawing, but I made the right decision. We went to Anchorage for school, me to be a park ranger and to help search-and-rescue on the side. That, along with your job, is what let us buy this place. I love my job. I love being outdoors in nature and how every day is different from the one before. I love getting to save people when they’re in trouble. I want you to know I’ve never regretted that decision. I’ve never felt resentment toward you.”
“Even when I left you?”
“Well. It might’ve crossed my mind once, but honestly, don’t hold any guilt over it. It was a long time ago and we’re well past that issue now.”
I slide my hands from his and sit up, then wrap my arms around his shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “For everything you’ve been through in the last year. How I could leave you without an explanation seems so heartless. I wish I had the answers you want.”
“I should’ve done this when you first got back into town.” He pulls out his keys and slides one key off the chain. He opens my fist and places it inside, closing my fist back up as though this is a journey I’ll be going on alone. “Everything in that closet represents our life together, including all your journals. All but the last month of our life together. You must’ve had a new one at that point and taken it with you.”
I hold the key and it feels like a magic bean, full of possibility and weighted with the feeling of freedom. But I don’t want to get my hopes up like they were before I came to town. So far, all I’ve discovered is I was a somewhat selfish person who put her agenda before everyone else’s.
“And you should know that I’ll be staying here with you. Not here.” He looks at the room and a flash of pain strikes his hazel eyes. “But upstairs. My family schooled me pretty bad for not staying with you to begin with.”
“Is Alicia going to be okay with that?” Her name feels like poison in my mouth, but I refuse to be as selfish as I sound like I was and just think of myself.
“If we’re going to live in truth now, you should know that I broke up with her that day at the diner. We’re no longer a couple.”
“Oh.” I feel guilty for the surge of excitement that swells through me.
“I can’t handle this”—he wags his finger between us—“and deal with a new relationship.”
