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“You’re welcome.”

Although I’d gone from ready to spit fire to perfectly calm in the space of our short conversation, I didn’t have emotional whiplash. He hadn’t taken the wind out of my sails so much as lowered them, so the wind wasn’t buffeting me so badly.

A pleasant feeling filled my chest, and my cheeks warmed under his gaze. His voice echoed in my mind, saying those words I’d loved hearing so long ago.

There’s my girl.

I spun the chair back to the desk and coughed a little toclear the lump in my throat. I could still see him from the corner of my eye as he opened the door, the brown box tucked beneath one arm.

“Mel?” His voice was soft.

“Yeah?” I didn’t turn to look at him.

“Her, um… her grandpa really does have an old car.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s what she said.”

“I just mean, I’m not… there wasn’t anything…”

Old wounds that should have healed a long time ago flared with pain. As did my instinct to protect myself. I swallowed hard and put on a smile. “It’s fine. I just work here.”

He let out a frustrated breath. “Right. Yeah. Never mind.”

With my eyes on the desk, I bit the inside of my lip as he walked out into the garage.

A confusing tangle of feelings ate at me from the inside. That was what I got for reminiscing about the good times with him. A stark reminder that he might have been my first love, but he’d also broken my heart.

Maybe he was single now, but living in Tilikum meant I was going to have a front-row seat when that changed. It shouldn’t have mattered. I should have been able to handle it.

But I wasn’t so sure that I could.

CHAPTER 11

Luke

The pine treesthat surrounded my parents’ place shaded us from the worst of the summer heat. They lived just outside town, up a long gravel driveway, in a log home my dad and uncles had built with their own hands.

Theo threw a football, and our nephew Owen caught it. It had been an all-football-all-the-time summer for those two. Owen had played for Theo the prior year and wound up a starter as a freshman. No nepotism involved. He was a badass athlete. Probably had at least a college scholarship in his future, if not a shot at the pros, just like Theo.

I decided to take a break from the endless game of catch to grab a beer from the kitchen.

“Want anything?” I asked Theo, jerking my thumb toward the house.

“I’ll take a beer.”

“Owen?”

A grin crept over his face, and I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say.

“Not a beer.” I pointed at him. “Don’t try to get me in trouble with your dad. Or Coach Haven over there.”

Owen put his hands up. “I know, I know. I wasn’t going to ask for a beer.”

“You better not.” Theo threw the ball directly at Owen’s midsection, making him grunt when he caught it. “No drinking.”

“I won’t.”

Theo gave him a stern look.