Page 86

I take a deep breath and don’t bother wiping at the tear that falls down my face.

“I guess we both need to learn to let go of the past.”

He lets out a nervous laugh and looks back at the house. “Yeah. Maybe we can make a deal. I renovate this place, and you go on a date.”

“A date?” I can’t stop my voice from squeaking. “With whom?”

He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not about making the perfect choices. It’s about not letting the past hold us down. It’s about finally letting go of the memories.”

I’m struck by the pain on Blake’s face as he speaks. And I can’t help but wonder if he’s not talking about something more than just the old house.

“You know what’s strange about memories,” I say. “Things that you’d completely forgotten can crop up at the strangest times.”

“I guess.”

“Did you know that Wyatt and I kissed for the first time at Luke and Madison’s wedding?”

He looks down at the ground, his eyes glazing over, and I wonder if I’m bringing up that same memory in him now.

But just to make sure, I keep pushing. “We barely knew Amelia back then. We’d only seen her a couple of times when Luke and Mads brought her out with them.”

Blake flinches when I say her name.

“I guess that’s why I’d forgotten about it. Wyatt told me the whole story a couple of weeks after the wedding when we were dating. Wyatt said the two of you dared each other to make a move on the girls you liked. Wyatt asked me to dance, and you asked Amelia. Then after the cake, the four of us went outside to chat and look at the stars. We sat on the grass, and I remember you and Amelia talking and laughing. Then Wyatt kissed me. I never thought to ask before. Did you kiss that night?”

Blake’s face is contorted as he looks down at the ground. “No.”

“Then a couple of weeks later, she was dating Ethan. How did that happen?”

“If you’re mad at me for hitting your brother, just yell, there’s no point going back to ancient history.”

“I’m not mad. And I’m more worried about Amelia’s heart than Ethan’s face. I want to know what happened. She was the girl you liked. You asked her to dance. You took her to watch the stars. What happened? I asked her once, when she’d started dating Ethan. I was a little confused, and I didn’t want my brother getting hurt by dating someone his best friend was interested in. She laughed it off and said you never were interested in her. She said you set her up with Ethan. And I never thought twice about it… until this morning when Avery told me what you did. And then the memories came back. So which is it, Blake? Is she the girl you liked, or were you trying to get rid of her by pushing her toward my brother?”

Chapter Twenty

Blake

Blood pounds in my ears. “I wasn’t trying to get rid of her.”

I feel my throat closing in. Why is Scarlett bringing this up? And here of all places. I don’t want to talk about this. But now that she started talking about that night, the memories come rushing back to me too.

Scarlett is right, we’d only met Amelia a few times before, and every time, I couldn’t stop staring. It was total infatuation at first sight.

Wyatt had had a crush on Scarlett for a couple of years then, but he’d never made a move because she was Ethan’s sister.

Then during Luke’s bachelor party, Wyatt and I were drinking together, and I dared him to make a move. I told him that Ethan would understand. I convinced him that he had to try. And Wyatt countered by daring me to approach Amelia.

I didn’t want to. Oh, I wasn’t shy with women. I was a cocky twenty year old, who gladly made out with any woman who showed interest. But I also knew that I didn’t want a serious relationship. Unlike Wyatt, who was eager to find the right woman, I wanted to avoid her.

I didn’t want to become my father. He was a terrible husband and a worse father. And it was all I knew. I didn’t want to ruin my life. I didn’t want to ruin her life. I didn’t want to ruin a potential child’s life.

I’d just bought the bar, and I wanted only one thing: to make it successful and become my own man.

But I’d had a few drinks too many, and I didn’t want Wyatt to back out of the deal, so I agreed.

“What happened, Blake?” Scarlett asks again.

I asked Amelia to dance at the wedding. I held her in my arms. I touched her soft skin, I smelled her intoxicating scent, I listened to her soft laugh, and I dreamed of a different kind of future. I saw her in my bed, I saw her saying I do, I saw her holding my baby, and I… I freaked out.