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“What do you need from us?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure there was anything we could do.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged slightly. “She just wants to make memories. Maybe you can just… she loves you guys too, so…”

The implication hung in the air. For as much as Rhodes and Jude were making memories with her, the reality was that Wyatt and I would be too. I had pictures of Mrs. Kennedy and me from the day I was born. She wasn’t just Rhodes and Jude’s mom. She was everyone’s mom.

The thought of a world without her made my chest tighten painfully, and I looked back toward the dance lawn. She laughed at something Rhodes said and reached up to touch his cheek. She looked happy, genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, as if the weight of her decision had freed her.

I hated cancer so fucking much. I hated what it was taking from all of them and from me. Mrs. Kennedy deserved the world, not this.

The song ended, and the dance broke up. Our conversation stopped abruptly as Mrs. Kennedy rejoined us. Rhodes wandered behind her, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Come on, honey.” She held a hand out to Jude. “You owe me one more tonight.”

“You can have as many as you want,” Jude said, his voice full of enthusiasm and cheer. The sadness we’d seen was gone, tucked away behind the facade once more. He let his mom drag him back out onto the grass.

“I’m going to get him more kettle corn,” Wyatt said after a moment.

“Maybe get extra to bring home,” I replied. I shifted my weight and grabbed out my wallet, but he waved me off before I could. “We’ll stock him up for the week.”

“You get next time,” he told me, already planning how we’d get Jude through the week. Wyatt and I were about to make a lot of food runs.

My attention returned to where Mrs. Kennedy somehow managed to twirl Jude’s tall frame. He made a whole show over it, and she laughed loud enough for me to hear from where I was.

But my gaze stayed on them for only a fraction of a moment before drifting to Rhodes. He stood off to the side with his hands in his pockets, and his shoulders rigid. His smile was small and sad as he watched the moment unfold. He had that look about him—the one where he was calculating—only this time I knew it was because he was committing every second to memory. The realization hit me that there wouldn’t be many more of these left, and a lump rose in my throat. What happened when there were no more memories to be made? When all of this was over?

I knew the answer to that.

Rhodes would go home. That had always been his plan—to stay as long as his mom needed him. When she was gone, he was too. He’d go back to the life he’d built in Florida.

That life didn’t include me.

I’d always known that. I’d told myself I could live with it because we weren’t dating. Not really. Hookups and secret conversations didn’t count as dating. We had no future, just the here and now. And the here and now had always been enough.

At least, I thought it was.

But suddenly, there was an endgame to all of this—a moment where the finality of us would hit. As I watched Rhodes smile through glassy eyes, I realized that there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop what was coming. I couldn’t ask him to stay. Not for me.

My chest ached something fierce. I wanted to beg him to stay. I wanted to tell him that there was at least one good thing here for him: me. I wanted to tell him that I loved him and have it make a difference.

Because I did. For as much as it hurt, I was in love with Rhodes, and I knew he could never love me back.

CHAPTER 34

Theo

COACH KENNEDY: My place tonight, little wolf.

I’m home already, and I don’t feel like going out again.

COACH KENNEDY: Are you okay, Theo?

Yeah, I’m fine. Night.

COACH KENNEDY: If you need someone to talk to about anything, I’m here for you. I mean that.

Yeah. Night, Rhodes.

My room was suffocating as the weight of the texts crushed me. Changing his name in my phone had sucked. Putting up that boundary sucked. Letting Rhodes go sucked. But I had to. He’d probably make me say the words out loud to him eventually, but right now, I just couldn’t. I’d drag it out because I needed to for my own sake. For now, avoiding being alone with him would have to do.