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I pause at the door feeling that pull of energy to him. An energy I’ve only ever felt with Parker. It’s undeniable. Why am I still here? I need to go.
I turn to him. His eyes penetrating. My lips part to answer him when we are suddenly interrupted.
“Parker, where are you?” My focus shifts to Miles at the top of the stairs calling for his brother. It shakes me back to reality.
Parker turns his glance to his brother, and, in a panic, I slip out the door.
Four
Parker
She is gone. I had a few brief moments with Olivia and just like that she’s gone. Again.
I want to run after her, but I know it would do me no good. I know she can’t be pushed, that it would only make things worse. But that doesn’t mean I am giving up. There is something in me that knows I need to see her again. An ache in my bones. After all these years, it only took seeing her to reignite the spark and now everything in me wants- needs- to see her again. To touch her again.
She looked beautiful. No, beautiful isn’t a strong enough word to describe Livy. She was eighteen the last time I saw her and eight years later she still has the power to destroy me. Petite at just over five feet with an out-of-this-world body that I had trouble peeling my eyes off of. Her legs in those skinny jeans and her slender waist and curvy hips. Her full, pale pink lips and that smile that you only needed to see once to know you’d never forget. Long golden hair falling in waves far past her shoulders with sun kissed platinum highlights and her large round deep brown eyes.
I had seen her first, standing at the bottom of the stairs, and it felt like the world had stopped spinning. It took me a second to remember where I was.
Could she really be standing right in front of me, in my house, after all of these years?
I had crept her on social media over the years but her accounts were all private so I could never get very far. I knew she and Ellie had opened Bloom a few years back and I had driven past it last time I was in town, not sure if I was hoping to get a glimpse of her or not. I didn’t see her. I had heard that she’d dated a few guys over the years, and it had stung me with jealousy. She was my girl once and I would always wonder what could have been if she hadn’t pushed me away. I was in love with her. I would’ve done anything for her. It killed me when she broke up with me without warning. I never saw it coming.
I’ve never forgotten that day.
We had walked the beach after dinner and set up a blanket on the sand, watching the last of the vacationers leave for the day. The air was warm that night and we had stayed there for an hour, Livy lying between my legs with her back pressed against my chest. I’d wrapped my arms around her body, my cheek resting against her hair.
We watched the waves roll in and talked, in between kissing, about everything and nothing. She was quieter than usual but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would be over in a matter of hours.
We left the beach and drove back to her place in almost complete silence. I knew she was battling her thoughts, but I couldn’t get her to tell me what was bothering her. She had been through so much, more than anyone deserved to go through at her age, but I had promised her I would be there for her every step of the way. And I meant it.
Pulling up to her house, I had put the car in park, and she turned my way with a look of defeat. She told me she couldn’t see me anymore, that we weren’t right for each other and she needed to end things. I was completely blindsided. My head spinning, I struggled to make sense of what she was saying. She couldn’t be doing this, making this mistake. But Livy’s mind was made up and there was nothing I could do to change it. We loved each other, that much I knew- but I couldn’t beg her to stay. The rest of the night was pretty much a blur, except for the memory of my heart broken into pieces.
I left for New York three weeks later, after reluctantly accepting the job offer from my dad. My parents thought it would be best for me to get a change of scenery, to immerse myself in the distraction of a new city. They knew Livy and I had broken up, that couldn’t be hidden, but I hadn’t given them any other details. I was so damn protective of her and it felt like betraying her, to talk about something so personal with anyone else. My first instinct had been to stay and fight for her, but she wouldn’t return any of my calls or texts. I stopped by her house a few times, but her mom would never let me see her, telling me that Livy wanted me to leave. I didn’t know what else I could do.
So, I left for New York thinking that space was what she needed. I came back a few months later to try again. I had hoped she’d be in a better head space by then and we could work things out - but it was too late. She had moved on with another guy. I hadn’t even been back in Reed Point for twelve hours when I saw her holding his hand walking down First Street. It took everything in me to not stop the car and go to her. Tell that asshole to fuck off, that she would always be mine.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take what was no longer mine. She, more than anyone, deserved to be happy. And if she was truly happy, then I had to let her go.
“Was that who I think it was?” Miles asks as he rounds the bottom of the stairs.
“It was Livy,”
“You saw Olivia?” My mother asks, rounding the corner from the kitchen. Her eyes widen at me, a perplexed expression covers her face.
I run my hands down the sides of my face and to the knot forming at the back of my neck. “Yes, Mom, and she just left.”
“Did you speak to her?” she presses, as my eyes move from Miles to her, still wrecked with the image of Livy in my head. I am trying to commit to memory what she looked like after all of these years.
“We did, Mom, we talked but she was in a hurry to leave. Did you know she was going to be here?”
“Well honey, I booked Bloom to do the florals for the party, but I never expected to see her here in our home. I just assumed she would send someone else to do the setup. Parker, are you okay? You look light-headed.”
“Yeah Parks, are you going to make it?” Miles chuckles as my mother’s eyes pin him with a glare.
“Miles, your brother was in love with Olivia and it has been a long time since he’s seen her. Give him a break.”
“Exactly, Mom.” I sigh. “It was a long time ago. It’s no big deal. I just wasn’t expecting to see her in our home. It caught me off guard, but I’m fine.” I’m hoping the answer is enough to get my mother and my brother off my back so I can have some breathing room.
