“Oh.” Her fingers stalled for a moment but quickly resumed, this time pushing back into my hair. “They argued a lot toward the end. I think your dad wanted to keep it from you so you could focus on your dream.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“The same reason. You were away, and there wasn’t anything you could do.”
“They argued before though and made it past it.”
When she didn’t say anything else, I cracked open an eye and took in her furrowed brow and pursed lips like she struggled over what to say next. I didn’t push her, just stroked my thumbs along the hollows of her hips under the water and waited, sinking back into the sensual scrape of her nails now working the nape of my neck.
“After…everything that happened, I guess tensions got higher, and they started arguing again. I know my mom was stressed over what happened. Your dad was worried about me and didn’t really know what to do. I…didn’t make it easy.”
“It wasn’t your job to make it easy on anyone.”
“Either way. I didn’t help by hiding away, moving through the motions with a pair of headphones locked in place. I could’ve said something.”
I gently pressed my lips to hers. “You didn’t owe an explanation to them.”
“I know, and my mom didn’t make it easy to talk. After I got home from the hospital, she went a little crazy. It was like all the years she hadn’t spent being over-protective were crammed into those first few months, becoming a helicopter mom. It was like the only thing she could blame was giving me too much freedom.”
“Yeah. I know she blamed me for what happened, and I wasn’t there for her to take it out on. So, I’m sure that didn’t help with everything else going on.”
She pulled back, the lines between her brows deepening. “What? How did you know she blamed you?”
My confusion mirrored hers, and I took a moment to consider that her mom never told her about my visit. But why would she when all she wanted to do was keep me as far from her as possible?
“I looked for you.”
Her hands stopped completely and slid to my shoulders, helping her scoot back to the edge of my knees. “What?” she asked again, barely a whisper. This time there was no confusion, but instead, disbelief.
“Of course, I looked for you, Nova.” How could she assume I’d just given up? I’d been busy, but I never wanted to abandon her. Even if she abandoned me without giving me a chance to fight. “When you stopped taking my calls, and then my dad called to tell me they’d gotten divorced, I came back. But you were gone. It was like you vanished—no social media, you weren’t at school. I couldn’t find an address. Nothing. Your mom switched jobs and changed back to her maiden name, which took me a while to figure out, but it was something—somewhere to start. I went to go see her because why not?”
She searched my eyes, her chest heaving with each revelation I shared, her eyes brimming with tears.
“She fucking laid into me when I walked in. She told me she’d hide you from me if it was the last thing she did because of what I let happen to you. I, uh, I didn’t take it great.” I winced, remembering the way I’d got raging drunk and trashed the mostly empty practice space we’d held onto. “The guys cornered me the next day, pretty pissed since I canceled two shows to stay in New York to find you.”
“Jesus, Parker.”
“They made me choose, and in that moment, I made an emotional choice—I made the easier choice to go with the path of least resistance. I chose the safer one, and I’m so sorry I didn’t fight harder.”
A tear slipped free, and I wiped it away before it could even reach her chin. She studied me, swallowing again and again, and I sat there, letting her process everything. Barely a moment passed when she took a deep, shuddering breath and lifted her chin, pulling her shoulders back.
My Nova, I thought, taking in her strength and will, the sun fully setting like a fire behind her. My supernova.
“It’s in the past,” she declared. “I didn’t know, but there isn’t anything we can do but be here—now.”
“I think I like that plan.”
“Good.”
With a decisive nod, she reached past me, pressing her front to mine, stealing my breath, and electrifying me right back into the moment. I was halfway to gripping her to hold her in place when she pulled back with her camera.
“Take a picture of me,” she ordered, climbing off my lap.
She turned around and stood until the water rippled against the small of her back. With her red hair shining brighter in the dying sun, her pale skin bared, perfectly decorated with the beautiful art she’d created, she stretched her arms wide. I ogled the firm lines of her back and the delicate curve of her neck. She was strength and beauty and everything I could ever want in a woman.