Prologue
Asher
* * *
Five years ago
* * *
“I think you’re stuck now,” Robert comments with a smirk. The pull tab of the aluminum can snaps and the sound is finished off with the familiar fizz that’s a constant on the top floor of the hangar. He takes a sip of his drink and then looks back at Brianna. Motioning toward her with the cheap beer can, he laughs and says, “She’s got you tied down, and the whole town knows it.”
The smile that grows on my face is easy. My girlfriend has this quirk of knowing the moment I look at her. Doesn’t matter if we’re at school, in her backyard or in the hangar, she just knows. The second my eyes land on her, she turns around as my gaze moves from her flowing skirt, trailing up her body to her face. She stares back at me with those gorgeous green eyes of hers, a soft simper playing on her lips.
Readjusting in my seat I give her a short tip of my chin which makes her blush, and she turns back to the group of girls.
She’s sweet, shy and petite and no one would know it, but she’s damned determined. She gets what she wants and right now, she wants me. Bri peeks at me while the group laughs and there’s this look in her eyes that’s been there for a few months now. It’s a look that makes everything else fade into the background, and I swear it silences everything to the point where I can only hear my heartbeat.
A second passes and then another that slows the whole damn world down. I could get lost in her, and I think it’s the same for Bri.
“For Pete’s sake, get a room,” Renee chides and it takes me a moment to realize Robert had gotten up to give Magnolia a kiss. She’s all sorts of red and even though I notice her through all the laughter on the top floor of the hangar, I can’t keep my eyes off Bri. I play along, hollering out and joking, “We’ve got a room in the back!”
Bri never stops looking at me, and I can’t stop looking at her either. She might not like the attention, but one day I’m going to kiss her in front of everyone in this small town too. There’s no doubt in my mind. I love her, and she’s going to be my wife.
* * *
Present time
* * *
I wish I could go back to that moment. Where we were only naive kids but at least knew what love was. If I could go back and get down on one knee right then and there, I would. ’Cause she would have said yes. She would have been mine and then when my world collapsed, she wouldn’t have let me push her away.
If only I’d known I was going to lose her, I’d go back and I would promise her my forever. She loved me then … I still love her now.
“Hey, you hear me?” Robert’s voice comes through the receiver of the phone and I clear my throat before telling him, “Yeah, I heard.”
Brianna came back to our small town.
“I just wanted to give you the heads-up,” he tells me as if anything at all could prepare me for this.
Brianna
Fate hates me. It wants to embarrass me, humiliate me, shame me, hurt me.
That’s the only conclusion I can come to as I slam the car door shut in frustration. Even that is done weaker than I’d like on this far too hot morning. It only closes with a dull thud and no one seems to notice that my world is crumbling.
Turning over the ignition a dozen times didn’t even give me a tick, a purr, not a thing. The keys jangle in protest as I throw them into my purse and stomp up the cobblestone street back to the bakery’s awning so I can at least be in the shade. My heels nearly slip and I struggle to keep my composure.
All I can think is now I have to see him. My heart races quicker with every passing second.
Practically falling onto the wooden bench perched on the stone walkway in between the bakery and the florist, I take in a steadying breath and attempt to find any solution that keeps me far away from Asher.
Instinctively, I dial my sister’s phone number again and it rings rings rings; all the while I glance down the street. Her children are young; I love them to death but they are a handful, so I’m not surprised if she’s busy wrangling them up. Or maybe she’s already at work. It’s nearly eight fifteen now. The shops have opened their windows, and the streets are only occupied by a few cars … the town is coming to life.
And inside I am dying.
There isn’t another mechanic around for at least two hours. My car is dead in front of Melissa’s Sweets and I’m stuck here, in a long-sleeved dress that’s already damp under the armpits. It’s autumn and beautiful in South Carolina, but not cool enough for my favorite burgundy cashmere drop waist dress. It’s my good luck dress … or at least it’s supposed to be.
Dropping my head back, I let out a frustrated groan. I could sit inside the bakery and commiserate there, but right now, I just want to be alone.