“Did you know this was my hometown?” she asked.
I shifted my shoulders uncomfortably. “Yeah.”
Her eyes coasted over my face curiously. “Yeah?”
“Of course, I remembered, Mae. We were best friends before.”
“Before?”
“Before we went on a few dates and you stopped talking to me,” I said flatly, ignoring the pain that felt like a spear driven through my heart.
Her breath drew in sharply. She glared at me before she spun away, walking swiftly out the door. I moved to follow her. “Mae!” I called when I reached the parking area.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Let it go, Rowan.” She climbed into a small blue car and drove away.
I stood there, watching the glow of her taillights disappear. I sighed and walked back into the station. Maisie looked up as I came in. “What did you do to Mae?”
I crossed over, resting my elbows on the counter that encircled her desk. “I wish I knew.”
Maisie wrinkled her nose. “I need you to connect the dots for me, please. How do you know Mae? I didn’t think you were from here.”
“I'm not. I'm from Stolen Hearts Valley in North Carolina, same town as Remy.”
“Oh, that's right! He's the one who told you about the job opening here.”
“You got it.”
“So, about Mae?”
“We met in college. She had a scholarship to UNC.” It wasn’t that I wanted to avoid this conversation, but it was uncomfortable because I didn’t know what I’d done to piss off Mae. She’d been one of my closest friends, and I’d fallen for her. Hard. I’d finally found the nerve to ask her out. A few dates later, she stopped talking to me and avoided me so thoroughly I never found out what happened.
“Do you know Mae well?” Maisie pressed. Maisie basically ran the station, and even though I’d only been here for a few months, I knew she kept her thumb on the pulse of everything going on. “As far as I know, she just moved back. Her grandmother passed away.”
“Yeah, she was Carrie Dodge’s sister.”
Maisie’s brows rose. “Yeah, I know. So, Mae seems pissed off with you?”
“Maybe.”
“What did you do?” Maisie pressed just as my friend Remy Martin came through the doors.
“What's up?” he asked, stopping beside me.
“Apparently, Rowan was a dumbass in college,” Maisie offered helpfully.
Remy glanced at me, his eyes crinkling with a smile. “Really?”
I sighed, straightening as I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t even know what I did.”
“Dude, why do you look so upset?”
I gestured toward the parking lot although Mae was long gone. “You remember Mae Townsend?”
Remy looked as if he were rifling through a cabinet in his brain before he nodded slowly. “You were best friends in college. I thought you had it bad for her.”
“Yeah. That's the one. This is her hometown, she hates me, and I don’t even know why.”
Chapter Three
Mae
“Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm an idiot,” I said.
My grandmother’s cat blinked up at me before letting out a loud meow. I looked over at her empty food bowl. She was a chatty cat. Aunt Carrie had given her to me just last week after Gram’s memorial service, telling me Sassafras was my grandmother's old cat and she would keep me company.
“You probably need some food.”
I stood and crossed over to the kitchen, opening a cabinet and fetching a can of food. This cat was spoiled rotten. According to Aunt Carrie, my grandmother had gotten her last summer before she got sick. Or rather, before she knew she was going to die. I spooned the cat food into the bowl, and Sassafras leaped onto the small table by the windows and settled in to eat.
Curling my arms around my waist, I crossed from the kitchen back into the living room, walking over to the window to stare outside. It was only five in the evening, and the sun was already about to slip behind the horizon, its early evening rays silvery and thin. Sunset would come soon. The days were short and the nights long during Alaskan winters.
I let out a sigh before turning and plunking down on the couch. I kicked my feet up on the coffee table and let my eyes travel around the room. I didn't even know if I wanted to stay here, but this house was mine. I owned it free and clear. All I had to do was pay the annual property taxes.
My throat felt suddenly tight, and I swallowed through the thickness. Gram was gone, and that’s why I owned this house. I’d just had an argument with my mother this afternoon about staying. She wanted me to stay. If it weren't for the fact that Rowan was here, I would probably say yes. It was a smart move. I had a house and a good job offer. But I had reasons for reconsidering. Reasons being Rowan. Why did he have to be so freaking handsome? He could have at least gotten less delectable in the years since I’d seen him.
Rowan wasn’t directly responsible for my bitterness about men. It’s just that he was connected to the worst night of my life. My radar for men who weren't assholes seemed to be broken. I thought about the last guy I’d gone on a date with. It had been a disaster. For one, he wouldn't shut up about football. I didn’t have anything against football, but I was a basketball fan through and through.
So, anyway, football. Then he kept calling me babe. On our first date. He’d seemed surprised that I had a doctorate. What the actual fuck? In the past decade, more women than men earned advanced degrees every year.
Then I'd kissed him, and he'd stuffed his tongue down my throat—super annoying. I shouldn't have even kissed him. Of course, I knew how Rowan kissed. He was good at it. Really good at it, like master level.
Ugh. I let out a groan, leaning my head back. He was here in Willow Brook and bringing up all kinds of memories. Rowan had been my best friend for a while in college. We’d ended up seated together in my very first class. He was just easy to be with, and we’d become fast friends. It had been platonic at first, but it’d been impossible not to notice how hot he was—all rumpled dark curls, intense green eyes, and a drool-worthy body. I’d started to fall for him but promised myself our friendship was more important. Then he asked me out on a date.
I’d been so thrown, he had to ask me twice.
My eyes stung with tears, and I swiped them away with my palm.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I didn’t need to get all caught up in my feelings about him. I sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. My mind started to turn down a path I avoided. It was dark and held the memory of something I’d do anything to erase. If there was one lesson I’d learned, it was that you couldn’t change the past.
I stood abruptly, determined not to spend the night thinking about Rowan or why I’d thought I only had one choice all those years ago.
Because it felt lonely to be here in this house by myself, I decided to head out. Holly, my old friend from high school, had texted earlier and asked if I wanted to get together.
I tapped out a text. You still want to meet tonight?
Her answer was swift. Sure thing. I get off from my shift at the hospital in an hour. Do you want to meet at Firehouse or Wildlands or the new pizza place?