The longer we waited, the tighter the knot in my chest pulled. I didn’t even know what I expected to feel when she walked in with Frenchy. Anger? Jealousy? Regret?
All of the above, probably.
I spotted Sharon laughing with Mitch. Patty was holding court near the bar. Laura was already tangled up with her new distraction. Maria and Jake were pointedly not looking at each other.
Everyone was circling. Shifting. Waiting for the spark.
Archie grabbed me a fresh beer when he got a refill. He’d sauntered right up to the bar, ignored Patty and companyand drifted back. I could wish I was that cool about Sharon’s presence. But it was a challenge—we had more than one mistake milling around, dancing, or swimming.
“You ready?” he asked.
I took the bottle but didn’t drink.
“Not even close,” I said.
Because I wasn’t.
Because the moment she walked in, everything would start.
Jake
It was too hot.
The kind of sticky that made shirts cling and tempers snap. The kind of heat where every breath felt like it weighed something. It clung to my neck, coiled around my spine, made the anger feel louder in my skin.
I shouldn’t have left Frankie’s place like that.
Hell, I shouldn’t have spent the night in the first damn place. But she was Frankie. She was mine… I kept half hoping she’dremember—whatever the hell I thought she was supposed to remember. How much I cared? How long I’d waited?
Now, maybe I just wanted her to hurt like I did.
Which was bullshit. That wasn’t me. That wasn’t who I wanted to be, especially not with her. But lately? It was easier to be angry than admit I’d screwed up. Easier to hate Frenchy and his smug little smile and perfect pronunciation than admitIwas the problem. That I let her drift and didn’t fight hard enough to keep her close.
God, I was a cliché. A walking, talking teenage cliché with clenched fists and a bad mood.
I’d barely said two words since we got here. Bubba had taken point, as usual. Coop was trying to keep the peace. Archie was… being Archie. Smug and ridiculous and half a second from getting punched if he smirked at the wrong time.
People swam in and out of my line of sight. Party sounds blurred into each other—laughter, music, the soft splash of the pool, someone screaming about flip cup. But none of it settled.
I was too aware of thegap.
She wasn’t here yet.
That space where shewouldbe had its own gravity, pulling all my thoughts in like a black hole. She was going to walk in, her hand in his, and I was going to feel like I had when we moved to Germany. Cut off and alone.
"Earth to Jake."
Coop’s voice dragged me back, annoyingly chipper.
“What?”
He was holding out a plate with two slices of pizza like it was a peace offering. “You’ve been glaring at the pool like it owes you money.”
I took the plate and muttered a “thanks.”
He settled beside me at the table under the awning, biting into his slice like we were just two dudes enjoying the party.
“This is good pizza,” he said, chewing. “Jeremy probably ordered from that bougie place with the wood-fired oven.”
