At least if he went there, he could hang out for the appropriate amount of time, make his excuses, and slip out while everyone else was occupied. Two hours, tops.
Feeling significantly better, he pulled on a pair of his favorite old jeans and a T-shirt and grabbed his keys. It struck him as he walked out the door that he was thirty-fucking-four years old. How the hell did that happen? He shook his head. He knew damn well how that happened. One day turned into a week, a month, a year, a decade. All while he kept on keeping, the world changing around him, but never changing enough.
He glanced at his watch. “Two hours starts when I get there.”
Chapter Two
Daniel figured out the entire party was a mistake ten minutes in, which was right around the time Adam and Quinn walked in the back door with a motherfucking puppy. He shook his head, backing away. “No.”
“It was this or that little hellion Mr. Winkles.”
Thinking of that asshole cat who currently resided in Jules’s cat café, Daniel cringed. Then he made the mistake of looking at the dog in Quinn’s arms. The big man dwarfed the tiny pup, which had to contribute to how cute the little fella was. He was a border collie and had big blue eyes and a patchy fur coloring that was black, brown, and white. His left ear flopped down, and if he wasn’t the cutest little thing…
Goddamn it.
“I don’t want a dog.” His heart wasn’t really in the protest, though, so when Quinn offered the pup, Daniel took him. The pup immediately scrambled up against him and licked his chin. “Though he’s cute.”
“She.”
That startled a laugh out of him. “The last thing I need in my life is a woman, and both you assholes damn well know it.”
Adam got a funny look on his face, one Daniel would have called guilty. “Yeah, well, about that. Brace yourself.”
He didn’t get a chance to ask what the fuck his friend meant by that because the front door opened behind him and Jules’s voice rang out, “Honey, I’m home.”
“Hey, sugar.” But Adam’s voice wasn’t quite right, and he was looking over Daniel’s right shoulder when Jules was clearly behind his left.
For one eternal moment, Daniel considered shouldering past his friends and walking out the back door. Whatever put that look on Quinn and Adam’s faces wasn’t something he wanted to deal with. They almost looked like they’d seen a ghost.
But his dad hadn’t raised a coward, so he took a deep breath and turned around.
And froze.
She looks the same.
He blinked, but Hope Moore didn’t disappear. She just stood in the doorway, her blond hair pulled back in an effortless ponytail, her face older than when he’d last seen her but more beautiful for the years written across it. Her body had filled out, her hips and breasts curvier than they’d been at eighteen. She didn’t look like a girl anymore. No, Hope was full woman.
And then, because he couldn’t help it, his gaze dropped to her left leg. Her skirt was too long to see the scar he knew must wind down her leg, the scar he’d put there. Knee replacements weren’t pretty, and her bones had already been mangled by the time she made it to the hospital, her entire future ruined in the space of a single heartbeat.
Because of him.
She flinched, which was answer enough. He hadn’t imagined it, and the handful of surgeries, the months and months of recovery, the loss of her cross-country scholarship, all of it, had really happened to her. What’s the ability to run compared to a brother? You fucked everything beyond recognition. He dragged his attention back to her face, determined not to look at her leg again. He’d been the one responsible—the least he could do was avoid making her feel uncomfortable.
She recovered quickly, offering him a small, sad smile. “Hey, Daniel.”
“What are you doing here?” It came out too harsh, but he didn’t take the words back. Thirteen goddamn years and she chose today to show up in Devil’s Falls? It wasn’t a coincidence, and he had a feeling he knew whom to blame. He spun and pointed a finger at Quinn, keeping his hold on the pup gentle despite his growing anger. “You. What the fuck did you do?” He knew Quinn had seen Hope last month at his sister’s wedding, which meant he’d opened his idiot mouth and said something to bring her home.
You should be thanking him.
Fuck that. She doesn’t want to be here. If she did, she would have come back before now.
Quinn held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. This isn’t my style, and you know it.”
He had a point. Both his friends were more direct than to pull some shit like this. Jules, though… Daniel turned to glare at her. “This is out of line—even for you.”
For her part, she didn’t look the least bit repentant. She propped her hands on her hips. “Fun fact—Hope is a grown woman who’s more than capable of making her own decisions. She wandered into my shop and I was polite enough to invite her along. I didn’t kidnap her.” She motioned at Hope. “Tell him I didn’t kidnap you.”
Despite everything going on around them, Hope burst out laughing. Daniel’s chest gave a lurch. Fuck, the woman’s laugh could still do a number on him. All these years later, she should have sounded different from the innocent girl he’d been head over heels in love with. Too much had changed for her to still love life as much as she had back then.
Hadn’t it?
Hope shook her head, still laughing. “I can attest that I drove into town of my own free will. I take no responsibility for what happened after that cup of coffee. Jules is a hard woman to say no to.” She pinned him in place with those dark eyes. “Happy birthday, Danny.”
No one had called him that in…well, hell, in thirteen years. Hearing it on her lips nearly had him crossing the room to her and seeing what else was the same. Common sense stopped him cold. Whatever had brought Hope back into town, she wasn’t here for him. There was no forgiving what he’d done, and he’d be worse than a fool to forget that.
It took everything he had to dredge up a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”
The pup wiggled in his arms and gave a mournful whine. He took the excuse to get the hell out of there. “Be back in a bit.” He had no intention of coming back. Forget worrying about being cowardly—the last thing he wanted to do was stand in a room with Hope Moore and make small talk. As much as the sight of her was like a rain after a long drought, there was too much shit between them.
She should have stayed away. Whatever brought her back here, it could have been avoided.
He set the pup down in the yard and crouched next to her, watching her run back and forth, still in the awkward stage where her paws seemed too big for her body. She really was a cutie. She was also going to need a name. “How about Ollie?”
“I like it.”
He turned to find Hope standing behind him. Again. “You sure move quiet when you want to.” Especially for a woman with a bum leg. Not that he could say as much without sounding like a jackass.
“You mean since I had my knee replaced.” Of course she knew what he meant anyway. Apparently damn near reading his mind was one annoying habit she hadn’t outgrown.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” She leveraged herself down next to him, the move not quiet as smooth as it’d been when she was eighteen.
Daniel almost cursed. He had to stop doing that. Comparing her now to how she was then wasn’t fair to either of them. It was another lifetime completely, and thinking about it was just fucking depressing. “Hope—”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He was so surprised by the question that he answered honestly, “Why the fuck would I bother?”