“We don’t have a future, Lucy.”
“Only because you’re too chickenshit.”
“Now, hold on,” I say, stepping toward her. “I’ll take some blame, but not all the blame. Those things you wrote—”
“Were angry, childish stream-of-consciousness nonsense, Reece!” she says. “And you don’t get to be mad. In the same way you used Abby to keep me at a distance so I couldn’t hurt you, I was bracing myself for the hurt. Telling myself that I only wanted a summer fling, because on some level I knew that was all you’d ever give me.”
I glance upward, my heart wanting so damn bad to believe her, even as my brain screams not to risk it.
“What’s so broken inside of you that you won’t let me fix it?” she asks quietly. “Why can’t you believe that I care about you? That we can make this work?”
I need to get out of here. I take a step backward, away from her, shaking my head. “Go home, Lucy.”
She swallows and lifts her chin. “And give you what you want? Proof that I’ll leave, just like your mom. Your dad. Your sister. Everyone leaves, is that it? And you’re just waiting for me to do the same.”
She’s so dead-on it nearly brings me to my knees, and I take another step back.
“Don’t lump me in with your family, Reece. They left, of their own will or not, but you let me leave. Hell, you more or less pushed me. And I walked away, and I don’t love that I did. But you’re just as bad. You didn’t come after me, and that’s on you.”
“Go. Home.” I snarl it as I turn away.
“Reece, please—”
I keep walking.
“Reece!”
I hear the tears in her voice and expect them.
What I don’t expect is the way my own tears come when I finally hear her drive away.
Chapter 41
LUCY, NINETEEN, REECE, TWENTY
Reece paced impatiently by the park bench he’d been sitting on for the better part of an hour.
He purposely didn’t look at anyone. Didn’t want to see anyone staring at him like he didn’t belong.
He already knew he didn’t belong.
College had never been in the cards for Reece, and standing on the campus now, he felt like the worst kind of imposter.
It’s worth it. It’ll all be worth it when you see her.
It was creepy. He knew that. He’d practically stalked her. But just as in high school, Lucy was sparkly and involved in every possible activity in college. She’d made friends with every single person.
People knew her. It hadn’t taken long before he found someone who told him she’d just gone into the library with a study group.
All he had to do was wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Must be quite the study group.
To occupy the time, Reece pulled out the crumpled piece of paper where he’d written down everything that he wanted to tell her.