But why the hurry?
“Brynn, the water?” her mother said.
“Oh, right,” she muttered, returning to the task of washing her hands.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mom and sister exchange a puzzled glance. She couldn’t blame them. She should be thrilled to have Will out of her life. Or at least indifferent.
Instead she felt…confused.
And maybe a little bit broken.
* * *
Telling Michael Alden that she had feelings for someone else had been surprisingly easy. And freeing. And as she drove home—drove toward Will—she sang at the top of her lungs, feeling the best she had in weeks. Months. Forever.
She’d thought that she’d been seeking freedom after James had ditched her, but that had merely been fear causing her to move away from something.
It was nothing compared to the euphoria of moving toward something.
Moving toward someone.
Brynn slapped a hand over her mouth as a little giggle escaped.
I’m in love with Will Thatcher.
The thought felt…right. No, it felt wonderful.
“I’m in love with Will Thatcher.” Felt even better to say it out loud.
She rolled down the window, and yelled it again just because she could, not caring that nobody else on the freeway could hear her. She only needed Will to hear her.
As she exited the freeway, she let her mind flit back through the years in a sappy, heart-thumping montage of the two of them. Will punching her prom date right before pictures, and her throwing a punch in his face in retaliation. And then he’d asked her to dance that one last
dance, and she’d been so mad, and yet that too had been right.
Will letting the air out of her tires. Just so he could help her afterward.
Her sneaking into the boys’ locker room and cutting out the crotch of his favorite jeans.
Her knocking on his door that night three years ago.
That moment when she’d found out that he’d moved to Boston.
The moment that she’d learned he was back.
The moment she’d learned that he’d come back for her.
Brynn mentally cursed the slowpoke speed limit on her street, but just because she was done following all the rules didn’t mean she wasn’t going to follow some.
As she crawled closer to her house, it took her brain several seconds to register what she was seeing.
“No,” she whispered. “Oh God, no, please. Not again.”
Brynn careened into Will’s driveway before spilling out of her car, not noticing that she lost a shoe as she burst through the open front door.
“Hello?” she yelled. “Will, what the hell!”
A male face appeared at the top of the stairs. Not Will’s. “Who the hell are you, lady? I don’t think you’re supposed to be here.”