My day ended at four. Let me rephrase that, I made it my mission for my day to end at four, forwarding all emergency calls to Bentley and hounding him to be sure to pick them up. My brother wasn’t the most dependable but he was definitely improving. We would just call him a work in progress.

After running home to shower and change I stopped by Polly’s house to check up on my darling daughter. Polly’s mother let me in without announcing my arrival which gave me leverage against them. I came up behind them both sitting at the dining room table with their homework spread out in from of them; at least I knew she was completing her studies while she wasn’t at home. Pulling the folded email out of my pocket, I opened it up and threw it on the table in between them. “Care to explain this?”

I walked around the side of the table to see her eyes downcast towards her paper. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I just want you to be happy and with you completely outlawing anything to do with the internet we…er, I decided to give you a little boost, that’s all.” She shrugged a shoulder, slowly raised her eyes to meet mine, and produced a small smile.

With a look like that, the sad puppy eyes and batting her eyelashes, I couldn’t be mad at her for trying to help. Shit, I was going to be in trouble when she started dating, I supposed I needed to stock up on ammo right away.

Glancing at my watch, I noticed that it was 5:15 and I was running out of time. There was no way that I’d be late to pick up Eden, she didn’t need any reason to back out. “This isn’t over,” I said plainly to Norah.

“Wait, where are you going?”

I began retreating from the dining room, saying, “I have a date.” I paused for a moment and pivoted back towards Norah, “Scratch that…Eden and I are going someplace to talk.” I continued on to the front door, muttering half to myself, “I’m tired of not knowing the truth, I’m getting to the bottom of all this once and for all.”

When I turned down Eden’s street, it was almost bittersweet to be heading to her house to pick her up in my Camaro; it took me back to high school. I was sure she would be surprised that my old hunk of metal was still intact. Kristina had hounded me to get rid of it for years but I couldn’t justify her reasoning. My car was a part of me that I never wanted to forget, and if it still ran why trade it in for something that wasn’t made as durable?

I wasn’t even able to greet her at the door, because Eden was bounding down the steps of her front porch heading towards my car. Her facial expression was stoic under her aviator sunglasses as she opened the passenger door and lowered herself into the seat. My heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second as I was thankful to be in her presence once more. Every time I saw Eden again, it was like regaining a little piece of our past, a glimpse of what we used to be like. Once she completely let her guard down I thought we could fully restore the comfort level we used to have around each other. I took in her appearance; she was absolutely mesmerizing. Her clothing choice was simple, not over the top. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts with a pale yellow tank top and a floral scarf, and on her feet were the sexiest pair of sandals. I was quite certain Dean would demand my man card for paying so much attention to her clothes.

I watched her buckling her seatbelt and I could tell that something caught her eye and made her quietly stare daggers at my center console. Shifting in her seat, she spent the remainder of the car ride in silence, looking out the window with her hands folded in her lap.

“What’s wrong, Eden?” I asked with as much sincerity as I could portray.

She huffed but finally spoke, “Where did you get that gearshift knob?”

I removed my hand and looked down at the black metallic eight ball that I had received as a present, wondering why that was the first question she asked. “Uh…Kristina actually gave it to me as a graduation present. And come to think of it, I still don’t know why, because she always hated this car.”

Her jaw tightened as she clenched her teeth together when I brought up my ex’s name. I couldn’t just lie to her, just because it was a name she didn’t want to hear.

I saw the need to change the mood so I decided to apologize. “Hey, I’m sorry about Norah sending you that email, she’s sorry if it upset you in any way. I think she has some preconceived notion that we have some unfinished business.”

Biting out through her still clenched teeth, “Yeah, well I’m sure that’s how most teenagers are…”

“Oh, she’s only twelve, won’t be a teenager for another two months.”

Eden’s head snapped up to mine, her glasses covering the eyes that I used to lust after so much. “She’s only twelve? And your only child?”

“Yeah,” I replied, drawing out the vowels. I wasn’t exactly sure where she was going with her questioning. Finally pulling up in front of the old abandoned covered bridge we used to frequent in high school, I placed the Camaro in park at the same time Eden flung open the door and got out, slamming it behind her.

I exited and repeated her actions but with a little more force than was necessary and rounded the front of my car. Being pissed off was a serious understatement. How could this woman make me go from lust-filled emotions and pure adoration one second to fucking seething mad the next?

I slammed my hand down on the hood, causing her to flinch. At least I was getting some kind of reaction out of the infuriating woman. “Eden, God dammit, stop holding your tongue and spit it out already! That’s what got us here in the first place!”

She flung off her sunglasses, allowing me to see the tears that were freely flowing down both cheeks. Ready or not, I was about to finally know the truth.

Chapter 7

Eden

1999 - Day after Graduation

I woke up extremely early that morning because of the anticipation building in my stomach; I was anxious to see Baylor, especially after that earthshattering kiss. If I wasn’t 100% convinced that I was in love with him before, that kiss confirmed it.

Since it was well before the crack of dawn on my first day of summer vacation, I took extra time on my appearance, making sure my outfit was perfect and not a single hair on my head was out of place. I wasn’t sure exactly what the kiss meant to Baylor, but to me it was absolutely everything. To think, my dreams could very well be coming true.

When I arrived at Baylor’s, I had a feeling that something was off. I retrieved his neatly wrapped present from the passenger seat and set off walking to the front door. Fiddling with the bow that was strategically placed on top of the package, I wondered if he would love it. It took me months to find him this one special piece for his car, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he saw what was inside.

Chapter 8

Eden

Present Day

With a tremble in my voice, “I never got a chance to see your reaction to my present that I spent so long saving for. I wanted everything to be perfect¸ but she had to ruin it just like everything else.”

Baylor stepped in front of me and rested his hand on my arm, causing goose bumps to break out over my flesh; my heart was pounding relentlessly against my chest because the moment had finally come. Fifteen years in the making.

“Who, Eden?” he questioned.

“Kristina!” I screamed in his face causing his eyes to go wide. “I was so nervous that day that I ended up being early. And when I swallowed down my fear and knocked on the door, Kristina answered, which brought on a whole new set of emotions…betrayal being the most prominent.” Baylor stood there with his arms crossed and his eyebrows furrowed as if he was trying to remember back to that day, but that was a day that was forever engrained on my memory. I didn’t have trouble remembering, only trying to forget it.