“What?!” I screamed, hitting my hand against the car door, not being able to contain my anger. “That sleaze ball actually had the balls to say that?! Why didn’t you guys ever tell me?”

“I didn’t ever know that there was something to tell,” Baylor muttered.

I punched a fist into my open hand, “We went to the movies and he tried to cop a feel so I dumped my popcorn in his lap and left. Man,” I bit out between clenched teeth, “now I wish I had poured piping hot butter down the front of his pants. That creep!”

The rest of the ride was spent in absolute silence, which allowed me to replay the party over and over again in my mind. About halfway to my house the sky opened up and released the torrential downpour that I knew was bound to come at any time.

Baylor turned his car into my driveway and I could feel my tears coming closer to releasing so I quickly muttered, “Happy graduation, you guys,” and let myself out of his car.

The rain was coming down in buckets but I still walked as slowly as I could to my front porch. Maybe the rain would wash away any apparent sign of my emotional mess so my mom wouldn’t bombard me with a thousand inane questions.

No sooner had my heeled sandal hit my front porch than I heard Baylor yell, “Edie!”

Baylor

Eden just got out of my car and slammed the door shut. I didn’t like seeing her like that and I even more so didn’t like the fact that she wouldn’t talk to me about it. We talked about everything with each other, or almost everything. She was my best friend, even more so than Dean.

Speaking of, Dean leaned forward in between the two front seats and spoke up, “Baylor, are you just going to let her leave like that? I mean, I don’t like seeing Eden hurt any more than you but you’ve been hiding your feelings about her and I’m frankly tired of the stalling. You both leave at the end of the summer but why should that stop you from having fun right now?”

I hit my palm against my steering wheel, feeling the ridges dig into my flesh. Dean was right for once in his life. I squinted, looking back out to see Eden still slowly walking to her front porch and I made the decision that would change everything between the two of us. I hoped like hell it was the right one, but I was already out of my car and on my way to her, so it was too late to go back now.

“Eden!” I yelled, making her stop in her tracks. The closer I came upon her the more I could see her shoulders shaking. Either she was cold, which with the rain wasn’t entirely unheard of, or she was crying. My guess was leaning more towards her crying and it was confirmed when I grabbed ahold of her shoulders to spin her around to face me.

She pulled her lip in between her teeth which had me physically restraining myself from attacking her mouth right then. My hands were still perched upon her shoulders and I brushed a hand down the length of her arm until her hand was firmly secured in mine.

“Don’t cry, my sweet Eden,” It wasn’t the best thing I could’ve come up with to say, but it was what came out of my mouth.

Her hair was plastered to the sides of her face so I gently took my hands to push back the rain-soaked strands. The dress she wore was also stuck to her body but I was trying my best not to look down or my arousal would become extremely evident. It was hard enough to covertly look at Eden when she wasn’t paying attention. She looked absolutely beautiful tonight but no more than when she was decked out in her sneakers and ponytail.

Eden was genuine and true to herself which was what I loved about her. Often times you heard about best friends becoming lovers and it didn’t always work out in the end. Did I think Eden and I were an exception to that? I supposed only time would tell.

But first I had to seal the deal on our fate and by doing that I would be giving her, her first true kiss.

She glanced at my lips and then back into my eyes while I repeated the same actions. I was going in for the kill. Darting my tongue out of my mouth and smoothing it across my lips I slowly moved my head closer to hers.

I heard her breath hitch and it almost made me want to laugh out loud at how incredibly cute she was. Before my lips finally met with hers, she closed her eyes, and in that moment my heart was completely closed to anyone else. It was hers to do with what she willed; I just hoped that she felt the same.

Now her shaking could only be construed as nerves, so I pulled her body close to mine, encircling her back with one hand and bringing my other up to cup her face. Once her tongue entered my mouth my knees almost buckled at the extreme delight of the moment. For someone who had never kissed before she was doing an exceptional job. I could feel the rain pelting on my back, never letting up once while our tongues danced the foreign dance with one another for what seemed like forever. And it wasn’t until Dean so rudely honked my horn that we pulled back.

I let my eyes slowly drift open and I was met with Eden’s, made of pure chocolate, “Eden,” I whispered more so under my breath.

“Baylor…” she replied.

“I gotta go, evidently Dean is getting impatient. Meet me at my house tomorrow morning and we’ll talk?”

No words would come out of her mouth so all she could do was nod. Holding onto my hand until the last possible second, she leisurely let go and I stood stock-still watching her retreating form until she disappeared behind her front door.

I had newfound hope and excitement about the future, but little did I know it would be the last time I saw her until fifteen years later...

Chapter 1

Baylor

May 2014

15 years later

Buried deep under Mrs. Burris’ kitchen sink, this corroded garbage disposal was being a downright bitch. My wrench kept slipping and I just couldn’t get my brain to focus on the task at hand. The mail that I received yesterday was clouding all of my thoughts.

My phone vibrated on my hip and I was thankful for the distraction. I leaned back on my haunches and grabbed a rag out of the back pocket of my carpenter jeans to wipe off the sludge and water remnants from the pipes. I ran this plumbing business so I had to be the one to answer my phone, plus it could be Norah so there was no question as to whether I’d answer.

I grabbed my phone off of my belt clip and pressed the answer button before bringing it to my ear. “Jenkins Plumbing, this is Baylor.”

“Baylor,” the voice of my oldest friend came through the other end of the phone instantly putting a smile on my face.

“Dean, how in the hell is it going?” I hollered out before remembering that I was in the house of an eighty-year old woman and I needed to watch my language.

“Oh you know. Listen, I called because I wanted to know if you received the invitation?” I knew this was why he was calling.

I looked down at the linoleum tile on the floor, as I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand, “Yeah, I got it. Are you planning on flying in for it?”

“You know that I wouldn’t give up a chance to come see you and my favorite niece.”

“Norah is your only niece, pseudo or otherwise,” I joked.

Dean paused for a moment, “Do you think Eden will be there?”

There it was, my reason for being completely out of whack today and thrown off kilter. Deep down in my heart I wanted to say that she would be there, but circumstances didn’t exactly justify that logic. “Man, she didn’t come to the ten year reunion and I don’t think she’s stepped foot back in this town in the fifteen years since we’ve graduated.” She basically vanished into thin air; if it weren’t for her mother telling me about her life with her husband, I would be worried that something bad had happened to her.