“I’m so glad you could come over!” I pull away from her and my eyes travel across the street. I see Brian for the first time since he was with that girl at the pool in Cancun. Our eyes connect and I feel the familiar pull to go to him. I hate that it’s still there after all these years. That I can’t get my stupid heart to understand that he isn’t the person I thought he was and I need to forget about him.

“Umm hello, space cadet!” Lacey is looking back and forth between Brian and I. “Get your lust filled self in the house before you melt on the damn doorstep.” She pushes me back into the house and closes the door behind her. “That look in your eyes is dangerous, you need to snap out of it.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, pretending to have no idea. I head straight for the kitchen and pour us each a glass of wine.

“I mean that you were looking at that man like you would strip bare ass naked for him any second. What the hell is going on, J?” She is sitting on one of the bar stools at the counter and I have no idea how to answer her.

I brace my elbows on the counter and cover my face with my hands. “I don’t know, Lace. It’s like every time I see him I’m taken back to senior year, like nothing has changed. That connection that we had is still there and I swear it’s stronger than it was before.”

“What about Dan?”

“I love him. I do. I don’t want to leave him for Brian, I just don’t know how I can forget him. I thought I had but it turns out I just buried him.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to feel like this about him. I want to hate him. I should hate him.”

Lacey grabs my hand. “J, you cannot fall back into what you and Brian had. Do you remember that summer? Our first semester of college? You guys aren’t healthy for each other. I swear there were some days when I thought you might hurt yourself. I can’t handle ever seeing you like that again.”

I walk around the counter and give her a hug. “I am not going back to him. I couldn’t. Now let’s go pig out on pizza and drown my problems in wine and chick flicks.”

We spend the rest of the night avoiding the topic of Brian. I know that Lacey is right. Our relationship wasn’t healthy, we were constantly fighting, and I barely survived the end of it. I never wished bad things for him though, I have always wanted him to be happy. I just didn’t think I would have to watch him build a new life.

I still can’t get what his friend said to me out of my head. I mean what has he told them that they think I’m doing things to him? He abandoned me without so much as a word. Didn’t answer any of my letters. Left town before I ever had a chance to talk to him about anything. And has been doing everything humanly possible to torture me since he has been back in town.

“Alright, well some of us need to be up fairly early in the morning.”

Lacey looks at me and pouts. “J, you own the shop, you can go in late.”

“No, I have to be there to open not all of us sleep ‘til ten every morning.”

She smiles at me. “You should try it before you knock it.” Lacey stands up and gives me a hug before leaving.

I clean up our mess before heading upstairs and getting into the shower. Whenever Dan has his work things he is usually out pretty late. He says that they take the clients out for drinks, and I am usually passed out by the time he gets home. As I go to my bed I remember the last time Dan was out at one of these and Brian put on his little “show” for me.

I look over at his house and see his bedroom light on. I can’t help but wonder if he is alone. Does he have another girl over? Has he been in love with anyone else? Why did he throw me away like he did all those years ago? Lacey is right, I need to get a hold of myself and forget about everything and anything that has to do with Brian Evans. I push him out of my mind.

I hear a loud bang and jolt awake. When I look at the clock it’s a little bit before midnight. My heart starts to race. Is someone in the house? I listen and hear another loud bang. I run over to the window to see Dan’s car in the driveway and breathe a sigh of relief. I wonder what the hell he is doing down there. As I pad down the steps, the house is eerily quiet. I look for him in the living room and the kitchen softly calling out his name. Maybe he is in the garage.

When I open the door a scream rips through my throat.

All I see is red.

Chapter Twelve

Julia

I run to Dan and collapse on the floor next to him. There is so much blood that I can’t even figure out where it’s coming from. I hear sirens, are they coming here? How would anyone know? Maybe someone heard the gun shot.

“Dan! Open your eyes!” My hands are on either side of his face and I am willing him to wake up, to show me that everything is going to be okay, that he is going to be okay. The garage door is open and I see an ambulance pull into our driveway.

“In here! We need help!” Two medics come in and immediately start to go to work.

“I have a pulse.” “He’s in serious condition.” “Let’s get him into the ambo quick.” Their voices all run together and I feel like a zombie who is watching the scene from outside of my body. I don’t know what to do, I’m numb, in shock.

A hand touches my shoulder and I jump. “Ma’am, we need to go. Are you coming?”

I nod and run to the ambulance with him, climbing in the back. Dan has an oxygen mask on while they are working on him the entire way to the hospital. I don’t know what is wrong with me I should be crying, I should be hysterical, but I’m frozen. I think it’s mainly disbelief. Who would do something like this? I mean we live in a great neighborhood and don’t have any enemies.

We come to a stop and the men frantically take Dan out of the back of the ambulance. I follow slowly, and stoically. The nurse hands me a clipboard and instructs me to fill out all of Dan’s information. When I’m done she sends me to the waiting room and tells me that he went right up to surgery and the doctor will be out to talk to me.

My hands are shaking in my lap as I wait to hear Dan’s fate.

Our fate.

The fate of our life.

The fate of my life.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Fisher?” I look up to see a man in a nice suit. “I’m Detective Connors.”

I stare straight ahead. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I just want to know. I need to know.

“Ma’am, I know that this has been a hard night, but I’d like to ask you a few questions.” I can feel him staring at me so I nod my head to let him know I heard him. “Did you see what happened?” I shake my head. “Where were you when the incident happened?”

Incident? “My husband was shot in our home. That’s more than a fucking incident.” I shock myself with what I say to him. Right now I don’t care though. “I was sleeping upstairs.”

He sits down next to me. “I’m sorry for what happened, I know it’s overwhelming. If we are going to catch this guy we need to try to move as quickly as possible. We are assuming it was a robbery due to the fact that your husband’s wallet and car were taken.”

“His car was taken?” I saw it when I was upstairs. How did they take it that quickly?

“Yes, ma’am. Does your husband have any enemies?”

I shake my head. Dan got along with everyone. “Do you know where he was tonight?”

“He had a dinner meeting with some of his associates and then they went out for drinks.” I look over at him and he seems like he is waiting for me to continue. “I woke up when I heard a loud bang. I didn’t think anything of it until I heard a second. I walked over to the window and saw Dan’s car so I assumed that he was home and just knocked something over. When I went downstairs I couldn’t find him so I tried the garage and found him.”

I feel like I am reading something out of a book, not retelling the nightmare I have just experienced. I haven’t cried yet either. I feel so numb. My fingers pinch the skin on the underside of my wrist. I need to feel something, even if it’s pain. The numbness is haunting me.