Page 44 of Love and Other Lost Things

Nik nudged Ali in the arm. “Jane, you don’t have to go.”

“Yeah,” Hannah agreed. “Don’t go yet. I didn’t even have a chance to tell you about Amelia.” She pulled out her phone and clicked the side button. On the lock screen, a photo of a little girl of about five or six popped up. She had her mother’s blue eyes and hair the color of maple leaves in fall.

Jane’s heart pitched. “She’s gorgeous.”

Hannah reached for Jane’s hand. “And I didn’t get to hear anything about you. How’s the music business? Are you married? Do you have kids?”

A cold wind kicked up, blowing right through Jane’s too-thin coat. She tugged it tighter around her and backed away from her old friends, panic rising in her chest. “I really wish I could stay. But—” Her foot caught on a crack in the sidewalk and she stumbled. Nik’s hand shot out to steady her, but she pulled her arm away. “It really was good to see you all.”

And then she turned and took off down the sidewalk.

SEVENTEEN

“Jane, wait!” Nik’s voice called from behind her.

Jane kept moving, pretending she didn’t hear, speed-walking down the sidewalk. God, it was freezing out now. Had the temperature dropped ten degrees in the last half an hour? Or was it that last encounter that had left her shaking?

“Jane, wait!” It was Nik’s voice again, and then the thump of footsteps on the sidewalk behind her. “Where are you going?”

“Home.” She walked faster, but Nik fell into step beside her, his long legs effortlessly matching her pace.

“You shouldn’t be walking alone at night.”

Jane huffed out an ironic laugh. Tonight’s stroll through Linden Falls would be the safest she’d been in… well. Maybe ever. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Jane.” He reached out to take her arm. “You’re freezing.”

“I’m fine,” she said, through chattering teeth.

“Let me drive you.”

Jane was about to refuse, but at that moment, a cold gust of air blew past, swirling her hair in her face and burning the exposed skin on her hands. She wasn’t used to this weather. “Okay. Fine.” She sighed, realizing how ungrateful she sounded, and added, “Thanks.”

Nik gestured across the street to a car parked next to the sidewalk. He drove a basic sedan, which didn’t really surprise her. He probably wasn’t making a lot of money yet, not that Nik was in the medical profession for the money. And Nik wouldn’t buy a flashy car even if he could afford it. Not like the Tesla Matteo drove.

Jane shuddered. Matteo had wanted her to take the Tesla on this trip. He said it would handle better on the highways than the Toyota. Thank God she’d talked him out of it, told him she was afraid she’d scratch it. That Tesla was nothing more than a two-ton tracking device.

Jane turned her attention to the interior of Nik’s car as they both climbed inside. There were no crumbs on the dash or food wrappers in the back seat. With a car this clean, he clearly didn’t have kids.

Or maybe he did. What did she know?

Nik started the car and sounds of the local college radio station drifted through the speakers, the same station that had played all their favorites when they were kids. They used to spend hours calling that station and making requests. The DJ came on to announce the next song, and Jane could have sworn it was the same late-night announcer as when they were kids, too. His throaty voice was oddly soothing, and she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. “Nothing has changed in this town, has it?” she mused.

“Plenty has changed,” Nik said, and the sharpness in his tone had her eyes flying open again. “I know it’s not glamorous like LA, but Linden Falls isn’t so bad, you know.”

“I didn’t say it was bad. And I didn’t say LA was glamorous.” Not even remotely.

“I know you wanted to get out of here the second you could.”

“So did you,” Jane said, sitting up in her seat and turning to look at him. “You always talked about leaving. You were just as excited to go to Cornell as I was. You could have been a doctor anywhere. So, why did you come back here? What are you still doing here?”

Nik fell silent for a moment, staring at the road in front of him. Finally, he turned to face her. “I actually never left,” he said, in a voice so low she almost missed it.

Jane’s head jerked up. “What do you mean, you never left? What about Cornell?”

“I didn’t go to Cornell.”

“You…” Her mouth dropped open. Was she hearing him right?

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