Page 183 of Always You

I have been in love with Hunter since the first day we met, and even though I wanted to move on so badly, I knew it would always be a struggle if he ever reappeared in my life. That wasn’t going to happen, though. Because he was engaged, he had nothing to come back to North Carolina for, and his life was in LA. There was no way he was going to settle in Braedon and contact me again after everything I said to him.

And then he did.

“I wish you were still here, Mama,” I whisper into the waft of the air.

“I had a feeling you’d be here.”

My head snaps to the side, and I’m met by Hunter’s regret-ridden eyes, his hands tucked into his jeans. Gone is his confidence. Standing in front of me is the troubled teen he was when we first met.

I look back in front of me, my eyes roaming over the letters of Mama’s name.

“Someone bought her fresh flowers.”

“I know. I did.” He moves a little closer, and I look up at him, peering down at me with a kind smile.

“You did?”

He nods with a hum, my brows creasing together in question.

“Your mom sent me a letter, you know?”

“A letter?”

He hums again, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

“It was sent to me by her lawyer, six weeks after you left LA.”

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She shakes her head in confusion. “She never told me.”

“She wrote it the last time she found a lump. I guess when she thought she wasn’t going to make it.”

“What did it say?” She presses her lips together, the anticipation washing her face.

“The short version? That I should stop convincing myself that I didn’t deserve you.”

Another tear escapes the corner of her eye as she tries to muffle a sob, and my hands itch to cup her face to kiss it away.

I swallow hard, telling myself this might be my only shot.

“Your mama called me out that night on my eighteenth birthday. Telling me I was full of shit.”

“Hunter.” Despair etches her voice, and I keep my mouth shut. “I can’t do this. Not again. Not when I’m barely recovered from the last time. You didn’t want me.”

“That’s not true, Charls. I’ve always wanted you.”

“Yet, you got engaged to someone else!” Her greens are laced with nothing more than sheer hate and disappointment. “Pretending you were in love with her!”

“That meant nothing.” I shake my head.

“No! That meant everything. You gave her what I’d been begging you for!” she bellows firmly. “I don’t want to hear it anymore, Hunter.” She gets up, anger on her face. “This is what you do! You walk into my life whenever you want, and you walkright out when you want to. I can’t handle it anymore! I don’t want to handle it anymore. I meant what I said to Ben. But the same goes for you. I need time. I needspace.”

She pushes the last word out with a growl before she walks past me to leave.

“Don’t go.” I grab her arm, bringing my face closer to hers. “Talk to me. Youhaveto talk to me.”

“I wanted to talk to you eleven months ago, but you didn’t have anything to say,” she spits, her eyes shooting daggers, and I can actually feel them pierce through my heart one by one.

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