Page 110 of That Reunited Feeling

“Tom asked me to get her contact info. But I didn’t know why. Turns out he lent her his house in the South of France, the one that’s next door to Elton John’s, for her honeymoon. And flew them there first class.”

“I’m sorry. What?” Rachel grabs my shoulder. “You made chocolate dicks with Tom? At a stranger’s bachelorette? And he has a house in France next to Elton John?”

I nod.

She reaches for the wine bottle. “That is a lot of very strange information to process all at once.”

“It’s a nice thing to do, isn’t it? Like, really nice?”

She tops up both our glasses. “Seriously? Elton John?”

“Yeah, look.” I reopen the thank-you message and show her the photo of Katie and her new husband standing on either side of a beaming Sir Elt.

“Holy fuck. I thought you were on something.” She takes the phone from me and tips it toward the light to scrutinize it. “That really ishim.”

“Yes. But how great is it that Tom did that for them?” There’s a tremor in my voice that I can’t control. “He came up with that idea all by himself. And organized it. He didn’t have to do any of it. Or the school donation thing. But he did.”

The generosity, the thoughtfulness, the heart behind both those things says everything about who Tom is. Yes, he’s swimming in enough cash to throw at private jets, fancy cars, and lavish vacations. But he chose to give a complete stranger a honeymoon beyond her dreams and to fix up the scorched corner of a small-town high school.

Things like that wouldn’t even be on the radar of most men who can call the biggest music stars in the world and they’ll pick up. But not only did Tom notice them, he cared enough to actually do something about them.

And he didn’t say a word.

He didn’t do these things to show off or make himself look good or impress me or anyone else—there’s no way he’d even expect me to find out.

He did them because they were good things to do, right things to do, things that made life better for other people.

I have thrown away the most amazing man I’ve ever known. And that’s what my life will miss out on. A man no one else could ever live up to. A man who knows me as well as I know him. A man with whom I still have a unique and magical spark even after seventeen years apart.

But I made the only choice I could. My son.

So Tom and I can’t be together. I have no choice but to miss out on him.

Rachel looks from Elton to me, then tips her head to one side. “You’re about to cry, aren’t you?”

“No.” I rub my nose and look away.

“Yes, you are. And it’s because you love him.”

Of course I do. Of course I fucking do.

I clear my throat to try to shift the knot in it. “I do not.”

“You need to get in touch with that guy and tell him you’ve made a terri—” My phone buzzes in her hand. “It’s Dylan. He says Carlos’s dad will drive him back.”

“Can I see it?”

She hands me the phone.

DYLAN (08:24 PM)

Carlos’s dad is about to give me a ride home.

Home. Dylan said “home.” And look at him texting me to let me know he’s on his way, just like I asked.

Being here is exactly the right thing for him. The right thing to set him up for his very best future. And the right thing for him is the right thing for me.

We’re home. And I intend to do everything I can to make it the best one Dylan could ever dream of.

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