Page 27 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“Yeah, I actually thought I saw him the other night at the bar.”

Ashley’s eyes widened. “On New Year’s Eve?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it right before midnight?” Ashley questioned.

“It was. How did you know that?”

“That was him?!” She pointed at me accusatorily.

“What was him?” I lifted my hands in mock surrender.

“I saw you staring across the room like you’d seen a ghost right before the countdown. All the color drained from your face.”

I had seen a ghost. A Ghost of Exes Past. “You saw that?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” I had no clue she’d noticed my reaction to him. “I thought that I was seeing things. I chalked it up to alcohol. I figured he was a liquor-induced mirage because my dating life has been as dry as a desert, but I was wrong. I wasn’t dreaming, or drunk, or having an early midlife crisis. Well, I was drunk, but the fact that I would have failed a breathalyzer test had nothing to do with what I saw.”

“So, who is he? What’s the story? I want to know everything.”

“His name is Callum Knight. He’s an MMA fighter. He grew up in Firefly. He was my childhood sweetheart. We dated on and off for almost ten years until my last semester of college. The plan was after I graduated, we were supposed to get married, but during winter break, things got…complicated.”

“You were going to getmarried?”

“We weren’t technically engaged, but that was the plan.”

“What happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

Her eyes sparked with intrigue and excitement. “I love complicated.”

I took a deep breath. “His dad, who also happened to be the mayor of Firefly, died, and when his lawyer came to go over his will, Callum and his mom found out he’d been having an affair with his secretary, and he had another child with her. That child was Chloe.”

Ashley’s jaw dropped. “What?!”

“Yeah. Small town. Anyway, that same day, I went home and found out my mom was sick. All those years of smoking a pack a day caught up with her, and she had COPD as well as some other issues. She needed care, which was something I couldn’t afford to pay for, so I knew I had to move back home. Callum had left college after his freshman year to pursue his MMA career, and it was taking off. He had just gone pro; I knew if he moved home, his career would have been over before it started. Plus, heneverwanted to live here, even when we were kids, even before finding out about his dad’s infidelity.

“I knew I had to stay and take care of my mom and that she could be sick for years, which was what it ended up happening. If Callum knew why I was staying, he would have given up his career and moved back to be with me. There would be no way I would have been able to talk him out of it. If Callum wants to dosomething, he does it. If he doesn’t want to do it, he won’t. And if he moved back, he would havehatedevery second of it. So, I broke up with him. Well, technically, we were already broken up, but I made sure westayedbroken up.”

“You were broken up? Why?”

“Pfft.” I let out a small huff of air. “That time… I don’t remember. Honestly, we broke up so much.”

“You did?”

My chin dipped in a decisive nod. “Soo, he left, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Wait, you haven’t seen him since then?”

“No. Not till I saw him at the bar, which I thought was fake, and then I saw him again this morning.”

“You saw him this morning?”

“His son is in my class.”

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