Page 29 of All I've Waited For

A slow ache ambled through her whole body. Ashley wanted her friend back—the one who had told her everything. She’d been the first person he’d confided in about the full extent of his dad’s illness, what it meant, even how he felt about it.

Ashley bit the inside of her cheek. Claire was the person he’d tell those things to now. He didn’t need Ashley.

And she needed to stop needing him.

“Maybe talking about the past—how you used to feel, how things used to be—would go a long way in helping you heal.”Madison’s words from three days ago drifted back to her.

But even if she wanted to, how was Ashley supposed to go about starting a conversation like that?

A butterfly floated past her nose and landed on a nearby log. Two squirrels scampered along the trail in front of them and raced each other up a tree. Amazingly, the only companions they’d met along the path today had been of the animal variety.

This was a world unto themselves, a sliver of time that belonged only to them. If she were going to talk to Derek—reallytalk to him—then where better to do it?

She stopped.

Derek looked back at her, tilting his head. “Everything okay?”

Ashley inhaled sharply, studying him. “Why did you only call me once when you were in France?”

A shadow crossed his face. “Ash.”

“No.” She marched toward him until they stood nearly toe to toe. “I need to know, Derek.”

For a moment, he refused to look at her. But finally, he lowered his chocolate gaze to hers. Oh, a girl could get lost in those eyes.

But not today. Today, she needed answers. “Why, when I tried calling and texting and emailing you several times, did you act like our friendship meant nothing to you?”

He opened his mouth as if to speak, then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” Maneuvering around her, he started back down the trail toward the trailhead.

“It matters to me.” She stood her ground, waiting for him to turn around. Praying he would.

His gaze remained on the path ahead. “Just drop it, Ashley.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” His fingers gripped his water bottle so hard she heard the crinkle of the plastic from ten feet away. “It doesn’t do any good to dig up the past.”

Ugh, the infuriating man and his logic. For just once, couldn’t he show he was capable offeelingsomething? “It does if it’s still affecting the present or the future.”

“It’s not.”

“Maybe for you. But it’s not all aboutyou, Derek!” A few birds on a nearby branch flew away as her raised voice echoed through the trees. Ashley’s chest heaved.

Derek finally turned to look at her. His jaw had slackened, but he didn’t say anything. Only stared.

He just didn’t get it—and he never would. She’d been stupid to bring it up in the first place. What could it really accomplish except remind her that her brother had been right?

“Forget it. I’ll see you later.” She turned on her heel, heading deeper into the forest away from him, longing to break into a run. If she had on her Brooks, there’d be no question, but her current shoes would only leave her with a twisted ankle to go with her smarting heart.

Ashley picked up the pace, climbing the ever-increasing slope of the trail until she reached wide stone steps that led up to a treeless bluff overlooking the ocean. She’d taken the first two steps when she heard footsteps behind her.

“Ash, wait.”

She pivoted. “You didn’t have to follow—” But she’d miscalculated the depth of the step and twisted off the edge completely. Ashley’s water bottle went flying, and her squeak got muffled in Derek’s broad chest as he caught her mid-fall.

He wrapped his arms around her, cocooning her in safety. His heartbeat pounded in time with her own.

For a moment, Ashley kept her hands where they’d landed against his stomach. Then, as if of their own accord, her fingers trailed along his middle. He sucked in a breath as she hooked her arms around his lower back and laid her head in the crook of his chest, breathing in the scent that was all his.

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