Page 91 of Take Me Home

“So, at that party freshman year…”

“Yeah.”

“And when I started coming to the café…”

“Even after four years of only seeing you as you rounded a corner,” he confirmed. “I didn’t want to want you again. I tried not to.”

She slid her palms over his heart hammering in his neck, up to his jaw, into his hair.

“I know you didn’t want things to change between us,” he went on, mouth dry and stomach somewhere near the floor, “but technically, nothing’s changed. I’ve wanted you this whole time.”

With wonder in her eyes and a bewildered little shake of her head, she toed up and kissed him, and he guessed that was an answer of sorts to the question he hadn’t asked. Was this still okay? Was she going to bolt? She nestled her cheek to his shoulder, dropped one hand to his chest.

Holding Hazel like this felt like a sudden melt into calm, everything rigid going soft and loose. His heart rate slowed, shoulders eased. He had her in his arms, and everything was going to be okay.

—

A few songs later, Hazel’s father found them on the dance floor. “Sorry to interrupt. I’m told we’re taking a photo. The whole family.” Hazel looked down at her still-damp clothes. “You can keep the jacket on, of course.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m not dressed up enough anyway.”

“No one cares about that, kiddo. You look nice.”

She shook her head adamantly. “We’ll have the wedding pictures in a couple days. I’ve got my dress for that. It’s fine.”

Her father glanced back across the room to Val, who was redraping her shawl around her shoulders and reaching for herson’s crooked tie. He faced Hazel again, gave a little laugh like her refusal made no sense. “You’re here. It would be strange not to include you.”

Hazel exhaled sharply. “Nowit would be strange not to include me?” Her voice was suddenly tight and high.

Her father frowned. “Is…something wrong?”

“Is something wrong?” She directed this to Ash, and that melon baller came for another scoop of his insides.

He didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t wanted to make a scene, to tell her father how she really felt. Was he supposed to back her up, finally help her say exactly what she’d been holding in for years, or calm her back down, prevent her from doing something she’d regret?

“I’m here,” Hazel said, clenching her fists at her sides. “Isn’t that enough?”

“I didn’t know— I didn’t realize you were upset,” her father said, surprised.

“Of course I’m upset!” Her cheeks flushed, and a vein strained under her eye. She shook her head, struggling for words, and the longer she floundered, the more Ash itched to steer her away. He was supposed to be her buffer.

“I don’t belong here,” she told her father, tears brimming in her eyes. “Not at this stupid party. Not in your precious pictures. I don’t even belong in this town. And it was fine. It was all fine until you made me come back.”

She turned to leave, but her father reached for her arm. It all happened so fast. In her haste to get away from the growing attention around the room, from the confused but pained expression on her father’s face, Hazel jerked from his grasp, stumbled to the side, and knocked into a table so hard it tipped. She went down with it. Silverware clattered. Glasses broke. Red wine splattered across the white tablecloth.

Ash and her father reached to help her up, but she refused them both, clutching her hand to her chest and wobbling to her feet like a baby deer. Then, she ran.

Ash turned to follow her winding path back out to the front entry, but her father barked, “Wait.” At first, Dan was speechless under all the gawking stares. The instruments had whined to a staggered stop, and now dead silence hung over the room. Instead of addressing Ash, he directed a sheepish smile at everyone, a nervous laugh, and said, “Well, it’s not a party until someone flips a table, no? Sorry for the disruption. Carry on, folks.” To the musicians, he asked, “Can we get something upbeat?” as catering staff rushed in to clean up the mess.

Ash saw his opportunity and took it. He pushed through the doors, scanned both lengths of the empty foyer, then marched out into the cold night. “Hazel?” he called.

She’d been pleased earlier that her clutch with her phone and keys could fit stuffed into one of his jacket pockets, and he half expected her to have peeled out of the parking lot already, but her car was still there, and she wasn’t in it. He retreated back inside and ran right into her father.

“Do you know what that was all about?”

Ash swallowed. “You should talk to her about it.”

Dan threw his arms out helplessly. “I’m trying here. I really am.”

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