1
Finn
Liv Morgan’sbiological father didn’t recognize me.
He sat two stools down from me. In the six months I’d lived here in Whistler, I’d seen him around a few times—in the grocery store, in his work van, but mostly here in this bar, knocking back booze. Back home in Queen’s Cove, Liv’s stepdad, Joe, was the only real dad she’d ever known.
I wondered if she knew Cole lived here.
My chest ached as I remembered her at my brother Holden’s wedding to Sadie back in January. Seeing Liv for the first time in over a decade had hit me like a freight train. I hadn’t been able to say a word. I had just stood there, staring at her, taking her in.
Fucking hell, I missed her.
Grown up, she was so beautiful it hurt. I had scrambled to memorize her. The soft, wavy pink hair cascading around her shoulders. Her pretty brown eyes, rimmed in dark lashes. The slope of her nose, sprinkled with freckles even in winter. Her eyes had widened in shock before a cold glare slid into place.
In the bar, Cole and I made eye contact, and my insides froze into a block of ice. The look in his eyes—shame, loneliness, misery—filled me with disgust. He had more wrinkles now, and gray hair at his temples, but there was no doubt in my mind. It was him.
Now, looking at him, I felt rage. Liv had his eyes, which pissed me off more. My hands made fists as my blood rattled in my veins. The words were in my mouth, ready to go.
You hurt Liv. You left her and Jen. Your misery is your own fault.
Something stabbed in my chest, and I rubbed my sternum. When I looked back at him, I saw myself. It wasmespending every night at the bar alone. It wasmeregretting my fuckups.
My stomach plummeted as it clicked into place in my head. For most of my life, I’d been madly, stupidly in love with her. It wasn’t going away, and I needed to fix the mess I made twelve years ago.
Liv and I were soulmates.
Leaving was the biggest mistake of my life.
I needed to make her fall back in love with me, or I’d regret it forever.
I was about to make a fucking fool of myself over Liv Morgan.
2
Olivia
One monthlater
Sadie and I stood in the bar, arms crossed and staring up at the enormous alien dildo mounted on the wall beside the TV.
“I can’t get it down,” I told her.
Sadie chewed her lip, studying it hanging there. It had been sent to her by mistake last year and I had put it up to make her laugh, but now the fucker wouldn’t detach from the wall.
“Pull harder on it,” Sadie suggested.
Behind us, sitting at the counter, Sadie’s husband Holden choked on his beer.
My expression turned horrified. “Youpull on it.”
Her snort turned into a full-out laugh. “Let’s just leave it up.”
My dad walked out of the storeroom carrying a case of beer. His eyes went straight to the alien dong and he winced. “Still can’t get it down?”
I shook my head at him and he laughed.
“Sorry, Joe,” Sadie said.