Prologue
PROLOGUE
He lives there in my earliest memories. The boy next door with his quick smile and stupid jokes. We’d play tag in the cul-de-sac with his brother and the neighborhood kids. We’d look for rocks in the field behind our house, getting filthy, then splashing in the blow-up pool to wash off the grime. He was my best friend, my closest ally, the boy with whom I shared all my secrets.
He was my rock before he became my crush, the boy about whom I drew hearts on my notebook and wrote long passages in my diary. I never told him, though. I never shared that part of my heart. His friendship meant too much, and we clung to it like brother and sister over the years.
My heart broke for him when his family shattered.
That horrible D word.
Divorce.
Then he was gone. His father to one coast, and his mother to another, taking the boy I adored and his brother with her. I mourned the loss, even more so when we lost touch.
And though life went on, I can’t deny that he left a hole in my heart.
Now he’s back, and this time a wild passion crackles between us, filling me with hope and promise.
But I can see how the years have broken him, and now I can’t help but fear that the boy I always needed has grown into a man I can never have.