Chapter 43
Nothing good had ever followed those ominous words. A sense of doom spread through Josh like venom. Maggie had hardly fooled
him this morning with her fake smiles and can-do spirit. The minute his parents took off with Zoey, she dropped the act. But
since then she’d been edgy and quiet.
Until that hug. She’d gripped him so tightly it made him ache. But it also made him heady, how easily she’d fallen into his
embrace. Like she trusted him to keep her safe. Like he was her shelter in the storm.
He’d thought it was a good sign.
Not a good-bye. And now, staring into her guarded eyes, he realized that’s exactly what it had been. A fist tightened in his
gut. “Don’t do this, Maggie.”
“I love you, Josh, I really do.”
“Then don’t do this!” He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t. Not when they were finally together. Not when she finally loved him
the same way he loved her.
Dial it back, Reynolds. He sucked in a breath.
She was hurting, she was reeling. He had to remember that. “Listen, honey... You’ve been through a lot. I get it. You’re overwhelmed and questioning everything you knew to be true. But you’ll process it and come out the other side and realize Ethan really did love you like crazy. Maybe he did make a terrible mistake years ago, but that doesn’t negate everything that happened between the two of you. And it doesn’t change anything between us.”
She looked away. Blinked back tears. “I’m sorry, Josh. I really am. But I just can’t do this. It—it’s too much.”
He reached out and took her shoulders, waited until he had her full attention. “Don’t push me away, Maggie. Let me be there
for you. I want to help you through this. We can talk on the phone and I’ll come up every weekend.” He’d cancel tours if he
had to. Nothing was more important than Maggie.
Compassion flickered in her eyes. Her lips trembled. “It’s not that. I don’t even think I— I don’t know if I believe in love
anymore. And even if I did, I don’t want to. Love ends. Love hurts. And I’m so tired of hurting, Josh.” Her voice wobbled.
He tried to pull her into his arms.
She shrugged away.
“Let me hold you.”
“No. It won’t help. The only thing that’ll help is going home and forgetting this summer ever happened.”
He flinched. This summer had been the highlight of his life. Having Maggie had been a dream come true.
Her face softened. “Not you, Josh. Not us. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Her words would’ve soothed his crumbling spirits, but they didn’t change the fact that she was ending things. Anxiety bit
at him like a thousand fire ants.
“I just want to forget about Will and what Ethan did or didn’t do—I wish I’d never seen him at that stupid carnival. I just
want to—I want to stop hurting.”
“I don’t blame you. Let’s just forget about Will for now. Let’s give it some time. I’ll come up next weekend and we can talk it through.”
Frustration flared in her eyes. “You’re not listening to me. I can’t do this, you and me. I just can’t.”
“So, what, we’re just... friends again? You’re in my life. In my family . It’s not that simple.”
She raked her fingers into her hair. “I just need everything to go back the way it was.”
He gaped. The way it was? Before she was his? Back to when he’d quietly suffered with unrequited love? Back to when he pretended she was just his friend,
his sister-in-law? No. He couldn’t go back to that. He just couldn’t.
He turned and paced to the end of the drive. Stared unseeing into the neighbor’s yard, breaths heaving. God, no, please . I can’t go back there. It had been hard enough, harboring those secret feelings before. But now he knew what it was like, having her in his arms,
in his life, in his heart. How could he ever go back to the way it had been before? She was asking too much. His eyes burned.
Some deeper, unselfish part of him whispered in his ear. What had happened wasn’t her fault. She’d suffered so much. If he
loved her, shouldn’t he give her the space she needed to heal? He pressed his fingertips in his eyes.
She touched his arm. He hadn’t even heard her approach. “Josh? Please don’t be mad at me. I can’t stand the thought of losing
you on top of everything else.” The last words quivered.
He dug deep, through his own pain and misery. He didn’t want to heap more hurt on her. It wasn’t her fault he’d fallen so deeply in love with her years ago. Wasn’t her fault he couldn’t even look at another woman without comparing her to Maggie. “You haven’t lost me, honey. You just... do what you have to do, okay? It’ll be fine.” He’d be fine. If Maggie could get through this, somehow he’d find a way to survive it too.
A squeal carried from the direction of the beach. Zoey dashed toward them on the walkway, his parents trailing her. “Stay
off the street!”
“Mommy, come see my shells! We found a big scallop and Papaw found a whelk. But it’s a little broken on the tip. I’m gonna
make a project and mail it to Mamaw and Papaw. Will you help me make it, Mommy?”
Maggie offered Josh a sad smile, gave his arm a brief squeeze before she headed toward her daughter. “Of course I will.”
Josh watched her go. And just like that he’d lost her.