Prologue
PROLOGUE
SUMMER, PRESENT DAY
Dr. Anna Campbell had spent the last decade and a half trying not to go home. But just beyond those airport exit doors loomed Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—the city she’d spent her childhood trying to escape.
For courage, Anna gripped the gold pendant that had hung around her neck for the past two decades, rubbing her thumb on the delicate lines etched on the surface. She wasn’t a scared, desperate kid anymore, and this trip was her chance to finally find the answers she’d spent half her life chasing.
To finally put the past behind her for good.
Anna squared her shoulders and followed the other weary travelers off the escalator, hesitating as they veered toward baggage claim or out the sliding doors, where friends and family would pick them up. She didn’t have any bags. All of her belongings fit in the pack on her back, and nobody was coming at this late hour to get her. So, instead, she scanned the overhead signs for one that would point her to the Uber stand.
She was about to head out the doors when a low voice, from somewhere behind her, called out, “Can somebody call a doctor?”
Anna whirled around, her apprehension forgotten as her gaze jerked to one of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen, a few feet away, watching her. She stood there, immobile, as her bag slid off her shoulder and fell to the floor.
The man’s mouth curved into a smile.
“Gabe!” she gasped, launching herself at him. He met her halfway, picking her up off her feet and swinging her around.
Gabriel Weatherall, her best friend in the world.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said when he finally put her back on the ground.
Her plane had landed after midnight, and she’d told him she planned to grab a hotel room near the airport and get some sleep. She should have known better than to believe he’d listen to her.
“You didn’t honestly think you were going to sneak back into the country after all this time, did you?” he asked.
“Well, not sneak.” She flashed him a crooked smile. “Maybe just tiptoe.”
Gabe shook his head and sighed, the gesture laced with amusement but also a hint of something else. Exasperation, probably. “You know my family’s been counting down the days until your arrival, right?”
Anna’s heart gave an unexpected lurch: Gabe’s family, the Weatheralls. Gabe’s huge, loud, sweet, loving, overbearing family. They’d been in her life since she was a kid, and having been embraced by them was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Still, there were times, like today, that she knew she’d never be the same as them. They viewed every transition in life as a cause for celebration, the louder and more crowded, the better. While Anna wanted nothing more than to hide out until she could figure out what to do next.
As if he could read her mind, Gabe said, “You’re lucky the whole family didn’t show up at baggage claim with a marching band and fireworks.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at her sideways. “I suggested that might overwhelm you.”
He was exaggerating, but only by a little. And just as he always had, Gabe knew her better than anyone. He understood her past, her childhood, and all the reasons why it was hard for her to open herself up to people as freely as his family did.
Well, he understood most of it. There were some things she’d never told anyone.
Even still, she knew her reserve sometimes frustrated him.
She snuck another glance at him as he grabbed her backpack. It had been four years since she’d seen him. Now in his mid-thirties, there were a few laugh lines around his eyes, and while he was still lean, he’d filled out a little since she’d been away. Of course, that only made him more attractive.
He turned around and caught her staring.
From somewhere far away, a low hum resounded, beginning quietly and building in intensity. For a second, Anna thought the luggage belt had started up over in baggage claim, but no. It was just her—just that shaky, buzzy feeling that took over her limbs when she was around Gabe.
From the tiny twitch in the corner of his eye, he felt it, too.
Just like that, she was transported to the last time she’d seen him, on that early June evening, four years ago. To the two of them on his parents’ front porch, those few wooden planks that separated them a wider gulf than the ocean she’d just traversed. To that stunned expression on Gabe’s face and the hurt reflected in his eyes as she’d retreated from all the lines they’d almost crossed.
She retreated again now, bending to pick up her jacket and riffle through the pockets as if finding her passport was suddenly urgent. Gabe breathed out a quiet huff, and there was that exasperation again.
For about the millionth time since the stormy spring night when she’d left the country, she wondered how time and distance had shaped Gabe’s feelings about their last encounter. Was he equally glad they’d stopped before anything happened between them?
And equally sorry?
She’d never ask him.
They talked about everything. Everything except this live wire thrumming between them. That subject was so off the table, it wasn’t even in the room. Because if there was one thing that mattered more to her than anything, one thing she would throw herself in front of a rushing train to protect, it was her friendship with Gabe.
It was the only thing in life she’d ever been able to count on.