Emily jolted, hearing someone call her name again. She’d just gotten into her car, but the top was down. She turned in her seat, noting the dark-haired guy was still looking at her.

“Emily!” She heard it again.

Putting the car in reverse, she moved to the road, glaring at the weirdo guy. “I told you—my boyfriend!” She pointed to the road. It was absurd that she felt the need to prove the lie, but the guy was creepy. Flustered, she turned around, then saw a line of cars passing, but they were shielded by trees and foliage.

“Emily!” The call came again and sounded like it was getting farther away from her.

In a panic, she started her car and pushed her way into the line of bumper-to-bumper cars driving by. Confused and a bit nervous, she tried to see who was ahead of her. Who would even know her? Melissa, Alice, Eden? They were some women who were her friends at the firm, but they weren’t flying in until tomorrow morning. She’d planned it this way to have time alone with Brett. They were all on the airplane right now. It could be other people from the firm. Yes, she consoled herself, it had to be someone from the firm.

The next morning, Emily was up way too early. Maui was six hours behind East Coast time. It was five a.m., and it felt way late. Pushing the covers off, she laced up her shoes. The wedding was at the Marriott on the Kaanapali side of Maui. She’d noticed it had a great boardwalk next to the beach that linked a bunch of hotels. It would be perfect for running and seeing the sunrise.

An hour later, she stood on the boardwalk by her resort, feeling out of breath and happy. She loved a long run in the morning. She took off her running shoes. The sun was peeking over the horizon, and she itched to have her feet in the sand. There were hardly any people up, but she still took her shoes and socks with her and sauntered down to the beach.

Her feet sank into the sand, and she closed her eyes for a second and thanked God for everything good in her life. The feel of the sand. The gentle lapping of the ocean. Wasn’t this what it meant to have faith? Have gratitude? She’d grown up praying, but recently, she’d tried to develop an attitude of gratitude every morning. And right now, in this moment, she did have everything.

This sense of peace was welcome. Even though her friends got in this morning, they’d all agreed they would get some rest and meet at the rehearsal dinner. Which was kind of funny, because Mr. Owens had invited everyone who could come to the wedding to the rehearsal dinner, so it was basically just the early birds. Many more were coming in that night and would just be there for the wedding the next day.

She didn’t want to admit to everyone that Brett wasn’t coming. She didn’t want to deal with all the questions. It made her feel vulnerable. Maybe it was because she was an attorney and hated to come to the table with anyone from a position of weakness, but she hated feeling vulnerability and not being able to do anything about it.

Her cell buzzed in her hand. Glancing down, she saw it was Brett. As much as she didn’t want to answer, she still had a niggling hope that he would say he was at the airport and needed a ride. She pressed accept. “Hello.”

“I know you’re mad at me, and I know it’s going to be a hard couple of days for you.” His voice was tentative.

Her heart sank. He wasn’t at the airport. If he was, he would have already told her he was there. “What, Brett?”

He sighed. “Look, babe, this trial, you know the kinda stakes that are rolling, a human life. It’s really—”

“I know.”

“Listen, I wanted to ask you if you might want to just come back after the wedding tomorrow and not stay the extra days. I’ll book Cabo for next month.”

“What?” This was asinine.

He rushed on. “Be with me for Christmas. That way you wouldn’t lose your vacation days, and you could still go with me. My treat.” He said it like it was a grand, sweeping gesture only a gentleman would give her. Like he was offering to take a bullet for her.

But she knew Brett was the kind of guy who would hide behind her. He was terrified of dying and had admitted that was part of the reason he worked so hard to get his clients off. Irritation swept through her, but she remained calm. “And what about the seven-hundred-dollar helicopter ride?”

He sighed. “I’ll eat it.”

“Really?” Even though Brett had actually paid for that, she’d paid for the extra hotel room nights.

“I’m trying to offer you an olive branch here.” He clicked his tongue.

“Olive branch? No—the olive branch was supposed to be you coming with me to this wedding, remember? Especially after I found all those texts on your phone.” She’d been telling herself they hadn’t meant anything, but now she knew that was a lie.

“Hey.” His voice got severe. “You know I didn’t encourage those at all. When you work with people, sometimes they get the wrong idea.”

She wanted to point out she’d never worked with anyone who had gotten the wrong idea from her. Even though she hadn’t seen any return texts from him, it still felt suspicious. “Whatever.”

“I was hoping you would see that I’m coming to the table to negotiate, but it’s clear you don’t want to negotiate. That’s fine. I guess you can just be mad and do all of your stuff by yourself. Have a good time.” His voice clearly betrayed that he didn’t want her to have a good time. “We’ll just have to hash this out when you get back.”

Before she could even think about it, she blurted out, “I’m done.”

“What?”

“I’m done, Brett.” Complete calm fell over her, the kind that gave her the edge in closings at trials. The kind her co-workers said made her be able to think clearly under pressure. Her brain automatically skipped to the details, the fine print, and the exit strategy of business. “I’ll ask my assistant to arrange for someone to pick up my things Thursday evening. If you’re not there, please leave them in the hall.” They spent a lot of time at each other’s places, but they had never even spoken of marriage. Now, in the sea of all these minutiae, she wondered why she’d never pushed it.

“No, Emily. You’re being rash. This is—”

“It’s done.”

“Wait! Fine, but just have the helicopter ride on me, okay? Enjoy it.”

She didn’t trust him. “We’re really done, Brett.”

“I know.” His voice was soft. “Take it as a parting gift. I owe it to you.”

“Goodbye.” She pressed end on her phone and took a huge breath, feeling like she could really breathe for the first time in a while. She’d spent so much time feeling trapped, and now it was like the part of her lungs that had been squeezed had been set free.

Sucking in another breath, she felt a smile on her lips. Yes. She was free, and she’d been so worried about ruining things with Brett that she hadn’t been able to really see. Opening her eyes, she stared at the beautiful sunrise. Dang. Happiness stirred through her. It would be okay. She would tell her friends, they would, of course understand, and they would hang out. Who cares if she did everything by herself? It would be fun.

She knew that was a lie. She wasn’t one to believe lies. Having everyone know her pain wasn’t really her style. Dang it! With the back of her hand, she brushed the tears from her cheeks. She hated to cry.

Emily took off her sunglasses and cleaned them with her T-shirt. Scanning the shoreline, she saw a guy out of her peripheral vision running toward her down the beach, but she wanted to be alone and ignored it. She gave her attention to the surf and dragged her toes in the sand. It would be a good day. It would.

“Emily?”

Her heart raced. She turned back.

He was glorious, in bare feet, gym shorts, and no shirt. He held a phone, and he was pulling out an earbud. A thorny barbwire tattoo wrapped around his bicep. She remembered seeing it in that stupid article last year. The truth was that he looked better in person.

Emily felt a spike of adrenaline. “Tom?”

A huge grin washed over his face, and he closed the gap between them, opening his arms. “Emily! It was you yesterday.”

Joy swept through her. It was like the past ten years evaporated, and she found herself putting her arms around his neck. He picked her up, holding her close.

A movie montage of their lives together played in her mind—flashlights in the windows to communicate if they could sneak out, fishing at the river, Little League games, watching him play, high school. Their last night on the river together.

Tom pulled back, still keeping his arms around her. “Will swore that was you yesterday, but I didn’t believe him.”

They were close. Very close. “Oh my gosh!” She realized that it must have been him or Will who shouted her name yesterday. “The road to Hana?”

Their eyes held, and he laughed.

A million more memories rushed through her thoughts, including the remorse she’d felt as she’d driven out of town the next morning.

He blinked. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

She found herself laughing too. “I thought I was going crazy.”

Abruptly, it was as if they both realized how close they were. Tom loosened his grip around her waist and took a step back. He pushed a hand through his hair. “Will kept saying he saw you. Then I thought I saw you, and—did you get coconut ice cream?”

“Yes!” This was unbelievable. Her sister would die to hear that she’d run into …

All familiarity evaporated, and awkwardness flooded in to take its place. “Uh,” he said, his eyes sweeping up and down her. He took a step back and shook his head. “Dang, sorry. Seeing you just took me by surprise.”

He looked so good. Warmth flooded her cheeks, and she averted her eyes from his six-pack. “Yeah.” Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. She thought of how she’d regretted so many things for so many years when it came to Tom. “Uh, so what are you doing here?” If he was with his girlfriend, she couldn’t handle it.

A blank look crossed his face. “There was this old lady, and fruitcake—no.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. I won a trip.”

“You won a trip?”

“Yeah, I was at this place where me and my firefighter brothers hang out called Pineapples. I put my name in this thing and won. I’d actually entered this contest last year at the boat show, but I didn’t win it then.” He threw up a hand. “Never mind, that’s not relevant.”

Tom seemed nervous, and she couldn’t help but think that running into her might have dredged up a bunch of crap he had dealt with years before. She grinned. “Of course, the boat show.” She’d gone with him to so many boat shows and watched him ogle boats. “You got your boat.”

A bright smile lit up his face, one she remembered from their early years. “Yep.”

She laughed, and for a moment they were kids again.

His blue eyes warmed. “It’s ten years old, but I like to work on it.”

“I bet there are some good lakes in Park City.”

He hesitated. “I didn’t realize you knew where I was.”

The statement took her off guard. “You didn’t get that Facebook message I sent you last summer?”

“I’m … not good at Facebook.”

It was a lie, and she knew it. But it was stupid to argue about it. “Hmm.”

His eyes narrowed. “Park City’s nice.” He shrugged and let out a long breath. “Not Greeley, but I like it. Plus, nobody’s in Greeley for me anymore.”

Pain seared the center of her chest. She put her hand on his arm before she could think about it. “I was so sorry to hear about your mother.”

His eyes held hers, but they were guarded. They weren’t how Tom used to look at her. She had to remind herself it’d been ten years.

Tom looked down at where she was touching him, then slowly met her gaze. “Thank you.”

This older version of him was a lot more stoic and serious, although he still had that bad-boy squint going for him. The kind that she’d always liked. The kind that told people, “You mess with me, you’re gonna have pain.”

She’d been the one to give him pain. The guilt soured the moment, and she frowned. “I wanted to be there for the funeral, but I couldn’t get away. Trina said she saw all of you.”

Tom didn’t answer right away. “Yeah, I’d just gotten out of the service when she passed. I felt fortunate to get a little time with her.”

“That’s right.” Her brow furrowed. This wasn’t a normal “how have you been” after ten years. “How was the Army?”

“Great.” He said it like he was talking about the weather.

She knew her question had sounded idiotic, but she couldn’t stop pressing him for information. “You flew helicopters like your brother, Walker, right?”

“No,” he said quickly, letting out a soft laugh. “I, uh, got motion sickness, so I ended up on ground support.”

She knew this small admission would have about killed him, not being in on the action. “I see.”

Another awkward pause.

“So who are you here with?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking. No, no, no. She didn’t want to hear about or meet the girlfriend or … wife?

“Just Will.”

This surprised her. “Oh.”

He worked his shoulder. “He’s been temperamental since his shoulder injury. When I asked him if he could break away, I think it was a relief.”

She remembered hearing about his injury. “Right.” Putting her hands on her hips, she sighed. “I think I heard something in the press about him and another quarterback. Tell him I think he should be playing. I’m on Team Will.” It’d been in the media, this debate over if he should play or not.

Tom nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

Emily shifted in place. Everything between them suddenly felt too polite. “Well, I’m glad he could get away too.” He hadn’t answered the question if he had a girlfriend or significant other, but she wasn’t about to ask it.

The moment broke, and Tom cocked an eyebrow. “So what are you doing here?”

Her hands felt sweaty, and she didn’t want to tell the truth. She knew her cheeks were blushing.

The side of his lip tugged higher. “It must be good if you’re already getting this embarrassed.”

He knew her so well. “I’m not embarrassed.”

“You always got blotchy.”

She glared at him, inwardly cursing her color-changing cheeks.

“Sorry.” Looking semi-amused, he put his hands on his hips. The edges of his lips turned up.

Maybe it was worth it to have him be amused. The thought surprised her. She still liked amusing Tom Kent. “I’m here for my boss’s wedding.” She held up three fingers. “It’s number three for him.”

“Ah,” said Tom. “In the fire station, we would refer to her as future ex-wife number three.”

“That’s horrible,” she laughed. “Probably can’t say that, since he’s the partner I work for and he kinda controls if I get promoted to junior partner.” She sighed. “But the people I’m with would like that joke.”

His eyes swept up and down her quickly. “Ah, you’re probably with people who went to Yale and stuff.” The way he said Yale had just a hint of disdain.

“There’s a lot of different people from different backgrounds at the firm.”

His eyebrows lifted in disbelief. “Cool.”

It irked her that his defenses were clearly up. All she wanted to know was what he was thinking.

The moment felt awkward. She wasn’t going to offer up the fact that her stupid boyfriend—correction: ex-boyfriend—wasn’t coming. “Okay, good to see you. Tell your brother hi.” She turned and started to jog away.

“Wait a sec.”

“Yeah?” She kept moving.

“Ems.”

The way he said her name felt so intimate. It was the exact way he’d said it his whole life.

She stopped and faced him, feeling like a heel. There were two feet between them, and once again, keeping her attention on his eyes and not on his very built chest and shoulders was a difficult task. Brett was fit, but not like Tom was.

Tom narrowed his eyes. “Are you okay? It looks like you’ve been crying.”

She hated that Tom could read her so easily. She hadn’t even seen him in ten years, but of course he could tell. “Fine,” she answered quickly. “Totally great.”

“Okay, I don’t know.” He studied her for another five seconds, then waved a hand through the air. “Nothing. You probably have to get back to someone. No worries.” He started to leave. “Good seeing you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Despite herself, she wanted to tell him how vulnerable she was feeling, to demand to know if he had someone. “I just broke up with my boyfriend.” The words spilled out before she could stop them. Dang it.

Abruptly, Tom stopped. He turned back to her.

She shrugged, unable to believe she was telling him this. “And I have this wedding and all these extra days we’d planned to be here and …” She hated the tears running down her cheeks, but she couldn’t stop herself. Gah! How could just seeing him make her blab her guts out? “Now I’ve run into my old boyfriend, and it’s confusing.”

He laughed, but it was short and brief. “You mean old fiancé.”

The truth cut her like a blade. “Yeah,” she said, her tears evaporating. She and Tom had never had closure. They’d never run into each other in all this time.

He lifted and lowered his shoulder. “At least we had that one night.”

Hyper butterflies swarmed in her gut. She hadn’t been able to get that night out of her head for ten years. Clearly, by the intensity of his gaze and what he’d just said, he needed closure too. “I compromised everything I was that night.” She blurted it out.

His eyes widened. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” She turned away.

Taking her by the elbow, he drew her back to him. “What does that mean?” He looked like he’d been sucker punched.

She sucked in a breath. It was all coming out wrong. “I just … all I’m saying is that never should have happened.”

“The thing that shouldn’t have happened was me finding that stupid letter taped to my door the next day. The one that told me I was a dreamer and you were a realist.” His eyes seared her to the core, and anger rolled off of him in waves. “The thing that shouldn’t have happened was you giving my ring back.”

Their eyes held, and even as the tension stretched thin between them, she couldn’t deny her insane attraction for the man. Tom was nothing like any other man she’d dated. He loved hard, and he lived hard. He was a guy who played for keeps. That was how he’d always been. He’d fiercely defended her in school even before they were officially together. He’d been all-state football because he’d battled fiercely on defense. She had loved to watch him play because she knew no one would get by him. And now, the way he was looking at her made her feel …

Naked. Vulnerable. She lived in a world of half-truths, but with Tom, he was, and had always been, the real deal. She blinked. “I am sorry, Tom. For hurting you.”

His face had turned to stone. Another awkward moment passed before he shrugged.

“But you never chased me down, did you?”

“What?” His brow furrowed in confusion.

“Nothing.” She jerked away from him, breaking into a run. “I have to go.”