The next morning, Shay woke up, and he was gone. He’d stayed on top of the covers next to her in bed. They’d fallen asleep talking and dreaming about a life together in San Diego, where he would run his ‘Sparring for Vets.’

She’d seen his vision as he laid it out and as he’d traced his fingers over her hands and spooned up against her back. He’d whispered about all the new adventures he would show her around San Diego. He’d told her of places he wanted to go all over the world.

The best part was that she’d seen the vision too. Even though it overwhelmed her, the thing she was the most sure of was him by her side, hand in hand as they started a life together.

Knowing that he would probably wake and leave to catch his plane, she hadn’t expected to wake up at almost nine o’clock in the morning. She laughed and rolled out of bed, happy to see a rose on the chair by the bed and a note that said, Hike to Loma Point today, and we’ll talk about it tonight.

How had he gotten a rose? She smiled even wider as she smelled it. She buzzed around her apartment excitement, getting everything in order, taking a shower, pulling out chicken for the crockpot. She got out some chili powder and salsa and thought she’d make chicken fajitas for dinner, letting the chicken sauté all day. It would be heavenly, and she wanted that for Scar.

He’d told her he would be back by seven and that left the whole day for her. Taking her time, she packed a light lunch.

Shayla paused next to her bucket list wall, reviewing all the things she’d put there. Then she came to one on the list. Marry Jason on the beach. She pulled it off the wall, crumpled it up, and tossed it in the trash. It amazed her how easily it came off the wall and went into the garbage without regret. Sure, it had been over a month now, and she had had time. For so long, he’d been part of her dreams.

She hummed with a sense of accomplishment as she drove to Loma Point. It was on a naval base that was also a state park, and she was amazed to see all the barracks for soldiers and the graveyard. She paid ten dollars to get in and smiled, thinking that Scar would have insisted on paying. Actually, he probably would have somehow talked the guy into getting in free. Her thoughts were flooded with Scar. He was a man among men, a larger-than-life guy. When she’d first met him, all those qualities kind of bugged her. He was sassy about life and was confident that he could do everything and handle anything.

She thought of the night she’d been grabbed by that creep. Scar had been there, pulling him off and slamming his fist into the guy’s jaw. He was a man of action, and it just increased her attraction to him. He was raw and real, and she could see him captured and imagine the blood on his face from the scar and feel the fight and drive and desire it took to battle his way out.

As she parked and got out of her car, her heart hammered inside of her chest at the beauty of San Diego Harbor. She walked along the trail to the lighthouse that faced the beach as the waves crashed into rocks. It was so picturesque. She hated that she found herself crying again. She was here. Finally. Why hadn’t she done this before Scar? She could have hiked to Loma Point Lighthouse. It was only ten dollars. Sure, she’d been getting settled, starting school, and working a new job, but she could have done this one night.

It was like all her dreams had been on hold. She had been afraid of the next step, afraid she couldn’t even keep the ground she’d won, until she’d met Scar. He made her feel brave. More confident. More like him.

Getting to the lighthouse, she flitted in and out of the small crowd. She went into the old home and climbed up the circular stairs, which didn’t go all the way to the top. It disappointed her that the room was closed off.

She headed back down and went into the tiny museum, which housed a replica of the lighthouse. It was beautiful. Its multifaceted light made her think of her own life, how she’d lost her light when Jason had broken her heart. Some of it had shut off. She’d kept going and more light had come into her life. She left the museum, feeling so much gratitude.

She walked to the monument of one of the first sailors from Spain into San Diego Harbor, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. There stood a huge stone statue of the man. It made her smile to see his face, because she thought of how Scar had the same determination that this man had obviously had. The statue had captured that ferocity.

Moving around it, she stared out into the bay and was overwhelmed with how a people had tamed all of the trees and bushes into the civilization it was now. California was majestic, even if her father said the taxes were horrible. There was so much beauty here.

She roamed around back up to the lighthouse and followed the shoreline. She stopped and ate her lunch, surprised that it was already two-thirty. Time sure could fly by. She drove back to her place about thirty minutes away and prepared some rice and beans and homemade tortillas out of flour. It made her happy to think of her and Scar eating this food at her little table. She would light a candle again.

She heard the text message alert on her phone. Dinner plans still good for seven?

She texted back. Yes.

He texted back with an emoji thumbs-up.

Feeling almost at a loss for what she would do until he arrived, she went up to her room and decided to lie down for a few moments.

A loud banging on the door startled her awake. She jumped up, grabbing her phone and finding that it was almost seven. “Oh my gosh.” She’d wanted to be ready and have nice hair and makeup. She didn’t know how she’d slept for so long.

Rushing down the stairs, she couldn’t wait to see Scar and tell him “hey” and indulge in his lips. She flung the door back, a smile on her lips, but froze when she saw something she had stopped imagining and even wishing for—Jason.

He stood there, wearing Wranglers, cowboy boots, a belt buckle, and a five-gallon hat. He looked completely out of place. “Hey,” he said.

“What are you doing here?” She grasped at the doorframe to steady herself, feeling like she was in an upside-down world.

His lips were tight. “I missed you.”

The words tugged at her heartstrings. For four weeks, she’d imagined him showing up just in this way.

“Shay—” He took his hat off. “I have to confess I actually came here a couple of days ago and wimped out. Well, actually, I parked down the street, and I walked around the island and on the boardwalk. I was trying to decide if I could really move here.”

Her heart thudded in her chest.

“I came back to your place and I was going to talk to you, but the next thing I knew, the lights were on and this guy was chasing me down and the cops were there.”

Taking a closer look at him, she could see he wasn’t shaven and didn’t look very clean. “I’m so confused,” she said.

His lip twisted up. “Then, I thought I would just go home. So I did. I drove clear back to Salt Lake City. Then I turned back because I had to tell you I came. I had to tell you I love you.”

Her heart hammered as she thought of the bravery this took on Jason’s part, to come and then leave and then come back. She knew him as her best friend far before they had promised each other their hearts.

He took a step forward and gently put up a hand and pushed a stray hair out of her face, the way he’d done their whole lives. “I love you, Shayla Anne Castle.”

Scar didn’t know her middle name. They hadn’t known each other that long. Why should he know it? She didn’t know his. What was his?

“I’ve loved you for darn near forever.” He kept his hand on her cheek.

Shayla didn’t know what to say. She had loved this boy her whole life, but she also knew that the feelings she had for Scar were real. Scary and unexpected, but the person she was with him—wait!

While she was struggling to sort out her feelings, Jason had moved in to kiss her. Before she could utter a single protest, his lips touched hers. It was Jason, a boy she’d been kissing since she was fourteen, a boy who had been a part of every moment of her life. It felt so wrong. Scar’s face swam to the surface of her thoughts, and she jerked away.

“Shayla?” His hand dropped from her face and reached for hers.

She let him take her hand and closed her eyes to collect herself. Jason. The man she’d pledged her heart to in the middle of fireworks on the Fourth of July in ninth grade. He was back. Did she want him back?

“I love you, Shay. I want to marry you, and we can live here if that’s what you want.”