With wide eyes, I spun around and looked at him in bewilderment. “Seriously?”

Owen gestured with an outstretched hand for me to enter the vehicle. I was still apprehensive, but I noticed the receipt from the rental company was resting on the center console, so I figured my pants were fairly safe.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I settled into the seat, grabbing my cell to text my family about my car. Of course, my phone’s battery was hanging on for dear life, with only three percent left. Before it died completely, I shot off a message letting them know I was on my way home, then powered off the device.

“You’re welcome.”

I watched him close my door, then jog around the front of the sedan toward the driver side. Even compared to last year, when I saw him for only a quick moment, he seemed to fill out even more. He was both lean and muscular, the cotton of his T-shirt stretched around his bicep as if it would give way at any moment. I didn’t recall his arms looking like that in high school. He also didn’t have any of the ink that now swirled in bright colors and shades of black and gray.

My eyes focused on the intricate design as he settled into his own seat. They appeared to be landscapes and words, nothing I could determine without a closer look. And getting any closer to Owen wouldn’t ever be a safe bet I’d take.

As he started the car and began pulling out of the parking spot, the people milling in and out of the store peered through our windows. The alarm was palpable as they darted away.

“Why is everyone running like the apocalypse is coming?”

Giggling, I said, “Because they probably think it is.”

Owen glanced over at me as he pulled onto Main Street. The skin between his eyebrows wrinkled. When our eyes met, there was electricity there that forced me to turn my head away and stare out the window. I didn’t have the time or energy to figure out what was going on.

“I don’t understand,” he mumbled.

“Really, Owen?” I didn’t elaborate further, not only because he couldn’t recall our tumultuous childhood with each other, but because I didn’t have the energy.

We made it ten minutes into the drive before another word was spoken. During that time, I wondered what kind of posts were being made in the town’s Facebook group. Not that I cared what was said about me, but I’d never been the topic of discussion before. At least not in this capacity.

Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was nearing four o’clock, and I knew my sister, Autumn, would be set to start dinner at the bed-and-breakfast soon. She roped me into the grocery store errand when she found me in our parents’ barn. Normally, I’d have declined, but right now, she was so pregnant that she looked as if she swallowed a watermelon.

“So… what’s new with you?” Owen asked, flexing his fingers along the steering wheel.

“Um… nothing really.”

“Did you… uh… go away to college or anything?”

I faced him again. Cocking my head to the side, I wondered if he truly didn’t keep up with anyone from town. I figured his mom would have at least kept him up-to-date on their land and our farm, since we signed the paperwork for the purchase last week.

“Are you joking right now?”

“What?”

“Your head is so far up your own ass that you have no idea whether or not I went to college? Pretty sure there was a listing at our graduation of where people were going, and my name was not on it.”

“Oh. Sorry,” he said with an unapologetic shrug. “My mind was elsewhere at graduation. Actually, it was elsewhere our entire senior year.”

With a resounding huff, I mumbled, “It’s fine. I took online classes to get an Associate’s in Business, but the farm dictates most of my time.”

“You’re still working for your fami—”

I interrupted him and pointed toward the road leading to the Crawfords’ bed-and-breakfast, where I was headed. “My sister, Autumn, and her husband, Colton, fixed up the old, worn-down farmhouse at the top of the hill and turned it into a B&B.”

“Yeah? Didn’t she move to New York or something like that?”

I was surprised he remembered that much but didn’t know whether I went to college or not. But then again, the majority of my male classmates and a few females had a major crush on my older sisters, even memorizing their school and work schedules. So, him knowing what they did after graduation shouldn’t have surprised me. But it did nonetheless.

“She did. She married someone you might recognize. Colton Crawford? He played professional hockey.”

“I think I remember hearing that. I don’t get a lot of downtime. Usually in the offseason, I’m training from sunup to sundown. So, unless it directly affects me or the team, I don’t really know what’s going on.”

Knowing I only had a few seconds before we crested the hill, I wanted to ask about the gossip burning in the back of my mind. “What happened with the fiancée?”

“Ex-fiancée.”

“Yeah. But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. I get it. I don’t like to share my personal life either.”

“It’s fine. I haven’t really talked to anyone about it. I left LA with only a message for my coach and suggestions from my PR team. Long story short, Vanessa decided she wanted to spend our wedding day screwing her best friend in the middle of our reception hall before we marched down the aisle.”

“Wow. That’s…. Wow.” Shaking my head gently, I added, “I’m sorry. You probably expected me to say something more comforting.”

With a chuckle, Owen replied, “No. Actually, I imagined you flipping this around on me and saying it was my fault, or confessing it was you who caused it. Maybe you paid off my fiancée, you know?”

My chest pinched. The sting reached low down in my spine and crackled upward toward my tear ducts. I blinked quickly to rid myself of the tears.

“I deserve that.”

While I’d been speaking, he had pulled the car up in front of the large, restored farmhouse. As the vehicle came to a stop, Owen rested his hand on my exposed thigh. My eyes immediately darted down to the placement. It was the first time I could recall Owen ever touching me.

The spot sizzled.

He pulled his hand away just as quickly as it had landed there, as if it burned him in the process as well.

“Um… sorry. But no, Aspen, you didn’t deserve that.” After a long pause, Owen utters, “Tell your mom I said hello.”

The chrome of the handle warmed under my touch as I opened the door. Just as I stepped out of the car with my bags in hand, I turned back to him. “You may want to come inside.”

Leaning over the center console, Owen murmured, “Huh?”

“It’s where you’ll find your mother.”

I didn’t turn back to see if he’d follow after I closed the car door, but the sound of a second one shutting gave him away.

“What do you mean?” he hollered at me as I reach the porch steps.

I’d never admit it to my sister, but I was jealous about this entire house. It was gorgeous, and I dreamed of the double porches being on my fantasy home. Unfortunately, I would be stuck on the Sunny Brook Farms property for the unforeseeable future.

I knew from conversations with his mother that the two of them didn’t speak often, not that it was on her end. She missed her son, but she also understood why he didn’t want to return to town.

We all did. Now. His secrets were no longer his own. I wasn’t even sure Owen Ramsey was aware of that fact.

“You’ll see,” I said, turning around as I reached the porch to face him. He was standing three steps below me, which brought us eye-to-eye. “Look, you haven’t been back in a long time. Ignore last year, when you were here for a split second and left at the first chance you got. But things have changed. People and lives have changed. I don’t want you thinking you played a part in any of it—good or bad. There were decisions made to better all parties involved. Please, keep that in mind, Owen. I’m begging you.”