Page 23 of Another June with You

But could she tell him now? Should she? After all this time? If only she could go back and tell her eighteen-year-old self not to make such a rash decision.

Her fingertips skimmed over the small ridge of scarred skin on the left side of her abdomen. She shook her head. Ridiculous. She couldn’t tell him. It wouldn’t make a difference anyway.

His happiness had always been the most important thing to her. She wanted him to have the best life he was meant to have, and it seemed like he was. He was happy and thriving in Virginia. He had Autumn and the perfect job. She would’ve held him back from getting everything he ever wanted, and telling him now would only cause unnecessary pain. For both of them.

She needed to focus on the areas of her life she could control. She and Jamie were set to hear from Vernon, the owner of the building where Simon had his studio, by the end of the week, and then they would be moving their stuff into the space. Her own photography studio in East Grand Rapids. Life hadn’t turned out exactly as she thought it would, but at least she’d get to live out one of her dreams.

She wandered to her desk and plopped down in front of her computer to work on a few of the brunch photos. Almost the first picture that popped up was of Micah and Chase laughing. She clicked the X in the corner of her Photoshop program and walked away from the computer, trying to escape him.

Part of her didn’t want to.

She paced some more. The idea of telling him still floating around in her mind. She returned to her desk and grabbed her phone, speed-dialing Jamie. She’d know how to talk her down from the ledge.

“Hey,” Jamie answered on the fourth ring. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“How was the brunch today?” Jamie asked.

“My ex-boyfriend is the best man.”

Jamie started laughing. “You’re kidding.”

Shannon could hear music and laughter in the background. “Where are you?”

“I’m at a club with some friends.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt the fun.”

“No worries. Tell me about the best man.”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“No way. I’m coming over.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll be going to bed soon anyway.” Jamie’s cackle was so loud, Shannon had to hold the phone away from her head.

“In bed by seven-thirty? You’re twenty-eight, not eighty-eight.”

“Maybe I’m tired.”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” Jamie abruptly hung up.

Shannon felt bad for tearing her away from her evening with friends, but she knew there was no talking Jamie out of it now. Once she set her mind to something, she did it. It was one of the things she loved about Jamie. She was also fiercely loyal to her friends. She would give a kidney if one of her friends needed it.

Sure enough, thirty-three minutes later, Jamie showed up at the door to her apartment building, pressing the button to be buzzed in.

“I stopped for necessities.” She came bearing two pints of Blue Bunny ice cream—strawberry for herself and sugar-free chocolate for Shannon.

“You are my hero.” Shannon snatched the bag of deliciousness out of her hand and went straight to the kitchen for spoons.

The girls settled in on the couch, and Shannon filled Jamie in on all the events of the day. “I shouldn’t have taken him to my parents’ house. There are just too many memories there, and I knew that. I knew it would dredge stuff up, but I did it anyway, like some kind of idiot.” She devoured a huge scoop of ice cream. “I think maybe a part of me wanted to feel bad today, because of how badly I hurt him all those years ago. Punishing myself seemed like the right thing to do.”

Jamie narrowed her eyes. “That happened a long time ago. Is he the kind of guy who would hold a grudge?”

“Not really. But he tried to bring it up. He wanted to talk about it, and I told him it wouldn’t do any good. I blew him off.”

“Why?”

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