Page 78 of Shades of You

Harper’s smile rose. “Yes, Brenna. I’ll meet Hunter, provided he’s willing to fight for what you two have. Everyone deserves a chance. So I’ll stand by your side to help convince the rest of our family.”

“Thank you.” I reached across to give her a quick hug. “That means the world to me.”

I turned to Braden. “Okay, Mr. Protective. Ben has already agreed to give Hunter a chance. What do you say? You willing to bury the Coleridge-Markham hatchet?”

He shrugged as he stared at me steadily. “All I want is for you to be happy, okay? So yeah, I’ll give the guy a shot. But fair warning—I don’t care that he’s the size of a gorilla. If he mistreats you, I’m gonna have some choice words for him.”

I laughed out loud, my mood lightening by the moment. “You don’t need to worry about that. He might be ferocious on the outside, but Hunter is a gentle giant.”

Harper raised her beer glass. “Then let’s drink to ending feuds.”

I climbedthe stairs to my second-story apartment, its familiar creaks greeting me like an old friend. Inside, the silence was complete, and in its stillness, my determination solidified. As I paced across the worn wooden floorboards, the weight of what I was about to do settled on my shoulders—not heavy but undeniably present. I rehearsed lines in my head, scenarios playing out like dog-eared pages of one of the romance novels our club read each month. ButHunter was not a character I could rewrite to suit the narrative.

I stopped at my bookshelf to run my fingers along the spines of countless stories that had seen me through sleepless nights. Each one held a piece of me, echoes of dreams and desires etched between the lines. My eye fell on a worn paperback ofThe Old Man and the Seathat I’d borrowed from Hunter. No one else had ever understood what books meant to me. How they were more than pages between thick paper or leather. They were doorways to different worlds.

Spinning on my heel, I marched to my purse and withdrew my phone. My thumb hovered over the call button on Hunter’s contact, a prayer whispered under my breath for courage. I exhaled a breath of nerves. “Okay, here we go…”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Hunter

Night had settledin like a thick blanket over Dove Key, smothering the day’s excitement with a serene quiet. Main Street was nearly deserted, save for me and my restless thoughts. I walked with no particular destination in mind. Above me, hanging flower baskets swayed gently in the ocean breeze, their vibrant colors dimmed to softer hues in the lights from the streetlamps.

After the baseball game, I had been riding high on adrenaline and deep, deep fulfillment. Evan and I had embraced like the brothers we truly were. It was a moment I’d visualized in my head countless times, never quite believing it could happen. But the cheers faded into a distant hum when I scanned the stands, searching for the face that would make this scene truly complete.

The face that wasn’t there.

Evan clapped me on the back, his grin wide and infectious as my family discussed where to go for our victory party. But my heart tugged elsewhere.

“I’mnot going out with you guys,” I told him quietly, pulling him aside as the team celebrated around us. “I need to find Brenna.”

Evan’s eyes softened as they darted to the empty stands and back. He nodded. “I understand. Go get her back.”

As the elation of having things finally right with Evan ebbed away, it left behind a stark realization that my world was incomplete without Brenna by my side. With determined steps, I left my teammates behind.

I went home, but a quick shower to rinse off the sweat did nothing to wash away the unease. I changed into jeans and a T-shirt, only to find the walls of my apartment pressing in on me, suffocating me.

And that was how I found myself walking down Main Street, trying to figure out how to approach Brenna. The air around me appeared to have a new clarity like I’d put on a pair of glasses. Except it felt like the opposite. Since embracing Evan on that field, I felt like everything holding me back had been stripped away. If he was willing to put the past behind us, then so was I, dammit. I thought of Ayesha and her small family. Part of me would always feel the ache of my failure to protect them, but now I realized that guilt didn’t have to be a life sentence. The Afghani family was a part of the past, and it was time to move on. Brenna was also a part of my past, but she was my future as well.

She was everything.

A flicker of light from the old antique shop caught my eye, and surprise at seeing it still lit up brought me up short. Without any help from me, my feet carried me forward until I pushed open the door. The bell overhead announced my entrance with a jingle.

“Oh my!” came the surprised voice of the owner, hiseyes lifting from the innards of an antique mantle clock. “I didn’t realize I’d left the door unlocked! I lost track of time repairing this clock.” His weathered face cracked into a smile after studying me more closely. “Well, come in, Hunter.”

“Sorry for barging in, Mr. Jacobs,” I said, smiling that Dad’s old friend had remembered me.

Of course he was older now, his hair a steel-gray with a liberal amount of scalp showing. But his blue eyes were still kind as he waved off my apology. He straightened, wiping his hands on a cloth as he looked me up and down. “Nothing to apologize for. The rumor mill is true for once. You have grown into quite the strapping fellow. But you still have the same eyes—I recognized them. Though I think by this time they’ve seen a thing or two. But what brings you here so late?” He peered at me through his round spectacles, curiosity etching his features.

“I was walking to clear my head, and your lights pulled me in here.” My gaze traveled over the various items that filled the shelves and tables.

“Ah, the restlessness of youth,” Mr. Jacobs mused, leaning against the counter. “Reminds me of those times with your father. Out on his boat before dawn and trying to outsmart the fish.”

“Dad used to tell me how you guys would compete on who’d get the biggest catch.”

“Compete? Ha! More like I was always trying to keep up with him.” The twinkle in his eye faded slightly. “We had good times, your dad and I.”

“Hey, how’s your wife doing? I still remember her apple pie.”

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