Page 20 of In Full Bloom

Multiple emotions flicker across her face. Pain, confusion, regret and sadness, something like wistfulness. “I guess he doesn’t anymore. He’s dead.”

11

KATIE

I hateMax Sheridan more than anyone else on this earth.

The feeling is mutual so I don’t even feel bad about it.

I don’t know what caused it, but when I moved to Kauri Creek he took an instant dislike to me.

Him and Olivia being friends before my arrival and no longer friends after it probably didn’t endear him to me.

Neither did me dating his brother.

Max and Toby were alike in so many ways. Being identical twins they had the same dark hair and eyes, but Max has a more severe look to him. Or maybe it’s just his expression hardening every time he looks my way.

They were both gorgeous and charming, but Max leaned towards arrogant and cocky where as Toby was gentler, more subtle.

It was that subtlety that ruined me in the end. Maybe if he’d been more like Max the truth wouldn’t have hit me so hard. The truth I didn’t learn until the day he was killed in a car accident.

I hate Toby now too, as much as I loved him, which is an interesting feeling to have.

But right now, my rage is directed firmly at Max. For the way he spoke to me, for what he said to Dallas, for making me remember Toby.

I stormed out of the function room moments after shocking Dallas into silence with the reveal that my ex is my ex because he’s no longer alive. I behaved like a bratty kid, spinning on my heel and stomping off, slamming the back door behind me.

Dallas, to his credit, didn’t follow me.

A huge relief since I don’t want him to see me like this, my face red and blotchy and unstoppable tears spilling down my cheeks.

I’ve done a lot of crying over Toby and our relationship. Tears of grief and pain, tears of anger and hatred. But none of them have hit quite as hard as these ones.

Being back at Wildflower Ridge, the place where it all started, has brought all the memories rushing back.

Coming face-to-face with Max and being reminded of how much he hates me was something I thought I was prepared for, but I don’t think I could have ever been fully ready for that moment, for seeing the anger and grief in his own expression.

He blames me for taking his brother and best friend away from him. I can understand that. But he doesn’t know the full story and I don’t think either of us will ever be in a place where we can have that conversation.

I haven’t been paying attention to where I’m walking, just knowing I need to get as far away from Dallas as possible right now, but when I reach the lake I manage to release a full breath.

It’s a bit fancier than the last time I was here. Obviously they’ve done some work to it so it can be used for wedding ceremonies and photo locations. I skirt around the gazebo on the water’s edge and slip into the shade of a massive Totara tree. The bark is rough under my fingertips as I trail them across the trunk. I glance up into the branches and falter.

Not this tree. This is the tree in which Toby and I hid during a game of spotlight. He was already in the tree when I started climbing it, unaware of his presence. When I realised he was there I tried to climb down again, but he grabbed my hand. Electric shocks had zoomed up my arm as he whispered, “stay.”

Until that point I assumed he disliked me as much as Max did, but after that night … I knew different.

I continue around the lake until I find a different tree with a solid trunk. I slide down and sit with my back against the bark, pulling my knees up to my chest.

In the peaceful quiet, I release the rest of my tears.

I haveno idea how much time has passed when someone sits down beside me. Since my tears ran out I’ve sat here and stared into nothingness, my emotions exhausted and numb.

At first I worry Dallas has followed me, but this person isn’t big enough to be him, and when their arm brushes against my own it’s a soft warmth, not the blazing heat I’ve come to expect from Dallas’s touch.

Olivia tilts her head and rests it on my shoulder, not saying a word, but being there for me when I’m ready to speak.

“I shouldn’t have come back,” I whisper eventually, my voice scratchy and hoarse.

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