Page 15 of When We Are Complete

I trail her through the stone pathways toward the beach, the gardens stretching around us, lit only by scattered lanterns glowing along the path.

Where’s she going? What’s she doing?

She walks with purpose, her coat pulled closed against the cold. The hem of her green dress sways around her knees as she moves, and I can’t take my eyes off her. For a second, she glances over her shoulder, catching sight of me, and her step faltersslightly, but she doesn’t stop. Instead, she pushes forward, deeper into the maze of foliage.

We pass under a wooden trellis tangled with ivy, and the gardens give way to the open stretch of beach just ahead, the ocean glimmering beyond. The moon is high, casting a pale silver light over the water.

She finally stops at the edge of the garden beside an oak tree, just before the sand begins, and I close the distance between us.

“Kelly,” I call out, and she freezes.

Slowly, she turns to face me. Her arms are crossed tightly over her chest, her expression guarded. The moon catches in the dark of her hair, and the sight sends a pang through me.

I was an idiot to ever let her go without at least trying to make it work.

My thoughts are muddled, thick from drink, but that one thought crystalizes and stays.

I should never have let her go.

But now she’s back.

Chapter 8

Jake

For a long moment,neither of us speaks. There’s just the sound of the ocean and distant voices from somewhere close to the inn.

“What do you want?” she finally asks, her voice cold.

And just like that, the years fall away, and I’m eighteen again, standing on the edge of a decision that tore us apart.

“I just…” I pause, the words tangled somewhere between my brain and my mouth. A haze settles over my thoughts, loosening things I’ve kept locked away for years. What the hell am I doing? I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be following her.

But here I am.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” I manage, my voice rough and unsteady, the words too small, too late.

Her laugh cuts through the night—sharp, bitter, a little wobbly at the edges. “Sorry?” she hiccups, swaying just slightly. “You’re seriously saying that now? After all this time?”

She smells of champagne and sea air, and a part of me registers that she’s drunk too. This is a terrible idea, talking to her, but it’s already happening, and I can’t seem to stop it.

I take a step closer. “It’s not enough. I should’ve said it back then. But I never stopped thinking about you.”

She scoffs. “Thinking about me? Well, thinking doesn’t change what happened, does it? You threw me away as though I was nothing.”

No. I let her go because she waseverything, and she deserved more than my messes.

Kelly was always a force, this fierce, brilliant light that filled every corner of a room without even trying. She had this drive, this spark—she could conquer anything she set her mind to. I’d never met anyone like her. And I never have since.

She deserved the world, everything she’d worked so hard for, and I couldn’t be the one to clip her wings or tie her down with mistakes that weren’t her own. She was too damn incredible to be dragged down by me. By a baby and a life I never planned.

The breeze off the ocean tugs at the loose strands of her hair, brushing them across her cheek. For a second, all I want to do is reach out and tuck them behind her ear. But my hand stays frozen by my side, weighed down by regret.

“I thought…” My throat feels closed up, but the words keep coming, the alcohol loosening truths long buried. “I thought I was doing the right thing—”

“How noble of you.”

“But I never stopped loving you.” It slips out before I can stop it, stirring something dangerous in the cold night air.

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