Page 70 of Exposed

I wanted her words to make me smile too. But they felt like a knife in my chest.Supposed to be.No, Matt and I weren’tsupposed to be16 years ago. Because I wassupposed tohave 15 beautiful years with Miller instead. Sixteen if I was being completely honest. I’d loved Miller for 16 years.

I stared at Matt running after Jacob on the field. And if I was still being completely honest…I’d been in love with Matt for 16 years too.

I’d always loved both of them.

And I always would.

Nothing hurt more than loss. But one thing I’d learned over the years was that knowing how much your heart could hurt made little moments like this feel so much bigger. I knew how fleeting they were. Miller was gone. And I was going to keep living for him.

“Which one is Henry?” I asked.

“The kicker.” Kennedy pointed to the scrawniest guy on the field.

It felt like Matt had been a world away from me. But we both had Henry projects. We were both haunted by each other’s ghosts. We both still loved each other. And that was all that mattered.

The cool autumn breeze blew and I shivered. I turned around and stared at the empty stands. Miller had sat in them when I came to Matt’s games. He would have loved seeing Jacob out on the field. He would have loved this.

And I was hoping that what Matt said was true…that on game days, if you squinted and let the faces blur in the stands, that you could see ghosts. I hoped that I’d be able to see Miller smiling at me. Letting me know this was okay. Because I really needed it to be okay.

“What are you looking at?” Kennedy asked.

I shook my head. “Just remembering.” The wind blew again and I closed my eyes. I knew why Matt kept coming back here. And it wasn’t just the ghosts in the stands. The freshly cut grass of the field and the fall air reminded me of him too. We’d fallen in love in the fall. We’d had one season together.

And now I was ready to experience the rest of them with him. I was ready. I opened my eyes and stared at Matt.

He turned to me, like he could sense I was staring. He lifted his hand and rubbed the tip of his nose with his index finger.

I smiled. Our secret signal from back in high school. So that I’d know he was thinking about me even when we weren’t beside each other.

I rubbed the tip of my nose too and he smiled.

Chapter 25

Tuesday

Matt

I had Brooklyn’s ring back. It looked even better than it originally had. That jeweler was a genius. And he’d somehow even predicted that I’d only need this ring.

I only had one more stop to make before I headed over to James’ for some prom planning. I pulled up outside the restaurant Poppy had picked out.

Mr. Pruitt had done what he’d promised. Poppy had texted me earlier today telling me she was ready to sign the papers. She’d be out of my life. For good.

I walked into the restaurant and spotted Poppy chatting to someone with a camera. When she saw me, she immediately stepped away from the guy she was talking to and ushered me over to a table.

“What is that about?”

“To capture our break up, of course.”

“We’re not breaking up. We were never together.”

“Whatever you say, sugar tits. I can’t believe you ratted me out to Uncle Richard. But I guess it all worked out because he was very impressed by my blackmailing you.”

He would be impressed by that.

“Here.” She handed me the contract. “It’s all signed. You don’t have to make a scene and check it or anything.”

The way she said it would have made me check it, if I wasn’t planning to already. I skipped to where my signature already was. Hers was scrawled beside mine. This was binding. If I knew anything about her, it was that she honored contracts.

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