Jake got the email from his mom three days after he'd flown back to Oklahoma. It was a screenshot from a tabloid website. He slumped back in his office chair as he looked it over.
At the bottom right-hand corner, there was a high-resolution shot of him and Stevie as they'd pushed out of that Nashville coffeeshop.
Country star Stevie Flower with new boyfriend? the headline read.
But it wasn't the headline or the text that had his mouth going dry and his palms going moist.
It was the way the photographer had captured the photo. It showed every nuance of Jake's face as he'd looked down on her for that brief second.
Everything he felt for her was written across his face for the world to see.
He loved her.
The phone on his desk rang. It had to be his mom.
It was.
He braced himself, expecting criticism or gloating that she'd been right, but what she asked was, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mom. Lily and I are settling back into our routine after the break. She's excited to go trick-or-treating this weekend. Everything's normal." Except for the gaping wormhole in his midsection.
"So you don't...want to talk about it?"
He took of his glasses and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Talk about what?"
"You had a thing for that girl back in high school, but I didn't realize you loved her."
He really didn't want to discuss this. "Nobody was supposed to find out. Not her. Not you."
"Well, then you shouldn't have had your picture taken for the whole world to see."
He pressed his fist into his forehead. "She's gone back to her life, and Lily and I have gone back to ours. Everything's fine."
He doubted his mom bought the lie, but she ended the call with, "I'm sorry, baby."
He let the receiver crash into its cradle.
He'd thought his feelings from high school were adolescent and long-gone, but with her presence in his house, with the way she'd been with Lily, all those feelings had come rushing back.
Stronger.
But he didn't intend to act on them. Not after what'd happened in high school, and not when it was clear they didn't belong in each other's dimensions. He'd never intended for her to know how he felt.
But if she saw this photo, she'd know.
Maybe she wouldn't see it. Or maybe she would call him, like she'd asked to do when they'd parted in Nashville. And maybe he'd hear in her voice a tone that matched the expression he never wanted to see again.
Please God, don't let her call to let him down with the friends speech.
He'd never prayed so hard for anything in his life.
Two weeks later, Jake walked down the hallway in the on-campus science building toward his office. He'd forced himself to go eat with a group of the other professors instead of holing up in his office.
He greeted a couple of students who had been in last semester's physics lab. Other voices echoed down the cinderblock hallway, kids on their way to or from class.
Someone was waiting near his door. Which wasn't unusual. He often had students who wanted to talk about assignments or extra credit or test grades.
But when he realized who it was, he stopped dead in his tracks.
It was Stevie. Stevie was waiting for him.
He found his feet again and started toward her. She looked good. She was wearing a slim denim skirt, cowboy boots, and a flowing peasant shirt. She had a tote bag over her shoulder.
"Hey."
"Hey." What a great line. He was such a loser. He hadn't heard from her since they'd parted at the airport in Nashville, but he'd thought about her daily. Hourly.
He'd figured she'd probably seen the tabloid picture and decided it wasn't worth the awkwardness to keep their friendship.
Her eyes took him in from head to toe, and he realized what she was seeing. It had been lab day for his Chem I class, so he wore his lab coat on over his slacks and polo shirt. He reached up and touched his hair, trying to smooth down what he knew he'd inadvertently mussed while grading papers in his office earlier.
He must look like the mad scientist. How much more geeky could he get?
His chest banded tight, but he didn't shuck his jacket when he went into the office and motioned her in. This was who he was.
It's who he'd been in high school and it's who he was now, and there was no sense pretending he could be anything different, even for her.
"What brings you out here?" Campus wasn't exactly on any route to any big city.
She rummaged in her tote and came up with a newspaper.
His heart sank even as his pulse thundered in his ears.
She flipped the folded paper toward him, even though he already knew what she was going to show him.
The photo.
"I've seen it." He was amazed at how calm his voice sounded.
"I found out Zack sicced the paparazzi on us. I'm sorry about that."
He shrugged. "Only ten or twelve of the ladies at church gave me a hard time about it." Not including his mom.
This was all right. He could act like it didn't matter. Maybe she didn't see what he'd thought was so obvious.
His chest went tight again. He remembered that moment in the orchard when she'd told him not to be intimidated anymore.
And the kiss she'd given him at the airport.
About Adam, who always said he should go big.
He went around his desk, maybe putting distance between them on purpose.
But now she moved closer. "Can I ask you a question about this picture?"
The minute amount of tension that had bled out of him returned in full force. "What about it?" he asked warily.
She put the tabloid on the corner of the desk and placed her index finger just above his head on the photo. "The photographer who took the photo...they made it look like you were in love with me."
There was an expectant pause. His brain wailed a warning, the memory of her rescue-me face. But he took a deep breath. He didn't have Stevie now, and when she rejected him, nothing would have changed. He'd already made himself the fool for her once, practically scared himself away from girls forever. What did he have to lose?
"That's because I am," he said, and then added, just in case, "in love with you."
It was difficult to meet her eyes, but he did it. He wanted to see hope there, but maybe he'd misread the whole situation. Again. "I have been since high school." The words just continued to fall from his lips.
He thought he heard a soft indrawn breath pass through her lips, but then she looked down at where her finger still touched the paper. Her hair fell into her face, so he couldn't read her reaction. Not that he'd be able to, even if he could see.
She nodded slowly. "Well, then."
What did well, then mean?
She half-turned, and his heart hammered. Had she come all this way just to confront him about the picture and leave? She approached the door, and something screamed in his mind to memorize the sight. The last time he'd ever see her in person.
But she didn't walk out.
She dug in her tote and came up with a stack of thick, white papers.
Then she began unfolding it, and he realized it wasn't papers at all, but a poster board that had been folded into fourths. As she unfolded it to its full size, he saw loopy, glittery words. "Will you go to prom with me?"
His face burned. "I wasn't sure you remembered that." She certainly hadn't brought it up while they'd been together.
But if she were holding the sign up for him...? Was she asking him out? No, surely not. Something else?
"I was immature back then. Too stupid and worried about what my friends thought to realize what we could be together."
She took a breath, and he noticed her hands were shaking. The poster board was shimmering in her grip.
"Then I let my career take over my life," she continued. "And it took Sienna"—her voice trembled—"and you to show me that I needed to get my life back."
He couldn't stand the distance between them anymore. He circled the desk and took the poster from her hands. He set it on his desk, then pulled her close. She came into his arms easily, as if she belonged there.
He cleared emotion from his throat. "It's sort of too late for prom, but I'll go out with you tonight, as long as I don't have to rent a tux."
Against his shoulder, he felt her nod.
"I love you too, you know," she said.
His breath, and the last of his tension, left him in a rush. "I didn't know. I never expected..."
She loved him. Joy swirled in crazy spirals through him. He bent his head, and she met him in a sweet kiss that quickly deepened to something more.
He put a minuscule amount of distance between them, pressing his lips to her forehead briefly instead.
She sighed softly. "I don't know exactly how this is going to work. I haven't had a successful relationship since I got into the music industry."
He squeezed her waist gently.
"But then, I've never felt this way about anyone before."
When she said stuff like that, he felt about like Superman. As if he could fly and lift skyscrapers. Invincible.
"We'll make it work," he said.
"I've scaled back my tour dates for next year. I can't do anything about the contracts we've already signed for this year. And I'm sure I can find a studio in Oklahoma City when I'm ready to record."
"I can renovate the barn again," he offered. "Build you a studio here."
She laughed softly. "We'll see."
"Depending on how things are going with Lily after Courtney gets out next spring, maybe I can go on tour with you for part of the summer."
"Mmm. That sounds nice." She instigated the kiss this time, only she placed small, gentle kisses against the corners of his lips. "Especially if we're married by then."
Married?
She laughed at what must be the dumbfounded expression on his face. "You do want to get married, right?" Her eyebrows lifted. "Eventually...?"
He nodded dumbly. "Yes, please."
Her eyes fell closed, her lashes lowering to hide her eyes for him. "I wrote a song for you," she whispered.
"I hope it's a romantic one."
"It is. I'm thinking of putting it on my next album."
"I'm okay with that. Then everyone will know you're mine."
Because she was.