My gaze shifted to the left, to where a group of college-aged girls dressed for a night of partying was lingering. I wanted to think they weren’t a part of the conversation with Brock, but I would be lying to myself. Reece and Colton weren’t paying them any attention, but Brock was.

One of the girls I recognized. Her name was Kristen—Kristen Morgan. I hadn’t seen her in ages, but we’d gone to high school together. She was my age, and she was beautiful. Sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she had a body that matched her face.

Her top exposed her midriff, revealing a navel pierced with something shiny and dangling. I wanted to grab her by her curly hair and haul her ass out of the bar. She was touching Brock, touching him in a way that said she was familiar with him or she wanted to be. Her pale hand was on his arm as he turned to her, a half-smile on his lips. Kristen leaned into him, pressing her chest to his bicep. Brock was smiling at her, and it was a smile I’d seen before, many times before, but never directed at me.

My breath caught as my chest squeezed. Kristen’s hand had moved from his arm and was now on his stomach—his stomach!

“You see what I’m seeing?” Katie asked.

Squeezing my eyes closed for a moment, I swallowed the rapidly forming knot in my throat. “We’ll be leaving soon.”

“Oh, Jilly,” she murmured.

I shifted in my seat, embarrassed by her tone. I knew what she was thinking. I was foolish and naive. My heart started racing as I glanced back at the bar. Brock was paying attention to Reece and Colton once more, but Kristen . . . His arm was wrapped loosely around her tiny waist.

The twisting in my chest increased.

“I have to leave soon. Got to head back to work,” Katie was saying, and I dragged my gaze away from Brock. “I can walk you out.”

The knot returned, crawling up my throat. “That’s . . . okay,” I said hoarsely. “We’ll be leaving soon.”

We hadn’t left, though.

I wasn’t even supposed to be at Mona’s that night. Neither was Brock. If he’d done what he’d promised, so many things could’ve been different. He may’ve never crossed paths with Kristen, and perhaps our friendship would’ve remained the same over the years. Or if I had listened to Katie and left with her? Who knows what would’ve happened?

But I wouldn’t have been there, and what happened later that night could’ve happened to someone else or not at all. I’d never know, because I couldn’t go back.

I could never go back.

* * *