His eyes held hers, and the ache Addison had done her best to stitch up started to split open at the seam. She’d been tempted to hand over her pain from the whole ordeal during the bourbon memory harvest—to offer up what she’d done to River and never remember it again—but heartache was all she had left of him, and she refused to give it away.

“We’re here at the same time every day,” Addison said.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while since I’ve been in the shop. Seems I’ve forgotten a few things,” River said. “And we both know who I have to thank for that.”

Addison’s head dropped. “My magic… I didn’t understand what was happening. I didn’t mean to take what I did. I broke myself just as much as I broke you. I made a mistake. I don’t know how many times I can tell you how sorry I am.”

“You made a mistake?” He laughed, the sound low and grating. “You broke something in me.”

A cicada landed on the pavement, rubbing its wings in a soft warning.

Addison, too, felt like she lost something every single time he came back to Yarrow and she only found out because Quinn told her. She lost something every time he crossed the street to avoid her, and every time he refused to make eye contact if she did manage to see him when he was in town.

“I needed you, too, River. You left me, like what we had meant nothing… like I meant nothing to you.”

He shook his head. “You stole something from me that I’ll never get back. I don’t even remember what it feels like to want to be here. In Yarrow, in this building. I know at one point I’d hoped to help run the grocery with Harper, to carry on our grandfather’s legacy, but now, whenever I try to think about it, I come up empty. No matter how many times my grandmother tells me how much he loved me, it doesn’t sink in. It doesn’t feel real. I don’t even remember it. You took that from me. From my family.”

“I never meant to hurt you, River.” Her voice cracked, and tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

He shook his head, then left without another word.

Addison braced herself against the truck. Quinn put an arm around her.

“I wish I weren’t still in love with him,” Addison said after the door closed behind him.

“If it helps,” Quinn said, “I’m pretty sure he’s still in love with you, too.”

“It does not help,” Addison said.

It helped a little.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was back?” she asked. “Didn’t Harper mention it?” Quinn and River’s sister had been dating for a few years.

Quinn scratched at the back of her neck.