“It’s the only way I could think of to thank you for staying, for believing in me enough to wait.”

“I wasn’t exactly enumerating your good points while I stood here freezing.”

“I know, I wouldn’t either—I mean, well, you know what I mean.”

He did.

Clearing off a space on the picnic table, Noelle climbed up and sat there just as she had when they were teenagers. “All right,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “Let’s talk. Since you were the one to suggest we do this, you should go first.”

So she’d become a take-charge sort of woman. That didn’t surprise him. She’d displayed leadership qualities in high school, as well, serving on the student council and as president of the French Club. “All right, that’s fair enough.” She might be able to sit, but Thom couldn’t. He had ten years of anger stored inside and that made it impossible to stand still for long. “We argued, remember?”

“Of course I do. The argument had to do with our mothers. You said something derogatory about mine and I defended her.”

“As I recall, you had a less-than-flattering attitude toward my mother.”

“But you were the first…” She paused. “None of that’s important now. What we should be discussing is what happened afterward.”

Once again she was right. “We made up, or so I thought.”

“We made up because we refused to allow the ongoing feud between our mothers to come between us. Later that day, you wrote me a note and suggested we elope.”

Her voice caught just a little. He wanted so badly to believe her. It was a struggle not to. “I loved you, Noelle.”

She smiled, but he saw pain in her eyes and it shook him. For years he’d assumed that she’d used his love against him. That she’d stood him up just to hurt him. To humiliate him. He’d never really understood why. Was it vindication on behalf of her mother?

“We were going to confront our parents, remember?” Noelle said.

“Yes. I made a big stand, claiming how much I loved you and how I refused to let either of our mothers interfere in our lives. You should’ve heard me.”

“I did, too!” she declared. “I spilled out my guts to them. Can you imagine how humiliating it was to have to go back and confess that you’d tricked me—that you’d jilted me?”

“Me!” he shouted. “You were the one—”

Noelle held up both hands and he let his anger fade. “Something happened. It must have.” She pressed one hand to her heart. “I swear by all I consider holy that I’ve never lied to you.”

“You’re assuming I did?” he challenged.

“Yes. I mean no,” she cried, confused now. “Something did happen, but what?”