“Save your fucking apology. Jesse was a brother to me. You weren’t. If you do this for me, the slate will be clean. I’ll never bring it up again. We’ll be even. I swear. Please. I’m asking you to do this for me.”

He looks at me a long moment.

“Jesse is going to give me hell for this,” he says.

He walks inside the house and over to a table. After checking his phone, he scribbles down the address on a scrap piece of paper. He gives me the address and holds out his hand.

“Are we really good now? Because you’ve been mad at me for a very long time. And you’re right about everything. All I can say is that I’m sincerely sorry. If I could do it over, I would have made different choices. I wasn’t much more than a kid myself, but it doesn’t excuse leaving you alone in that situation. I’ve thought about it so many times.”

I look down at the address in my hand. For the first time since Lila left, I feel hopeful. Now I finally have an opportunity to fix this fucking disaster.

“Yeah, we’re good now,” I say, reaching out my hand to shake his. He grabs it and instead pulls me close for a quick hug.

“I love you, bro,” he says, clapping me on the back. “Don’t make me regret this. You have a two-hour head start. I’ll stall Jesse to give you time to get there. If you can work something out so that we don’t need to come along behind you, call me.”

I slide the paper into my back pocket.

“You won’t need to make the trip. I promise you. I’ve got this.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lila

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I reach my turn around spot at the two-mile mark and stop running. Bending over at the waist, I try to catch my breath for the run back. The unbearably hot summer temperature and humidity are oppressive. I’m feeling queasy and wish I had started the run earlier in the day.

Then again, I find myself wishing for a lot of things.

Mostly I wish I was back in North Georgia sitting on the deck overlooking the lake with Sam. What I wouldn’t give for just one more summer evening doing exactly that.

How I miss him.

I miss his constant stream of jokes and his devilish smile.

I miss hearing his laughter ring out loud and often.

And I miss the feel of his warm body curled up against my back in the middle of the night.

Sam Mason never leaves my mind for long. He’s all I think about.