Twisting back to face the bar, I sigh and drop my head between my hands. I should feel better after realizing that what happened between Amber and me was truly the right thing. Instead, it only makes me think about what I’ve just lost. Not someone I love the idea of, but someone I’ve fought not to love and still lost. Wren is it for me.

And she made it clear there’s no future there.

When the bartender passes me, I lift a hand and say, “Another, please.”

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

Wren

People always say to do the right thing.

However, they never mention that doing the right thing can also mean feeling like the world is crashing down on your shoulders and burying you six feet under.

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

Aaron

With a grunt, I slam my hatchet into the log of wood. Every time I do, I hope the movement will rid me of the emotions rotting inside me, and every time it fails.

The week that just passed has been filled with cutting down the trees that had been damaged by the few storms we got in December and early January, plus the ones chewed down by the squirrels that Finn and I caught and released far, far, away from here. Working on the farm has been okay. Good, even. It’s done wonders for keeping me busy, enough so that I don’t spend the entirety of my time thinking about her.

It’s been eight days since she told me she didn’t want me, not that I’m counting. In fact, I’ve gotten numb to it. To everything.

The Monday after Aqidah’s party, I went to the Arcade Games headquarters and gave my two weeks’ notice. Craig had been expecting it for a while, although he’d thought I’d wait until I was finished with the design project I was halfway done with. I’d thought so too, in a childish, hopeful way. I’m not the type of person to leave things unfinished, and I hated disappointing my boss like this, but Wren’s dismissal was a wake-up call for me. Dreaming of things that were impossible was useless. My parents would never not need me to handle the farm that’s been in our family for generations, just like Wren would never fall in love with me. It was stupid of me to even keep hope.