1. Lake

LAKE

I wonderedfor the hundredth time if I was out of my mind.

Heat beat through the car window, my air conditioning was cranked to the max, and the radio rhythmically pumped music through the speakers. As always, my daughter and I had our carpool-karaoke going, both of us singing together, one song after another. It was energizing and uplifting for both of us.

My gaze moved to the rear-view mirror and landed on my whole world. Stormi bobbed her head to the music while she belted out the words to"Flowers" by Miley Cyrus. My daughter loved the song and I definitely got behind the lyrics.

I felt them deep in my soul.

For me there was no significant other or romance in my life. Not now, not in the past, and probably not ever. But that was okay because the beautiful angel who sat in the backseat was everything to me. She was all I needed. Although, I held out hope that one day when she was an adult, she'd find what I never had.

Stormi's spirit was strong and blazed brighter than the sun that almost blinded me as I kept driving to our destination.

Why had I told Ruby that we'd attend her Fourth of July barbeque? I'd always liked the beautiful, red-headed nurse that I frequently talked to when I brought people into the hospital. She had a sweet disposition about her that set me and others at ease. But as wonderful as she was, I'd also seen her with Bronson. That should've had me running for the hills, not heading in their direction, because I knew there was a good chance he could be at the party.

Yet, I was going anyway.

You just want one more look at him.

I must've liked punishing myself.

I'd caught a glimpse of Bronson when I was bringing in a new patient one evening and noticed him with a large group of people and the woman he'd saved the night of the shooting as she was leaving the hospital with her new baby. He looked good and my heart hammered in my chest as I watched, not able to pull my gaze from him. When he looked over at me, I quickly diverted my eyes.

When I'd taken another peek, he'd disappeared.

I shouldn't have been surprised that he didn't approach me. He'd made it clear long ago that walking away from me was something that had come easily to him. We were so young, I knew that, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

I'd believed we would always be together.

Silly, teenage, foolish heart.

"Are we at the party?" Stormi inquired as we pulled down a long driveway and drove toward a remarkable, country-style home with an expansion of land and winsome scenery surrounding it.

I bit my lip to ease the tension running through me and pulled in next to all the other cars. "Yeah, sweetie, we're here."

Glancing in the mirror, I saw my daughter's eyes widen. "There are a lot of people. Do you think they'll like us?"

While my girl was mighty, she still had a soft heart, and she'd built a load of armor around her to fend off those nasty kids that weren't always accepting. Stormi wanted everyone to like her, but that wasn't how the world worked and it sucked. As a mother we wanted to protect our kids from anything that hurt them and shield them from any sorrow.

I rubbed my hand over my heart as I thought about the tears she had shed over the years when another child had made fun of her because sometimes she struggled to keep up or do everything they did.

Asthma could be a real bitch and scary too.

Looking at the hopeful look in my child's gaze, I prayed I wasn't lying when I said, "Everyone will love you, baby girl." I gave her a big smile. "Who couldn't love someone as magnificent as you?"

"You have to say that because you're my mom," she said softly.

Just as I was about to speak to reassure her that it wasn't just because I was her mother, I watched her square her tiny shoulders and nod. "You love me so that's what really matters. Let's go to the party." She began unbuckling herself and I took my cue from her and got out of the car.

Seconds later, we stood side by side, hand in hand, and looked at each other. "Ready?" I asked her.

Her gazed zeroed in on me as if she could see everything that was going on in my head. "Mom, I got your back." Then she was pulling me toward the backyard following the sounds of laughter.

But as we rounded the corner and the sea of people came into view, both of us froze, unmoving, as if our feet were anchored to the ground.

There wasno time to turn and run.

"I'm so glad you came," Ruby said as she approached Stormi and me. She reached out and touched my arm. "Come meet everyone," she coaxed in a soft, but chipper tone.

My gaze landed on the large group of women that Ruby had us heading toward. Nerves swam inside me but I managed to get my feet moving. Stormi gripped my hand tighter but followed along.

Instantly we were greeted with open arms from all the ladies and I thanked them for having us. It wasn't but a few seconds into the introduction that a group of kids ran over and Stormi was asked by the girl that looked to be the oldest of the children if she wanted to play tag.

I could see the longing in my child"s eyes, but they were also wary. Crouching down so I was eye to eye with Stormi, I said, "If you want to go play it's okay, just take your inhaler with you."

"What's an inhaler?" another little girl asked.

"I'll explain it to you later," Ruby told her, so I assumed it was her daughter.

Stormi looked at the kids and her face fell.

"Do you want to go play?" I asked her again, giving her hand a little reassuring squeeze, but she shook her head no.

The first girl told Stormi if she changed her mind to come find them and then all the kids ran off. I hated the look in my daughter"s eyes, but I knew she was worried if she ran around that her asthma would flare and then the kids would make fun of her just as they had at school.

With my heart hurting for my baby girl, I stood, still holding her hand and came face-to-face with the one person I was hoping to avoid.

He and the group of guys with him were not there moments ago when I crouched to talk to Stormi.

"Bronson," I whispered as my heart began to beat uncontrollably.

In a deep, hesitant voice, he replied, "Hi, Lake."

Something fluttered in my belly when he said my name and I was having trouble getting any words out but after a few long seconds finally found my voice.

"I'm glad you're okay."

His gaze searched mine. What was he looking for? Tension filled the air and one of the guys named Lyric jumped in to ease the awkwardness. He introduced himself and all the guys followed, just like the ladies had moments before.

Last, Bronson thrust his hand out to shake mine as the guys had all done. He wanted to shake my hand like we were just meeting and hadn't grown up together? Both confusion and a bit of anger swelled inside me. Not wanting to make a scene, I placed my hand in his.

We both sucked in a breath at the same time and yanked our hands from each other's grasp as if we'd been struck by a live wire. It certainly felt that way.

Stormi's sweet, concerned voice pulled me out of the moment. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

I looked down at my daughter. "Nothing, sweet pea," I told her as Ruby spoke at the same time.

"Lake needs help," she blurted out.

My gaze snapped back up and I saw Bronson's eyes zero in on mine.

"What kind of help?" he asked, his tone a bit harsh, but filled with concern.

My feet automatically started to retreat and I took a step away from him, Stormi's hand still clutched in mine.

One of the other guys spoke up asking if No Surrender, a business Ruby had told me about that did many things, one including security, could help me somehow. I felt overwhelmed and tears began to pool in my eyes as I shook my head.

"Someone is threatening her and she thinks they've been around her home," Ruby added.

I was second guessing confiding in the woman now. She'd been so kind one day at the hospital and I'd been shaken up a bit after finding footprints around my house that morning so as soon as she asked if I was okay, I assume based on my facial expression, I started blurting out all my problems.

As much as a part of me wanted help, I couldn't get that from the man from my past. Putting my faith in him and getting let down would break me all over again. Besides, he didn't deserve to know anything about me. I also knew if his friends were involved, then that meant he would be too.

A menacing growl erupted around us and I sucked in big breath when I realized it came from Bronson.

I couldn't do this. The concern on Bronson"s face was throwing me and I needed to get out of there.

"This was a mistake but thank you for inviting us." I swooped Stormi up into my arms and took off toward our car.

"Mommy, what happened?"

I knew she was concerned when she called me Mommy. It came out more when she was worried or hurt. Being that she'd said it multiple times since we arrived told me that I should have listened to my gut and never gone.

We were almost to the car when I heard, "Lake, please wait."

Doing my best to ignore the request, I kept going but Bronson made his way to us just as we reached our vehicle.

"Lake, just talk to me."

I whipped around, my daughter in my arms. "You want to talk to me now?" My blood began to boil. "Now after all these years?" I fired at him. My body shook with pent-up emotions. Feelings that had plagued me for years were bubbling to the surface and about to explode.

He started to reach his hand out to touch my arm but when I glanced down, he yanked it back and blew out a huge breath.

"I know it's a lot to ask but I want to make sure you two are okay. Even if it's not my place. I can't just ignore what I heard and turn my back on you and pretend everything is okay."

A hysterical laugh burst from my mouth. "Turn your back? You had no trouble doing that before," I scoffed.

This was not the time or place for years of hurt to free itself. Not in front of my daughter. But I was seriously struggling to contain it now that the can of worms had been opened.

He swiped his palms down his face. "I'm sorry. I thought when I left I was doing the right thing so you could live your life and not worry about me."

Stunned at what he had divulged, my mouth dropped open like a fish out of water struggling to take in oxygen.

Some of the anger deflated when I saw the look of regret shining in his eyes.

Stormi placed her hands on my cheeks and turned my face so I was looking at her. "He said he's sorry, mom, so you should forgive him, right?" She scrunched her cute button-like nose, leaned in, and rubbed it against mine, then giggled. "That's what you always tell me to do. Forgive people when they say they are sorry."

Well shit. She got me there.

Stormi knew about the boy, my best friend, who I grew up with at the lake. I talked about him often. What she didn't know was it was the man standing in front of us that had ripped my heart out. But I wasn't going to tell her that right then.

"That is what I said."

She smiled at me in triumph and then squirmed to get down. I stood her onto her feet and the next thing I knew she grabbed not only my hand but Bronson's too.

"Can we go back to the party?" She glanced at him and then looked back at me. "I think I want to play with the kids now."

How was I supposed to say no when it was what I wanted for her and that look of longing was back in her big, chocolate-brown eyes.

My gaze drifted to Bronson, who had not pulled his hand out of Stormi's. For a big, bad cop, he looked scared shitless. And when I said big, I meant big. The boy I knew had filled out and was packing some muscle.

Don't think about that.

I wasn't sure what the hell to do. It took a lot for my daughter to feel comfortable with someone and yet there she was, her hand gripped in Bronson's like they had known each other forever. It scared the crap out of me.

"You can play with us too," Stormi told Bronson in a sweet voice.

That seemed to shift something, not only inside of me, but him too. He squatted down so they were eye level. "That would be fun." He gave her a megawatt smile that had her bouncing on her toes.

For me, that smile sent butterflies fluttering in my belly. God how I loved his smile. It was just as earth-shattering and irresistible now as it had been when we were growing up.

It was so unfair.

A tug on my hand had me looking at my child. "Let's go play."

For the second time that day, I felt myself being guided by my daughter toward the sound of a party that was still in full swing. Only this time it wasn't just my hand she held.

I'd been worried about Bronson being at the gathering, but I never imagined things going as they had.

Looking at their joined hands, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I used to wish for this in the early days when Stormi was a baby. But I gave up hope that Bronson would come home and be with us. I'd come to my senses, realizing he would never be mine. And therefore, he'd never be Stormi's.

Now when he walked away it wasn't only going to hurt me.

Stormi's heart might just break too.