Page 92 of Come Take Me Now

“I never put that together.” Tilly doesn’t look like her, judging from the photos I’ve seen taken when I was first born.

“You haven’t met her. Well, not when you would have remembered her. He said your mom was as tall as her.”

I clear my throat. “I can’t handle thinking about my fucking mother right now. I mean, look how well that turned out for Dad.”

“Vin told me he loved her a lot, but he loved you more. It worked out how it should have, and this doesn’t mean history has to repeat itself.”

Oh, but it does. Tilly’s been homesick all summer, only staying in Napa because of me. And if I knocked her up, which I’m doubting as each day passes, I’d have to give her an out, so she could pursue grad school. I’d be in Dad’s shoes—a single dad. Are we just cursed in love? Does it take a couple of tries to get it right?

“But it feels like it is. Tilly and I weren’t meant to be. Just like Dad and my mom weren’t.”

Tilly will go off to San Diego, and we’ll be strangers again. But I’ll never forget her and might just stay single for the rest of my life.

It wasn’t fate, like I thought.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Tilly

One week since ending it with Enzo. I must be out of my damned mind because I hope he’s doing okay, but am I okay?

All I can do now is count down the days until I go back to Sacramento, then San Diego. Days in Napa were limited, slipping away as time blurred—especially the past week.

I avoided being at home at all costs. I ran as much as I could to stay out of the way and used the gym and lap pool at Dad’s country club as his guest. Eye roll, I know, but I have to cope somehow. The alone time as I avoided Clarissa and Dad was haunting. The memory of glancing back at Enzo’s front door to see if he was chasing me won’t stop, like it’s stuck on replay.

Over the past week, I’ve looked over my shoulder constantly. While running, alone at home, anywhere. Just to see if I crossed paths with him. I found myself glancing out of windows as I passed them. Running without my earbuds. Being hyperaware of my surroundings. But not in a PTSD way, like a normal person would. I wasn’t scared Enzo might be there, but I wished he was.

I knew he wouldn’t bring me flowers and say sorry, but fuck, if I meant something to him, I thought he’d grovel a little. I never said I didn’t want to see him again. But not a single text or call. What did my mom say after my ex dumped me at the start of the summer?

“You’ll forget about him. He was just a phase of your life, and the one is still out there for you.”

Enzo was just a phase, too.

But I’ll never forget him. Or the summer I spent too much time studying the intricate designs that cover his skin. Or trying to memorize every vein—

“Tilly?”

I blink a couple of times, and Clarissa is standing in front of me. I grip my mug of coffee tighter and keep my knees tucked to my chest.

“What?”

“You’ve been so lost this week,” she says.

“Yeah, dumping your dream man will do that to you,” I reply somewhat sarcastically.

“Oh, don’t worry, Tilly. It wasn’t meant to be. A guy like him would have moved on by now.”

I narrow my eyes at her and take a sip of my lukewarm coffee. “He wouldn’t have. Not that fast,” I snap.

“I don’t know. He strikes me as the type to walk into a bar, pick up the hottest chick he wants, and dispose of her when he’s done.”

I grip the mug, and my breathing quickens into a huff. He picked me up from a bar, and I was the hottest girl there. And boy, did he remind me last week that I needed him at that moment. She’s partially wrong, though. I did the disposal part.

“What are you saying?” I ask.

Clarissa shrugs. “You just beat him to the punch.” Every muscle in my core binds up, and I focus on staying seated on the couch to not claw her face off. “I just hope for your sake you didn’t do anything with him you’ll regret.”

“Why? Because you want him?” I lean closer to her. “And he’s got the biggest dick I’ve ever seen, but he wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.” Her eyes flare with envy, but that was too far.