I'd been working three jobs to scrape together tuition, running myself so ragged that my blood sugar crashed and I collapsed. Rhys Gilbert happened to be passing by. Without a word, he'd scooped me onto his back and carried me to the campus clinic.
After that, we started dating.
Six months later, he graduated and left the country to study abroad. I knew the gap between us was too wide, so I was the one who ended it.
Now, two years later, he was my cousin's boyfriend.
Rhys extended his hand, his smile polite and distant. "Nice to meet you."
The taut wire that had been holding me together finally snapped.
Bitterness surged up my throat. Even breathing hurt—a dull, spreading ache behind my ribs.
I couldn't bring myself to take his hand. "Excuse me—I need to go wash up."
I fled to the bathroom, scooped cold water over my face again and again until the shock receded enough for me to think straight.
Then the doorbell rang.
"Irene, go see who that is!" my mother called.
I opened the front door. Joel Lambert stood on the step, a bag of groceries in each hand, grinning at me like an idiot.
My mother rushed over and took the bags from him. "Joel! Come in, come in."