Shattered Love

e rain had scrubbed everything clean. Sunlight slanted through the apart

For a split second, she thought it had all been a dream -

ed out of her bed

replaced. His hair was a mess, and his T-shirt clung to him in places the rain hadn't dried yet. H

rk that thing, huh?" she teased, her

ed - for the first time in what felt like forev

g sheepishly. "Still a

e bit his lip in concentration. The way he glanced at her l

frozen - soft and fragile, untouched by

t live in stolen

"I was thinking... maybe we could go somewher

n eyebrow. "

h an almost bashful smile. "Th

chest ti

meant hammocks between trees, shared sandwiches, whispered secrets under a sky so wide it made all

would be like stepping into a me

son's eyes - the quie

," sh

out little things - the broken street signs still unrepaired, the new

up to the lake, Emily's b

ees bending gently toward the shore as if listening for old secrets. The pier stretched out int

hey walked to the

f beside her, careful not to crowd her space. For a long moment, they just sat, th

bad," Jackson said quietly, staring out at the h

thread on her jeans. "

happened. I don't want to pretend we can just pick up where we l

e - and for once,

," she admitted. "Bu

epth of her words. Carefully, he reached out -

ok his

It wasn't the heady

ng deeper. Som

together, not because they had forgotten the hurt - but beca

in hand, watching the

carrying with it the pr

felt something flicker to life inside her - not the