Besides that, after having her heart broken so badly once already, the last thing she needed was to get into a relationship where she knew that was inevitable. As much as Ben insisted he could be faithful, and bless his heart she’d seen him try, she knew he was basically incapable.

The conversation moved onto the technicalities of how, where, and what to say and not to say. With that taken care of she hung up and lay down on her bed feeling tired and drained like she had so often lately. She embraced the teddy bear, kissing the top of its head.

Staring up at her bedroom ceiling, she wondered how other girls did it. Obviously she couldn’t be the only girl in the world that didn’t end up with her first love. Many, for sure, had fond memories of their first profound relationships, but everyone else moved on. Why couldn’t she?

Refusing to allow herself to get choked up for the millionth time, Rose thought back, once again, to a time in her life that now seemed too good to have ever actually happened. It was a time when the smallest of things made her so incredibly happy and everything was so ridiculously exciting—an age in her life she wanted nothing more than to relive, even if it always ended the way it had.

As stupid as some would think her, she’d be willing to endure reliving the heartache if it meant getting back the best time of her life: the almost two years she spent with the one person who’d completely stolen her heart and now seemed impossible to ever forget. What made it especially hard was the knowledge that, as long as Grace was married to Sal, the possibility of seeing him again someday was all too real. Her head knew she should be worried about that, and in many ways she was, but her heart still skipped a little faster just thinking about the possibility—no matter how painful she knew that would be.

It was only a few years earlier that she’d met him, and yet it felt like so long ago. How could she have known that he would be the one to show her happiness like she never knew existed and be the same person to cause a heartache that would equally match the intensity of her love for him?

CHAPTER FOUR

Rose

Then…

Vincent was an odd one to understand. Having just met him, he seemed nice enough, yet his family was obviously making it clear that he needed to be watched closely. Sal had even warned him to be on his best behavior, something Rose noticed had bothered Vincent.

Even before his explanation about the tattoo, she didn’t think he looked bad, but especially now, after having spent some time talking to him, she was even more convinced Sal was maybe being a little hard on him. He’d been perfectly respectful except for the few times he slipped and gave way to the foul language. But that didn’t bother Rose. Just about everyone at her school cussed.

They reached the front porch of Alex’s large home, and Vincent smiled. “Yep it’s still here.” He walked up the stairs of the porch and sat down on the porch swing then patted the seat next to him. “Have a seat.”

He may be polite and sweet, but one thing Rose had noticed was that he was also smooth. She knew the type. Here she’d never even held a boy’s hand, and yet she was already sure Vincent had done much more. Even at only sixteen and even though they’d just met, Rose could’ve sworn there’d been a few times he may’ve been flirting with her. She even caught the way he’d checked out her legs, and he wasn’t at all fazed when he realized she’d seen him do it. Instead, he’d smirked in response to her goofball, embarrassed expression. He must think her so lame especially after her, “anti-drugs” rant: this after he’d just finished telling her he’d tried them and had even gotten a tattoo in the process. Sure he’d regretted it, but she still could’ve spared him that and her, “my body is a temple” speech.

Determined to leave a better-than-lame impression, she cleared her throat, ignoring her very inexperienced fifteen-year-old pounding heart and walked up the stairs.

He stood up just as she reached the porch swing. When he realized how close she actually was and that their faces were now only inches apart, she saw the corners of his lips lift slowly into one of the sexiest smiles Rose had ever witnessed. “That wasn’t very chivalrous of me.” Without taking his eyes off hers, he waved his hand over the swing, making her heart pound even harder, “Ladies first.”

She prayed he didn’t hear the enormous gulp she took as she sat down. Trying to understand why she was suddenly so nervous when she’d been just fine in the backyard with him by the koi pond, she mentally chastised herself for being such a baby. Plenty of the girls on both the soccer and volleyball teams at school had boyfriends, and she sat next to boys at school many times. She could do this without going into cardiac arrest for the love of Pete.

“What was that?” Vince smirked as he sat down next to her closer than she’d expected.

Her eyes grew wide as mortification set in. Had she said that aloud? She often thought out loud without even realizing, especially when she was nervous. Grace caught her all the time.

“Huh?” She raised her eyebrows feigning confusion and wondering how much of it she’d said aloud, trying desperately to appear cool about feeling his thigh against hers.

“You love Pete?” He sat so close to her she could feel the heat of his body radiate off him, and that sexy crooked smile of his wasn’t helping. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“No uh,” she shook her head feeling like a complete idiot, “it was nothing. I was thinking about something else.”