The busy day might have flustered another eighteen-year-old, but Avery took it all in stride. After all, she’d been acting on and off in local productions since she was five. She’d had her hair and makeup done dozens of times. Had dressed up in all sorts of costumes—some beautiful, some decidedly not. Just because she’d never had a major part yet didn’t mean she wasn’t professional.
“That night was going to be the most important night of my life,” she told Walker. “I had planned everything so I’d sweep into adulthood in the kind of fairy-tale romance my parents had. My dad proposed to my mom on their prom night. They married before they left for college together that fall and hit every major milestone together, from college graduation, their first real jobs, first house—and having me. Their love for each other just kept growing. I figured the love Daniel and I had for each other would be like that, too.”
She shook her head. “I was so damn young, Walker. I thought I could make it happen by force of will, and Daniel went along with it. Prom was huge at our school. First we gathered with all the other students to show off our fancy clothes and get our photos taken. Then we joined five other couples for dinner at the best restaurant in town, all of us riding in a stretch limousine. Then we went to the hotel where the formal part of the evening was held. I was so excited. I thought our slow dances were good practice for our wedding waltz in a few months.”
She hadn’t allowed herself to think about that night for a long time, and her throat thickened with the pain of it.
“I’d already started planning our wedding, even though we weren’t engaged yet. I researched everything from venues to catering and more. It was going to be simple but lovely and happen in mid-August, so we’d have enough time for a tiny honeymoon before heading off to school. I was going to study acting, and Daniel was going to do pre-med. Once we graduated from college, we’d travel to California so he could be doctor to the stars, and I would be—well, one of those stars.”
“What happened?” Walker asked softly when she didn’t say any more.
“The dance was fine, even though Daniel was a little strange. Kind of distant, you know? Nervous. I thought he was twisted up about the proposal. I’d told him just how it happened for my parents. How they’d danced all night and then my father proposed…” She remembered the excitement blossoming in her stomach as the hours ticked by. “It was supposed to be a night to remember. A proposal. A ring—”
Except it hadn’t worked that way at all.
“By the time the dance was over, I knew something was wrong. We went upstairs to the room we’d gotten, and Daniel went to the bathroom. Stayed there a really long time.”
Walker’s fingers tightened on her arm again, in sympathy this time.
“When he came out, he was wearing street clothes. He said he couldn’t go through with it. His voice was rough. Higher than usual. He looked like he’d been… crying.” That part shamed her more than the rest of it. “He said he didn’t love me. Didn’t want to marry me. Sure as hell didn’t want to go to med school.” Her voice cracked. “I was so desperate to salvage something, I told him it was fine with me if he wanted to change his major.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and Avery fought to hold back the rest of them. “He laughed at me.” She put a hand to her chest remembering how bad that had hurt. “He said, ‘I don’t want to change my major. I want to change everything. Didn’t you hear me? I don’t love you. I’ve never loved you. You’re nice, don’t get me wrong, but there’s got to be more than nice.’”
Walker stopped in the middle of the meadow and took both her hands.
Avery hung her head. “He said he was leaving,” she whispered. “I thought he meant he was leaving the hotel. Turned out he’d packed up his car. He’d parked it outside earlier that day. He said he was leaving town and wouldn’t be back for months. He said, ‘Find someone else for your forever. I don’t want it.’ That’s who I was, Walker—the kind of girl someone like Daniel had to run like hell from.”
Walker pulled her into his arms, and Avery breathed in the familiar scent of him. His comforting strength.
“I didn’t know what to do. My parents had planned a party for the next day to announce our engagement. They’d invited everybody. How was I going to face them?”
Her words were muffled against his chest, but she had to tell him all of it. “The only good thing was that I’d parked my car at the hotel earlier, too. We were supposed to take it to the party the next morning. I managed to slip out of the hotel with no one seeing me, found my car, got in and started driving—still in my stupid prom dress. I drove all night. Drove all the next day. Just kept going. My parents were frantic. Everyone was frantic. I got a million texts and calls, but I didn’t answer my phone. I got to Vegas the next night, found a dive bar, still in that dress. Brody thought it was awesome—the girl who ditched prom to come see him play.” She buried her face against Walker’s shirt. “He was the one who got me in even though I was
