Chapter 12

Trent held Lizzie as she cried, and he cried, too, letting himself feel the grief he’d kept locked up inside for nine long years. Lizzie clung to him like a lifeline, and her sobs broke his already cracking heart.

“It wasn’t fair,” she gasped. She sounded like a little girl, but he felt the same way. It hadn’t been fair and it hadn’t made sense.

“I know.” He stroked her hair. “It wasn’t. I’m sorry.”

She cried until she’d soaked his shirt, until her eyes were red and she looked exhausted. When she looked up to see tears on his face, she reached up to wipe them away with gentle fingers.

“Don’t apologize,” she whispered. “If anyone should apologize, it’s me. I hurt you.”

He wouldn’t deny it. The day she’d told him they were over and that she no longer loved him had almost broken him. He’d barely put the pieces of his life back together again.

“I was so angry. I wanted to blame someone. You were the easiest target. I know that—even then, I knew it was wrong of me. But I didn’t want t