Chapter 1

"I heard you kids buried little notes in the backyard. Tell me—who do you want to marry?"

Dad looked at me with a smile in his eyes.

For a split second, his frail and gaunt self during his final illness in my past life flashed before my eyes. If Rosalyn Tucker hadn't held me back, I would have seen him one last time.

Tears streamed down my face as I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him. "I want to marry Ryder Maverick, Dad."

Dad froze. "Ryder? I thought you had your eye on that boy from the Conrads."

When he saw me crying harder, he refrained from pressing further. "There, there. If it's Ryder, then so be it. That little rascal's getting lucky.

"I'll talk to Lieutenant Colonel Maverick about the marriage when he gets back."

That meant there were three days left.

I remembered that in my past life, it had also been three days before I officially got engaged to Damian Conrad. This time, though, I wouldn't be stepping through the Conrad family's door again.

After wiping my tears, I returned to the living room where a whole group was still waiting for me.

My best friend since childhood, Janell Flynn, rushed over and urged me to take a seat. "You're supposed to host this week's book club, so why did you agree to write the notes just because Heidi told you to?

"She's been picking on you since forever. Can't you tell?"

I counted it out and agreed that she was right.

I first met Heidi Myers when I was 15. She had pointed at the menstrual stain on my skirt and asked loud enough for the whole class to hear, "Hey! Didn't your mom teach you how to… deal with that?"

It was the third year after Mom died. Everyone was quietly mocking me for growing up like a boy without Mom by my side.

As she made that announcement, Damian just happened to walk past our class window. I was so embarrassed that I skipped school for a week.

At 18, I snuck onto the training field to watch Damian shoot, and Heidi followed. I vaguely felt someone push me from behind before a bullet whizzed past my ear, and I almost died.

Dad locked me in my room for a month in rage. Now that I thought about it, it had probably been Heidi, but I had never sensed her hostility in my past life.

Burying notes in my backyard for the book club had been Heidi's idea.

She told everyone that true love would come true if we wrote down the name of the one we loved. Whoever's wish was granted would have to dig up the tin box so everyone could share in the joy.

The idea fit the romance theme of the book club, so I agreed. The only difference after realizing I was reborn was that I immediately crossed out Damian's name and wrote Ryder's instead.

Janell was still grumbling. She was about to complain more, but when she looked up and saw Damian walking over, she bolted off faster than anyone.

She thought she was playing matchmaker for us and had no idea that Damien was here with unfriendly intentions.

"Tell Colonel West not to bother finding a matchmaker, Carla. I'm not marrying you."

That didn't sound right. How did he know Dad was planning that?

I instinctively tried to explain. "I-I didn't—"

"If you can step aside and let me be with Heidi, I'll treat you like a little sister."

As he said so, an odd trace of gentleness flickered across his expression before it froze over again. "Otherwise, we can't even be friends."

In my past life, Damian had agreed to marry me, so why had he suddenly changed his mind?

As I looked at the certainty in his eyes, I wondered if he had been reborn, too.