“You sure?”
Since she wasn’t really cold, she nodded her head, doing everything in her power to keep her attention riveted on Bill’s face and not wandering back over to where Dylan was still standing. From the instant she’d stepped outside and noticed him, she’d been doing her best not to think about the last time she’d seen him. It’d been … God, it’d been so long ago that that incredible night was merely a fuzzy collage of images in her head at this point, so she wasn’t sure why she was even affected by him.
But she was.
“Dinner’s gonna be served in about ten minutes,” Jake informed her. “Do y’all need anything else?”
“No, I’m good. Really.”
“Thanks,” Bill stated kindly.
“Okay.”
Her nephew’s eyes strayed in Dylan’s direction, and Sarah prayed that he wasn’t going to want her to go over and talk to him. She prided herself on being strong, but having to deal with him so soon after seeing him for the first time since…
Yeah.
Sarah wasn’t sure she could handle that right now.
It had taken every single second of the last three years to get her world in order, to discover who she really was after spending so many years walking in the shadows of the people who had derailed her life. Her deadbeat sister. Her dead husband. Her overbearing but well-meaning mother. Dylan.
You’re not that woman anymore.
No, she wasn’t. Gone was Sarah Fulton, the sweet, innocent schoolteacher who had mourned the death of her husband until it had consumed every part of her. She was Sarah Davis once more. The new and improved version. Strong, confident. Unbreakable.
“I’m gonna go talk to Dylan. You wanna come over and say hi?”
She shook her head quickly, realizing her adamant rejection probably looked rather suspicious, but she couldn’t help it. For the past three years, Sarah had stayed away from these people. Thankfully, being that they lived in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area, that wasn’t difficult. As the area had a population of over seven million, randomly running into them was highly unlikely. She spent time with her family and her closest friends, talking to Jake on a daily basis but choosing not to venture into any social settings until she could sort things out in her head. Based on the way Dylan had looked at her when she’d walked out onto the patio just now, she’d succeeded in reinventing herself.
“You sure you’re okay?” Jake asked again, his blue eyes searching her face, and she could see the worry creasing his brow.
Smiling up at the young man she’d practically raised after her older sister had abandoned him when he was just a child, Sarah recognized the concern on his face. They were close, always had been. But right now, she wished he didn’t see as much as he did because she wanted—no, she needed—him to drop the subject.
“Go talk to him,” she encouraged. “We’re gonna go back inside. There’s someone I want to talk to.”
“All right,” Jake agreed with a curt nod. “We’re at a table on the far wall. They’ve got name cards out. I’ll see you in a few.”
Nodding in understanding, Sarah started for the door, her gaze once again drifting over to Dylan as her nephew walked up to him.
His dark eyes met hers and she fought to keep her breathing under control.
Shaking off the memories of a time best forgotten, Sarah stepped inside and glanced around at the many familiar faces. It had been a long time since she’d seen these people. Probably the last time had been at Nate’s high school graduation a few years ago, back when she’d been starry-eyed and stupidly infatuated with a man she could never have.
Luckily, that had lasted all of a minute.
“Who’re you looking for?” Bill asked from beside her.
“Oh, just an old friend,” she told him as though that was the most natural answer in the world. Truth was, she wasn’t looking for anyone; she had simply used that as an excuse for Jake.
“Would you like to find our seats?” Bill questioned.
Because she didn’t have anything else to suggest, Sarah nodded and resigned herself to dinner. As kind as Bill was, it was awkward to be with him. He was such a nice guy, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to feel anything for him.
“That’d be great,” she told him, tossing back the rest of her wine.
Before she turned to follow Bill, Sarah looked over and caught Dylan standing a few feet away, still watching her intently. She noticed the way Dylan’s eyes locked onto her empty glass. Then she remembered that he was a recovering alcoholic and she felt bad—
Wait.
No. She didn’t.
She did not feel bad for drinking wine. She did not feel bad for accompanying Jake to this party or for bringing Bill. She did not fucking feel bad for any of it. She was damn tired of feeling bad for everyone else.
Sarah instinctively ran her fingers over the tattoo on her forearm. She’d gotten the intricate phoenix design as a reminder that she wasn’t that same broken woman anymore. The fact that she’d been so easily sucked back to a different time only pissed her off.
Knowing these people didn’t deserve her wrath, Sarah fixed a plastic smile on her face and turned to follow Bill.
She damn sure wasn’t going to let two minutes in Dylan’s presence destroy years’ worth of effort.
chapter TWO
THE REST OF THE EVENING went exactly as Dylan anticipated it would. He managed to speak when spoken to, smile when prompted, and even endured the pity glances he’d received from some people. As much as he hated the way people watched him—as though he was a wild animal about to break his chain—he understood. A lot of these people had been around long enough to have seen his downward spiral, but it appeared that no matter how hard he tried to redeem himself, most people didn’t believe he was working himself out of the hole he’d dug.
However, that was exactly what he was doing. He’d picked himself up by his boot straps and made something better of his life. It had taken time. A long damn time, but Dylan was confident in who he was now. He’d made some serious mistakes, he had a lot to atone for, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t comfortable with who he’d become and the path he was on. And the good news was that he was the only person he had to convince of that.