Zoe's POV
I thought my heart would stop the moment I saw him.
Garrett Donovan.
It had been a very long time, really aching days since I last saw his face, since the day he vanished from my life with nothing but a hug, a promise, and a text that never led to anything more. Yet here he was, standing where I least expected him, on a day that already carried too much weight for me. My chest tightened, my pulse hammering against my ribs, my body threatening to crumble under the collision of my past and present.
And just like that, the years rolled backward.
I was eight the first time I met him.
The Donovans had just moved into town. His father, Mr. Donovan, was the new sheriff—my father's closest friend from a long-ago chapter of his life. I didn't know what to expect when Dad told us about their arrival. A sheriff's son sounded like the kind of boy who would be tough, loud, maybe even arrogant. Someone who was nothing like me.
