Ten Thousand Raindrops Between Us

It hit me all at once: I would never again see the Christian Cobb who loved someone with nothing held back.

The car was quiet.

Christian never liked music when he drove, but today, strangely, he'd connected the Bluetooth.

The instant the intro started, my shoulders went stiff. It was "Clear Skies."

Stephanie Fox's favorite song.

At our senior graduation party, Christian had sat on the stage with a guitar and sung the whole thing.

When he got to the line "Somehow we get to love one more day," his gaze went out over the crowd and landed, with perfect aim, on the seat at the edge of the third row.

Stephanie was sitting right there.

"Did you know Stephanie's coming back?"

I kept my eyes on the street sliding past the window, and made my voice as casual as I could.

The hand on the wheel went still.

"No."

It took him a while to answer.

Outside, the neon signs slipped by frame by frame, and I noticed the wedding ring was gone from his finger. I didn't know when he'd taken it off.

I swallowed past the catch in my throat. "Tonight, at the reunion. Can we make it public?"

Three years.

Christian and I had been legally married for three years. No photo of us together posted anywhere, no public acknowledgment.

Countless times I'd wanted to bring up going public, and every time I'd swallowed it back down.

He ruffled my hair. "Up to you."

The reunion that night was set at a restaurant nearby.

Before we got out, Christian reached over and smoothed the loose hair by my ear.

"What's wrong? You don't look so good."

Before I could say anything, I heard heels behind us.

"Chris. Mira."

Stephanie stood three steps away, white dress, long hair, exactly the way she'd looked at seventeen.

She looked at Christian, and he looked at her.

The moment their eyes met, the air froze.

"Long time, Christian." Stephanie spoke first, her voice a little hoarse.

"Yeah. Long time." His throat moved.

I stood off to the side, watching them hold each other's gaze across those three steps in silence.

The glass door threw back the reflection of all three of us, with that invisible line forever running between me and them.

The three of us walked in side by side.

In the private room, the old classmates erupted. "No way! Stephanie's back? My whole youth, right here! Don't tell me they're still together!"

"Honestly, after all these years, Christian and Stephanie still look best standing next to each other..."

Stephanie laughed and waved a hand. "We just ran into each other. Don't be ridiculous."

At the table, the conversation circled around and around, and in the end it came right back to high school.

Someone who'd had a few drinks said, "Seriously, Christian chased you so hard back then, it was the talk of the school. Any chance it's still on?"

A pair of chopsticks knocked against the rim of a bowl, and for a second I drifted somewhere else.

Someone tossed it over to me. "Mira, you're Stephanie's best friend. Give us the inside scoop. Are they a secret thing, or just two long-lost lovebirds?"

I opened my mouth.

I'm married to him. The words turned over on my tongue a few times, and in the end I swallowed them back.

"I really wouldn't know."

The words had barely left me when Christian set down his water glass.

The base of it clicked against the table, sharp.

"Actually, Mira and I are already—"

"I came back for a marriage alliance..."

Stephanie cut him off, her eyes sweeping over me before settling back on his face.

"There's nothing left between him and me."

Christian paused, then picked up the bottle in front of him and slowly poured himself a glass.

"You're getting married? Was it... arranged by the family?"

Stephanie smiled. "What? I can't be marrying for love?"

He didn't press any further. He tipped his head back and drained the glass.