Rafe Cameron had convinced himself that the past was just that—the past. Whatever had happened between you two in high school was nothing more than a distant memory, a story that had already been told.

He never thought he’d see you again. After all, what was there to go back to? Time had passed, lives had changed. He had his own family now, a wife, kids, a house full of noise. You probably had your own life, too. The years had a way of erasing things.

But then came that moment.

It was a quiet afternoon, the air crisp with the first signs of autumn. Rafe had just stepped out of the café, sipping his coffee, letting the familiar sounds of the city wrap around him. And then he heard it.

A voice.

“Rafe!”

The sound made his heart freeze. His feet stalled, as if the universe itself had reached back into his past, yanking it to the present. It was your voice. He knew it before he could even turn around.

He slowly pivoted, half-expecting to see a ghost. But it wasn’t a ghost.

There you were.

It was like stepping back in time, like nothing had changed. You were standing a few feet away, crouched down with a little boy, your arms open wide. The child ran toward you, laughter filling the air, his face lighting up as he collided into your embrace.

Rafe didn’t move. He just stood there, watching you.

The years that separated you from the girl he once knew suddenly felt irrelevant. All he saw was you—your eyes warm and full of affection, the way you held the boy with a tenderness that stopped him in his tracks.

As if sensing the weight of his stare, you looked up, your eyes locking with his.

The world around him seemed to pause. Time had been stolen from him in that moment, everything else disappearing. The sound of the boy’s laughter faded, the people in the background blurred. It was just you and him.

Neither of you spoke. Not yet.

But in that moment, everything that had been left unsaid for so long was right there, hanging in the air between you two.