Sweaty palms. Clenched jaw. A quivering Adam’s apple. These were just a few side effects Aiden was dealing with. He’d been back in town visiting family after nearly half a decade away. Immediately after graduating high school, he and his high school sweetheart broke up seeing as there was no point in continuing a relationship with such a large distance between them. It hit him a lot harder than he’d expected it to, especially considering they’d made an agreement to no longer speak to each other. It wasn’t a falling out, it wasn’t malicious. If anything, it was heartbreaking. Neither he nor Thalia were excited to no longer be talking, but they both knew that it was best for them in order to grow as individuals. That didn’t make it any easier, though.Â
     He even thought he was over her, considering how long it’d been since they’d spoken. The summer after school ended was the last time he heard from her. They remained friends on social media briefly after the breakup, but that eventually came to an end when they decided to no longer talk. He didn’t even allow his friends to talk about her while he was around. There is a limited number of times you can hear your friends talk about your ex that you didn’t even want to break up with before you have to lay down ground rules for them to no longer mention them to you. It was supposed to be part of the healing process, which he couldn’t argue with since it seemingly worked.Â
     Everything he thought he knew -- he was fine, he was over her, he was happy -- was immediately crushed in the moment. His mother was cooking dinner that night, and she’d forgotten one of the ingredients. The local grocery store is right down the road, so he offered to run down and get it for her. In the midst of scavenging the aisles, he saw a woman from the back that felt like he was seeing a ghost. Surely, it wasn’t Thalia. This was just one of those scenes from a movie where the person thinks they see a dead relative and then the stranger turns around and they look nothing like them, right? Wrong. When she turned around, he recognized her right away and he felt the color drain from his face.Â
     “Thalia?”Â















