The day of the annual graduating class’s garden party was spectacular. Against the dramatic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Duray was brilliant hues of greens, pinks, and yellows as the grass continued to soak up the sun and flowers bloomed beautifully.

"I hear it’s supposed to stay sunny through tomorrow," Alex told Charlotte as they drove to the airport to pick up Charlotte’s mother. "Good luck, right?"

Charlotte slid sunglasses onto her nose as she drove. "Definitely good luck. Plus, it means we won’t get dripping wet if it decided to pour on us. Can you imagine how bedraggled we’d look?"

Alex pictured the graduating class in their sopping wet robes and grinned. "It would be pretty funny—except that we’d be in that predicament, too. And, let me tell you, my mother would not be at all amused."

"She’s supposed to be here by two for the garden party, right?"

He checked his watch and calculated time. "Yeah. She said she was only a few hours away when I talked to her an hour ago. It’s been a long semester. I can’t wait to see her."

"Aww, Alex. That’s too cute." Charlotte reached over and pinched his cheek before he could swat her hand away. "You’re such a good son. It must be luck that I found myself two best friends who love their…" She trailed off and fell silent.

Alex didn’t have to look at her face to know that she’d be frowning. He tugged on her short curls. "You’re absolutely lucky to be friends with me." He paused. "So, what do you think your mother will say about the new do?"

"Oh." Her hand lifted to her hair when she remembered. "I guess she’ll be surprised. When I was little, she used to chop my hair this short, so maybe it’ll be a walk down memory lane for her."

"Oh, yeah! I remember your kindergarten pictures!" He leaned his head back and smiled at the memory of the picture. "Well, the hair still makes you look as cute as you did then."

She grinned. His own hair was probably not going to fit under the graduation cap unless he somehow smoothed his faux-hawk down. But then, he’d probably already figured out a way to keep the ‘hawk and the cap on. It would be just like him to buck tradition. "So what do you think your mom’s going to think about your hair?"

He patted his hair gently. "My mother thinks I’m unique." His lips curved. "She’ll shake her head, try to get me to make it look nice tomorrow, and then she’ll let me have it my way in the end anyway."

Charlotte just shook her head and pulled into the terminal at the tiny airport outside of Duray. Within moments, she’d spotted her mother waiting by the doors. She pulled the car up near her and leapt out to envelop her mother in a huge hug. "I’m so glad you’re here, Mom! It’s so good to see you!"

If Mrs. Winthrop noticed that something was wrong with her daughter, she didn’t say. Instead, she simply hugged her daughter back and then did the same to Alex when he’d finished loading her bag into the trunk of the car. "I’m glad I’m here, too! I can’t wait until tomorrow. I brought that digital camera, Charlotte, that way I can take lots of pictures. I finally figured out how to work it," she added sheepishly as they all settled into the car.

"Cool. I don’t think my mom’s figured it out yet," Alex commented from the backseat. "She still presses the power button when she wants to take a picture."

Mrs. Winthrop chuckled. "We can’t help it. All this technology is easy for you kids, not so much for us." She glanced over at Charlotte. "So, where’s Brian? I would’ve figured all three of you would’ve come together."

Charlotte was careful to avoid eye contact with Alex as she tried to think of what to tell her mother. "He was busy, Mom. I think his parents were coming in today, too, and he’s got to work on his valedictorian address for tomorrow, too."

Keeping her thoughts to herself, Charlotte’s mother nodded and studied the passing scenery. Her daughter thought that a mother didn’t always know everything, but Mrs. Winthrop knew quite a bit about her only child. Especially when it came to a certain young man. She didn’t know what had happened in the past few weeks, but she was sure she’d find out soon enough. And then, she’d see what she could do to help Charlotte. After all, as a mother, her first priority was her child’s happiness.

***

"Brian, honey, where are Alex and Charlotte?" Mrs. Littrell knotted her son’s tie and straightened his collar. "I thought you’d all be together, and I could take pictures of the three of you."

Brian tried not to fidget under her eagle-eyed stare. "Uh, they’re busy with their own parents. You’ll see them in a little while, though." He looked past his mother to where his father was reading over his valedictorian address. "How’s it looking, Dad?"

Mr. Littrell set the pages down and sighed. "Brian, it’s good, but I feel like there’s something missing. You’ve got all this about classes, but what about everything else you did here? What about your friends? I thought you would’ve mentioned them at least a thousand times, but all you’ve got is a sentence about how you made valuable friendships. There must be more."

"Ah, well." Brian shrugged. "I wanted the focus to be on the academic experience because that was really important for me."

"And Charlotte and Alex weren’t?" Mrs. Littrell frowned. Had Charlotte’s mother been right about something going on between the trio of friends, more specifically between Charlotte and Brian?

When he shrugged again, his parents exchanged a meaningful glance before letting the subject go. They’d never get anything out him if they put his back up with too many questions. Instead, Mrs. Littrell checked her hair in the mirror one final time and hooked her arms through Brian’s and her husband’s.

"Well, shall we get going then?"

Both her men simply grunted in assent, and she swept them out the door.

***

"God, I remember why I hated dresses so much," Charlotte grumbled as she shut her car door in the parking lot of the park where the garden party was being held. Around her, her fellow classmates streamed by with their families. Her own mother skirted around the front of the car and studied her daughter.

Charlotte wore a sleeveless, tea-length dress in a pale teal shade. Melanie had tucked a white rose into her hair at the perfect spot, and, despite the frazzled expression she currently wore, she looked luminous. Mrs. Winthrop sighed a little at how much her only child, her baby had grown so in twenty-two years.

"Honey, you look wonderful! I’m glad you cut your hair the way you did. It makes you look so lovely." Suddenly, her eyes were teary. "My baby’s all grown up, now. I know your father would be so proud of you if he were here today. Finishing up your undergrad and going on to Harvard Law. Why, he’d have bragged to everyone who would listen."

"Oh, Mom." Charlotte threw her arms around her mother and squeezed hard. "I miss him, too. But I think he’s here with us. I always feel like he’s watching over me, making sure I’m okay. So I think he knows what I’ve done and what I’ll do, and he’s proud of it."

Mrs. Winthrop brushed the tears off her cheeks and kissed Charlotte’s forehead. "You’re absolutely right. He is always with us, no matter what."

"Yeah." Charlotte tugged at her dress a little. "Mom, why don’t you go ahead and grab us a table? I’m going to switch these heels for a pair of ballet flats in my trunk. I think I’ll be less likely to fall on my face in those."

"Okay. I’ll just go and find Alex, Brian, and their parents," Mrs. Winthrop replied and didn’t miss the expression on Charlotte’s face. Not saying anything, she started off towards the festivities.

Charlotte watched her mother go and wondered how she would explain that Brian was no longer a part of her life. Her mother probably wouldn’t stand for that fact, but it wasn’t as though there was much that she could do to fix it. She and Brian had taken their stands, unfortunately, on the opposite sides of a mile-wide river it felt like.

Muttering to herself, she slipped off the ridiculous stilettos that Melanie had forced on her and popped open her trunk to pull out her much more comfortable ivory-toned ballet flats. When they were on her feet and laced up to her ankles, she shut the trunk and, squaring her shoulders, started towards the tents and tables that had been set up on the grass.

Halfway there, she glanced around and saw Theresa among another row of cars. Knowing that she should go and make some sort of peace with her, Charlotte started towards her…and froze in mid-step.

A tall, blond-haired man had come up next to Theresa, and she’d put her arms around him and kissed him. Not, Charlotte remembered, the way she’d kissed Brian, but the way you’d kiss someone you were totally and completely in love with. Almost like in the movies, she thought with a sinking sensation in her stomach as Theresa and the random guy continued to swap spit.

Unable to watch any longer, Charlotte headed back towards the party area and spotted Brian talking to Alex’s mother, while Alex chatted happily with the Littrells and her own mother. Brian seemed to be looking around, searching for someone as he spoke, and Charlotte knew he was looking for Theresa.

With a glance over her shoulder, she saw that Theresa and her boyfriend (?) had begun to make their way over. Walking as fast as she could in the dress, she knew she had to intercept Brian before he spotted Theresa.

"Brian!" Charlotte rushed into the group of people and quickly greeted the other parents with a smile before she hooked an arm through his, not caring that he hated her at the moment.

Brian frowned down at the way their arms were linked, and then he glared when she started to tug him away from Mrs. McLean. "Charlotte, what the hell are you doing?"

"We need to talk." She kept pulling on his arm and managed to budge him a few more feet. "Come…on…over…here." Gritting her teeth, she kept yanking even when he dug in his heels and refused to move.

He yanked his arm out of hers and stared at her, simply astonished. What on earth had gotten into her? He hadn’t apologized to her or anything, so why had she thought it was okay to start dragging him all over the place? "Are you out of your mind?" he began then spotted Theresa over Charlotte’s shoulder. "Hang on a second," he muttered and shoved by her to get to Theresa.

Miserable and knowing he would be too in a few minutes, Charlotte could do nothing but watch him go.

Brian hurried over to Theresa, excited to see her and talk to her. Today was the day, he thought, when he’d finally tell her how he felt and hoped that she’d feel the same way. If she didn’t…His smile vanished when he saw her hand linked with that of another young man. "Theresa."

She turned away from the people she was talking to and smiled at him. "Brian, hi! Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!"

"Yeah. Me, too." But he couldn’t make his voice sound cheerful.

Theresa continued to smile as she tugged the man by her side forward. "You know how I cancelled on you for last night? Well, this is the reason why. Brian Littrell, this is Nick Carter. Nick and I have been dating for the past two years, and he decided to come to Duray and surprise me!" She beamed up at Nick, and he grinned back at her. "And, if that wasn’t enough, he proposed to me this morning!" She held out her left hand, and Brian saw the diamond-encrusted ring on her third finger.

His heart sinking, his spirits crushed, Brian could do no more than to smile blankly in the face of her joy. "Wow, Theresa. That’s really great. I’m sure you two will be very happy together."

"Thanks, man." Nick finally spoke and reached out to shake Brian’s hand. "Theresa told me that you’ve kept her from being absolutely bored out here, so I should thank you for taking care of her."

Brian nodded. "Sure, sure. No problem." He needed to get out, get away. His heart had shattered into a million tiny pieces that had been scattered all over the place. There was a hot ball of emotion lodged in his throat, and, if he wasn’t careful, he knew he’d lose it in a second. "Listen, congratulations to the both of you. I’m happy for you, but, uh, I need to go see…someone. Yeah. I gotta go. I’ll see you later."

And, as quickly as he could manage without it looking like a retreat, he hurried blindly through the groups of celebrating classmates. When he found a solitary bench a hundred yards from the party, he collapsed onto it and buried his face in his hands.

He couldn’t believe how horribly he’d bungled everything. How had he misread every signal wrong? Had he been so caught up in his own wants, his own desires that he’d missed the very vital fact that Theresa hadn’t wanted him back?

But she’d kissed him, hadn’t she? Brian paused and thought about it. If she’d had a boyfriend, then why had she kissed him? But then, if he were honest, he thought, he’d been the one to kiss her. Had she kissed back?

Brian tried to remember everything that had happened, but that one meeting of lips had lasted, what, three seconds because he hadn’t wanted to push it. Oh, jeez. He covered his face with his hands again. The kiss that he’d deemed a perfect ten had been no better than the way he’d kiss a cousin. Everything really had been all in his head, and he felt like the biggest moron alive to think that he’d ever be able to really capture the attention of someone like Theresa.

"Brian?"

He looked up and found Charlotte sitting next to him. He blinked. "What did you do with your hair?"

"Huh? Oh." She tugged a hand through her short bob of curls. "I cut it."

"It looks…nice." Actually, he thought, narrowing his eyes to study her, it looked better than nice. She looked great. Beautiful. Had that face, those eyes, that perfect skin been hiding under there always? "You look nice."

"Thanks." She tried not to let his compliments affect her. After all, he was probably really upset from the way things had fallen apart with Theresa. "Are you okay?"

Brian turned away from her and stared out at the pond across from them. "No. Maybe." He sighed. "I made a huge mistake."

"What happened?"

"What you knew would happen. She had a boyfriend, he flew out yesterday, proposed to her this morning, and now they’re engaged." Brian sighed, disgusted with himself. "Why didn’t I listen to you?"

She wanted to give him a hug but knew she couldn’t. "Sometimes, you have to make a mistake in order to learn from it." Even if it meant that he was upset. And, suddenly, she was angry with him again. He could’ve prevented his heartbreak. He should’ve listened to her. If he had, he wouldn’t be hurting this badly, and he wouldn’t have broken her heart in the process.

"Listen, Charlotte." Brian shifted to look at her and was surprised at the anger on her face. "What? Why are you mad?"

"Because you could’ve prevented this." She folded her arms over her chest and frowned. "Because you didn’t have to hurt this bad if you’d just listened to your friends. Did you think we warned you because we hated you and wanted to see you miserable?"

"N-no."

"And then, on top of that, you decide that I must not be a good enough friend because I didn’t want to see you hurting. So what do you do? You kick me out of your life!" She nearly punched him with her gauze-covered hand before she remembered herself.

Brian was shocked at her anger, though he knew she had a right to be angry. "Okay. Okay, look. I was going to apologize to you today for that. I made a mistake, Char, and I’d like to ask for your forgiveness. I’m really sorry."

"Yeah?" Charlotte stood up and glared down at him. "Well, I’m sorry, too. I can’t accept your apology." And she stalked back towards the party.

Brian stared, could do nothing but stare, as she walked away and, what felt like, out of his life. His heart felt as though it were breaking again, only, this time, it felt a thousand times worse. Is this how she’d felt when he’d turned his back on her and left? He rubbed a hand over the ache in his chest and wished, for the billionth time in the past half hour, that he hadn’t messed things up so badly.

"Hey, buddy." Alex dropped down on the bench next to him. "What’d you do this time?"

Brian sighed. "Everything. You’ve probably seen Theresa and her fiancé by now, right?"

"How could I miss them? Or that rock on her hand." Alex whistled. "She could signal ships in the Atlantic with that."

"Yeah, rub it in." But he shook his head and sighed again. "I messed up really badly with Charlotte, and I don’t know how to make it right again."

Alex studied his friend for several moments before deciding to dispense a few words of advice. "Look, Brian. I should probably stay out of it, and she’ll probably kill me for telling you this, but maybe you haven’t really thought through what exactly you did when you walked out on Char. You didn’t just ruin a friendship because that’s not all there is for her." He patted Brian’s shoulder and stood. "When you figure it out, you know where to find her."

And he, too, left Brian sitting on the bench, staring after him with his jaw dropped. Brian wasn’t dumb, he’d understand what it was Alex had meant. He only hoped Brian knew what to do to set things right.