Recompense For Love

His name sounded like it belonged to a movie star...Nash Hudson-my childhood friend and constant crush. As kids, he helped me up when I fell down, brushing off my scraped-up knee and offering to "kiss my boo-boo better."In high-school, he gave me hope that we could be more...Then, a tragic accident involving my father took the lives of his parents and older brother. Nash and I went from inseparable to strangers in the course of one ill-fated night, and my family became the town outcasts. It took five years of hardening my heart, of reinventing myself and rebuilding my confidence, but I'm no longer the same meek wallflower he left behind. I've moved on. Or have I?Nash is back. He's standing in front of me right now, and shit, my heart is doing that same weird thing it always has. "See ya 'round, Stars." He drops the familiar childhood name into random adult conversation like it's nothing, like our entire rocky past was just some horrible figment of my imagination. I stand gawking when he shoots me a wink then retreats down the sidewalk-newfound son on his shoulders, blonde trophy-wife-in-training at his side. I'm old enough to know better, yet here I am, still hopelessly longing for the one guy that's expressly forbidden to me. Not only have I sworn him off, and not only is he juggling being a single dad who's trying to integrate a four year-old into the not-so-cookie-cutter lifestyle his fiancée had all planned out... There's something even bigger standing in the way...Bad blood doesn't mix. Especially in small southern towns.