Damon’s POV

I didn’t plan to go near Brenda’s house again.

After seeing her leave on that date, I’d sworn—silently, internally—that I would reset every boundary that had gotten blurred. I would keep things clean. Simple. Distant.

But the universe clearly didn’t care about my vows.

Because that afternoon, as I was returning from a quick run, I saw her struggling in her backyard—dragging two large bags of soil across the grass. She kept stumbling, her breath uneven, ...