The Boy I Once Loved by Cara E. Holt

I left this town three years ago without a backward glance. Running from my crippling grief and from the bitter disappointment that was my mother. Dylan James had been my best friend growing up, but then high school happened, and he decided I was no longer someone he wanted to be seen with. Despite that though, when my brother died in a car accident, I’d really thought he’d be there to hold me together. How wrong could I have been.
I’m back in this town full of dark memories and heartache and I’m determined that I’m going to have nothing to do with Dylan James. Gone was the naive girl who wore her heart on her sleeve. Why let people in when all they do is hurt you and let you down?
What I do not bank on when I return though is that Dylan James isn’t going to let me escape him a second time. He is everywhere I turn, telling me he wants his best friend back. Only trouble with that is that I haven’t wanted to be Dylan’s friend for a long time. I have been hopelessly in love with him since we were twelve years old and he doesn’t have a clue. I thought I was over him. I thought I could hold him at arm’s-length.
He was once my best friend.
He was the boy I once loved.
He was the one thing that could shatter my fragile heart and I couldn’t survive that heartbreak a second time.