Crashing the Wedding: Eight Years of Longing for …

My name is Caleb Ashford. Eight years ago, I made a mistake. Because of my long hair, my best friend's younger sister, Isadora Vance, mistook me for a girl. All those clingy baking afternoons, the desserts she so cautiously offered up—every one of them carried the quiet weight of a young girl's heart. The night the truth came out, on the sofa in her living room, the pent-up feelings finally broke free. But just as we were lost in a desperate kiss, her brother—my closest friend, Nathaniel Cross—walked in on us. That man, fierce as a beast guarding his own, tore us apart on the spot, wrapped his hand around my throat, and threw me out of the house. For eight years after that, Nathaniel Cross stood like an insurmountable wall between us. He was transferred away from the city, and…