Author's Note: Hello dear readers! This is my first fanfic here on Fanfiction, I really hope you enjoy it. This story is entirely AU, I'm only using characters of the WWE. Please feel free to message me, leave a review, follow, or favorite my story. I'm going to do my best to update every Sunday/Monday until this story reaches it's completion. Also, I apologize for any typos or grammar errors you may come across. This story was inspired by Nicholas Sparks 'The Best of Me' so you will see similarities. Thank you for reading!

Summary: Kinsey and AJ were high school sweethearts, but things came to a very bitter end. After twenty-one long years, the two are brought back together after the death of a good friend. They are both leading different lives, but the feelings that they have both suppressed are coming back. What they both thought was over, may not be over at all.

Chapter One

Kinsey Tate sat outside on her front porch, using the tips of her toes to swing the chair-swing back and forth. The hooks drilled into the ceiling creaked with each move, but she hardly noticed as she gazed up at the clear sky that glittered with a thousand stars. A symphony of crickets chirped away that summer night, but despite it being midsummer, the weather was quite pleasant.

She was daydreaming, completely lost in her thoughts and it wasn't until her scruffy yellow mutt licked her toes that she realized the phone was ringing. Stopping the swing, Kinsey got to her feet and then opened up the screen door and jogged down the hall to kitchen where her cell phone was buzzing and ringing. It wasn't a number she recognized, but she answered.

"Hello?" Kinsey placed the phone to her ear and turned around to lean against the granite counter.

"Is this Kinsey Malloy?" a man asked on the other line.

She raised a brow. "Uh, it's Kinsey Tate now, but yes."

"My apologies, Mrs. Tate," the man said and cleared his throat. "My name is Andrew Whitfield, I'm calling to inform you that a friend of yours, Jack Henderson, passed away this morning."

A sharp pain ripped through Kinsey's heart. She covered her mouth with her free hand and shook her head. "What happened?"

"Heart attack, he was eighty-nine years old."

Kinsey looked up at the white ceiling of her kitchen. This was the last call she had expected for the evening. It had been many years since she had spoken with Jack Henderson, at least eight years. And the last time they spoke wasn't under the best circumstances.

"Mr. Henderson has a request for you in his will," Andrew explained. "I'm his attorney, and have an office on the other side of town. Perhaps we can schedule a meeting, in the next day or so?"

Kinsey took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. There were many memories bubbling back up. A closet of dusty skeletons that were tumbling out. Jack Henderson was a good man, a wonderful friend, and as corny as it sounded, a true light in such a dark world. It was a tragedy that he was gone and that she never got to say goodbye to the old timer.

"Mrs. Tate? Are you still there?" Andrew asked after her long silence.

Kinsey pulled herself together and raked her fingers through her dark brown hair. "Yes, sir. Sorry, it's just really…I'm very surprised that he would have me in his will."

"I see."

"It's been a long time since I've seen Jack. He was a good…no, he was a great man." Kinsey smiled weakly and felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She held them back though, not wanting to sob on the phone.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Tate."

"Thank you," she replied and pushed away from the counter, making her way to the cupboard to get a glass for some water. "I'm available to come to your office on Friday morning, is that okay?" Friday morning was the day after tomorrow.

"That would be great, how would 10:00am work?"

"I can make that," Kinsey said as she turned on the faucet. When her glass was full she shut it off and took a quick sip. "May I have your address?" She opened up her junk drawer and pulled out a pen and notepad. Andrew told her his office address and bid her a good evening before they hung up.

She stared at the address on the paper for a few moments before walking away. Andrew Whitfield's office was two blocks down from Maybelle's Creamery, a place that she frequented often with another long lost friend.

The lights of a car pulling into the driveway shone through the living room's bay windows. The lights cut off moments later along with the rumbling engine. Kinsey walked into the living room and peaked out the blinds to find her husband, Nathan Tate, sitting in the driver seat, staring blankly at the steering wheel of his red Camry.

He did this every night when he came home from work for the past three weeks-pull into the driveway and just sit in his car for ten to fifteen minutes. Kinsey hadn't said anything to him about it, she just ignored it. Bringing it up would only make matters worse. He would deny he did it, then tell her to mind her business, and then storm upstairs. Their marriage hadn't always been so cold and rough, at one time there was love. But that was a long time ago.

Kinsey walked out of the living room and started up the stairs. She placed her hand on the smooth mahogany railing and jogged up without a second thought. When she reached the top, she looked to the farthest door on the right. Kinsey sighed and shook her head, making her way down to the left. She entered the master bedroom and went straight into the bathroom to her closet. Pulling a step stool out, Kinsey climbed up and grabbed the pink hat box tucked into the far corner on the top shelf.

She stepped down and then sat on the stool. Opening up the lid, Kinsey stared at the various little trinkets and photographs from a time she had tried to forget. She picked up one of the pictures, a Polaroid from her high school days. Jack had taken the picture twenty-one years ago. Kinsey was in a lovely white dress with her hair in spiraled curls and sparkles in her eyes as she gazed lovingly at her high school sweetheart. They had an epic and beautiful romance, and nothing broke her heart more than when he left.

He was so handsome with blue eyes that rivaled the summer sky and a smile that could lift even the saddest of spirits. Kinsey couldn't believe how long it had been since she had seen heard from him. A tear dropped onto the picture, and Kinsey stifled a laugh as she wipe away the tears with the back of her hand. When she licked her lips, she tasted the saltiness and closed her eyes.

"How are you doing now, AJ?" Kinsey asked when she looked back at the picture and rubbed her thumb over his bright smile.

"Kinsey! I'm home!" Nathan hollered followed by the slam of the screen door and the clicking of Marty's nails.

She quickly put the picture back in the hat box and pushed it onto the top shelf. Closing the door of the closet, Kinsey looked at herself in the mirror. It hadn't looked like she had been crying, so she fluffed up her hair and walked to the stairwell.

"Who's Andrew Whitfield?" Nathan asked, as she was coming down the stairs.

Kinsey entered the kitchen. "He's an attorney. A friend of mine passed away, so he asked if I could come in. There's something in the will about me."

Nathan raised a brow. "Who's this friend?"

"His name was Jack Henderson," Kinsey replied with a small shrug. "Friend of the family." It was a lie, but she didn't want to travel down memory lane with Nathan. He wasn't the same man he was when they first met. Ever since their son, Ethan, passed away it was like Nathan could never be happy. Nathan was always frustrated and angry and short with Kinsey and their ten-year-old, Lauren, who was away at a horseback riding camp until Sunday.

"Hmm." Nathan nodded and started loosening his tie. "Is there any dinner?"

Kinsey fought the urge to roll her eyes. He didn't have a single care that a friend of hers had passed away. It was just business as usual, and Kinsey didn't want tonight to be the same. She wanted some form of comfort from him, but perhaps that was asking too much. "Yeah, it's in the microwave."

"All right, well I'm gonna shower and then I'll eat." He left the room without a kiss or a hug.

Kinsey clutched the edge of the granite counter and sucked in a sharp breath. Nathan was just like that, he wouldn't even talk about it. She had tried many times, but he would snap and storm out of the house. This wasn't the marriage she wanted.

-#-

AJ Styles sat alone in the gym. Everyone had gone home for the evening. It was eight o'clock on the dot when his cell phone started buzzing beside him. He glanced down and raised a brow at the unfamiliar number. His first instinct was to ignore it as it was probably some salesperson, but when he looked at the area code again…it was from Georgia. By that point, his instinct was to chuck the phone across the gym and into the concrete wall. There was nothing left for him in Georgia, but against his better judgement AJ picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

"This is AJ." He hopped down from the apron and started walking toward the locker rooms.

"Mr. Styles my name is Andrew Whitfield and I'm an attorney here in Kingsland."

AJ stopped halfway to the locker room. "Can I help you?"

"I'm sorry to say, but Jack Henderson passed away this morning."

AJ pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been a long time since he'd heard that name. Jack was like a father to him when he was younger, and when AJ left Kingsland when he was eighteen he never saw Jack again. They called each other once in awhile, but the last time had been twelve or thirteen years ago.

"That's terrible," AJ said finally. "Is there a funeral?"

"He has a request for you in his will. I was hoping you would be able to come here, so we may discuss it."

No. That was the only answer he wanted to say, and AJ felt so guilty. His stomach churned and his limbs felt weak. Jack deserved more than that. AJ had to go, he couldn't pretend that Jack hadn't turned his life around. Running his fingers through his hair, AJ cleared his throat and said, "When?"

"Do you think you could be here on Friday at 10:00am?" Andrew asked.

Kingsland wasn't a long drive away—a little over three hours from Tallahassee. "I'll be there," AJ said and made his way to the office up on the second floor. "Tell me your address." After he got the address, he thanked Andrew and hung up the phone.

AJ grabbed the rolling computer chair behind him and plopped down in it. Jack Henderson was dead. It was unbelievable. But he was an old man, he was old when they first met when he was a seventeen-year-old loser with a drunk for a father and a drug-selling younger brother. Things had been going well for AJ for the last ten years. He was making something of himself, and the only person who ever believed in him was Jack. And what did AJ have to give back to Jack? He should have gone back. There were so many chances for him to go back to Kingsland and visit even if it was only for a day. But it was too late now, so AJ had to see what Jack had left for him. Maybe it was a letter of how disappointed he was…he couldn't be sure.

Turning the chair around, AJ looked at the beaten up black filing cabinet. In the bottom drawer there was an old tin box, inside that box were five precious items that he could never seem to let go of. AJ scooted the rolling chair toward the filing cabinet and pulled the drawer open. It screeched and reminded him he needed to grease a lot of the hinges around the gym. His blue eyes landed on the tin box that was scratched, dented, and rusted. Clicking his tongue, AJ sat back and wanted to push the drawer closed with his foot. Something stopped him though, he wasn't sure what it was, but he grabbed the tin box and smiled.

"Damnit," AJ chuckled as he pulled out a picture. It was a little crinkled and faded, but it was the picture of the perfect day. Jack wasn't the only person AJ had left behind in Kingsland. He left Kinsey behind, the girl who stole his heart. After all these years, she still had a piece of it. AJ didn't know what it meant to be loved or to love someone until Kinsey came along. And everyday since he left her, AJ never stopped thinking about what she was doing now.

He put the picture down on his thigh and pulled out tickets from his prom. AJ licked his lips and grabbed a shot glass, the same one that Jack gave him the first night they met. Putting the glass on the desk, AJ grabbed an old napkin with Kinsey's handwriting 'I love you, AJ' with a little heart beneath it. The final item in the tin box was a little army toy soldier, the green one, one that AJ gave to his younger brother when they were little kids.

"Guess I'm going home," AJ said in a low voice as he put the items back into the tin box.