Tonight was the night.
“I hope you know how proud your dad was,” Rusty said, his green eyes filling with tears. “He talked about you all the time.”
Losing his father had been hard, but Chase was grateful every day that his dad had lived long enough to see him realize his dream. “He’s the reason I do what I do, Rusty. You know that. If Dad hadn’t gotten me into hunting and fishing as a kid, who knows where I’d be. I sure wouldn’t be running this company.”
Chase’s passion for the outdoors led him and Bryce to drop out of a college and start a small retail shop for the outdoorsman. That led to a second store, then a third. He blinked and before he knew it they had a chain of stores throughout the states.
“I’ll catch up with you later, sugar,” Bernice said, with a wink. “We’re down a waitress tonight, so that means I gotta hustle.”
“I guess I don’t have to ask why you’re back,” Rusty said, smiling. “You always did have a thing for that girl.”
“It’s been a long time,” Chase said, watching Shay chatting with the same girlfriends she’d had when they dated. “A lot’s changed since then.”
“This the first time you’ve seen her since you been back?” Rusty asked, setting a bottle of Chase’s favorite beer on the counter. It was his old man’s favorite too. Chase was sure that was the only reason Rusty remembered.
“Yeah.”
“I gotta say, I was shocked you guys decided to move your head office here,” Rusty said, chuckling. “It’s sure been good for the local economy, giving our folks jobs, but wouldn’t you be better off in a big city?”
“We’ve been in a big city a long time.” He looked around the local watering hole, thinking it hadn’t changed much since he left. “It was time to come back home.”
“Time to come back to her?” Rusty asked, nodding his head in Shay’s direction.
“What’s she been up to since I left?” Chase had always been curious, but he’d never had the guts to look her up on social media, in case he found a barrage of pictures of her with a smiling husband and kids.
“You know her daddy had a stroke a while back, right?”
“Yeah, I heard about that. She’s still running her family’s dealership?”
“She sure is.” He smiled, his eyes softening when he looked at Shay. “You know she’s a good girl. She’ll always try to do right by her family, but rumor has it her daddy left her with a real mess to clean up.”
Chase remembered a time when Shay’s old man told him he wasn’t fit to spit-shine his baby girl’s shoes, let alone father her child. Apparently Mr. Hanson had fallen on hard times while Chase had been busting his butt to feel worthy of the girl he left behind.
“That can’t be easy.” He watched Shay cross the crowded bar on her way to the restroom, stopping to talk to all the people they’d known since they were kids. The years sure had been good to her. She was just as beautiful as he remembered.
“You ever see her in here with anyone other than her friends?”
Rusty laughed. “You want to know what she’s been up to, why don’t you ask her.”
Chase’s eyes collided with Shay’s before he muttered, “I think I will.”
It felt like they were the only two people in the room when she stared back at him. The last words he spoke to her, I’ll never forgive you, ricocheted through his head and he couldn’t help but wonder whether she heard them too.
He made the first move, walking slowly towards her, giving her a chance to retreat to the safety of the restrooms. But she didn’t. She stood her ground. Waiting for him.
“Chase,” she whispered, sounding a little breathless. “I heard you were back in town. How’ve you been?”
He was dying to take her in his arms, to satisfy his curiosity about whether they still fit together as though they were made for each other. But he didn’t have the right to touch her anymore and he was certain she’d remind him of that if he stepped out of line.
“I’ve been okay. You?”
With a slight smile, she said, “From what I hear you’ve been doing better than okay. You and Bryce hit it big. Congratulations.”
He wanted to remind her that had always been their plan, but doing so would make him sound bitter and resentful and he’d promised himself he’d leave all that behind when he finally saw her again.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, gesturing to one of the few free tables in the back of the crowded bar. “Catch up?”
“Um, I’m here with my friends,” she said, gesturing to a table of girls he’d once known as well as his own sister.
In unison, they smiled and waved at him when his gaze drifted to their table. He’d known Ainsley would be there. She was the one who’d told him if he wanted to talk to Shay, he’d better hightail it to Rusty’s.
“Just one drink,” he said, determined to wear her down. Letting her walk away without finding out what she knew about their son wasn’t an option. “Please. Then you can get back to your friends.”
“Okay,” she said, leading the way to the vacant table. “A few minutes. But I don’t need a drink.”
Shay met his eyes for what felt like the first time in forever. “The years have been good to you.”
“I was just thinking the same thing about you,” he admitted, leaning forward. “It’s been a long time.” He smiled. “I didn’t expect you to look the same.”
She laughed, her uneasiness obvious. “The lighting’s not so great in here. If it were you’d see lines that weren’t there before.”
Maybe, but she wouldn’t be the only one. They’d both grown up, with the scars to remind them of the love they’d lost with one split-second decision.
Shay still had the long, dark hair that fell in soft waves down her back. Big, dark eyes and olive skin… the only traits she’d inherited from her father, according to her.
“It would be a lot easier to have this conversation if you’d gained fifty pounds,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood. “As it is, I’m having a hard time taking my eyes off you.” It wouldn’t matter to him what she looked like. He’d still look at her and see the most beautiful girl he’d ever known.
“Glad I’m not the only one,” she said, dipping her head to hide her smile. “I can’t believe it’s still there after all these years… that spark.”
Chase didn’t know what to expect when he saw her again, but he sure hadn’t expected to feel like he’d been struck by lightning… for the second time. “I guess some things never change.”
Her smile faded as she looked up at him. “But some things do. A lot of things have, in fact. I’m not the same girl I was back then, Chase.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be.” He waited for the waitress to place a bowl of pretzels, water and his bottle between them before he said, “I’ve grown up a lot too. I’m not the same scared kid your daddy ran out of town.”
“The way I remember it you left willingly.”
Only after she’d already left, intent on delivering their baby in another state before starting college that fall. “Not like I had a choice. Staying here, with all the memories of us, wasn’t an option.”
“Yet, you’re back.” She took a sip of her water, regarding him over the rim of her glass. “Which must mean you’re long over it now.”
“Do you ever really get over something like that?” he asked, the challenge lighting his blue eyes.
“No, you don’t. It changes you. At least it’s changed me.”
Instead of diving right into the subject they’d been skirting, he asked, “So, what you made you come back here after you got your degree?”
Her smile was faint when she said, “I got my M.B.A., actually.”
He raised his bottle, a smile tugging his lips. “Congratulations. That’s pretty impressive. Especially since I dropped out second year so me and Bryce could open our first store.”
“I’d say you made the right decision.” She wrinkled her nose. “I would have preferred a
n English degree, but I let my father talk me into a more ‘practical’ option,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain as she made air quotes around the word.
“Do you still write?” When they were dating she’d always been working on a short story or poem, claiming she was going to buckle down and write a book someday.
“I haven’t since I started working at the dealership.”
“Before that?” He suddenly wanted to know everything he’d been missing for the past fifteen years.
“I wrote a book. A memoir about adoption.” Her tongue darted over her bottom lip, a sign Chase recognized as a nervous gesture. “It got picked up by a publisher. I even did the book tour. It sold better than we expected it to, so they told me to submit the fiction manuscript I’d been working on.”
“And?” He could tell this story didn’t have a happy ending, but he was dying to get his hands on a copy of the book she’d written, sharing their personal struggle, in her own words, revealing feelings she’d probably never even shared with him.
“My dad had a stroke. I had to take over for him. I didn’t have a choice. My family needed me to step up.”
“So, once again you did what you’re family wanted you to instead of following your heart?” He was clenching his jaw to prevent himself from spewing more unsolicited opinions, but it wasn’t easy. On the subject of her family, he had a lot to say.
“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if your family needed you,” she said, a defiant edge to her voice that wasn’t there before. “I know you better than that.”
“The difference is my family wouldn’t have expected me to uproot my life to rescue them.” Chase knew he’d crossed the line when she stood, slinging her oversized purse over her shoulder. “I guess I’ll see you around. It was… nice catching up.”
Watching her walk away, Chase cursed himself for letting his past resentments prevent him from getting the one thing he wanted most: information about his son.
“Are you okay?” Ainsley asked, squeezing Shay’s hand when she returned to their table.
“I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “Just took a minute to catch up with an old friend.”
Her closest girlfriends all rolled their eyes in unison because they knew the story of Shay and Chase as well as anyone and could tell she was lying though her teeth when she tried to play that meeting off as insignificant.
Shay was still having trouble catching her breath. She knew she’d run into Chase eventually. Landon boasted less than a few thousand residents, so it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed, but she’d hoped to have a little more time to prepare herself.
“What did you guys talk about?” her friend, Meg asked, sipping her drink. “Is he married? Does he have any kids?”
“I don’t think so.” Shay couldn’t believe he’d have looked at her the way he did if he had a wife and kids waiting on him at home.
“He doesn’t,” Ainsley piped up, shooting a guilty look in Shay’s direction.
“How do you know that?” Shay asked, holding her breath. She didn’t want to hear that her best friend had betrayed her by maintaining a friendship with her ex behind her back.
“It’s not what you think,” Ainsley said, looking panic-stricken. “We just connected on social media a while back. We’ve chatted a bit, about our lives and stuff. That’s how I know he’s still single.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shay asked, trying to make sense of her friend’s confession. If their situations had been reversed and she’d re-connected with Bryce, she couldn’t imagine not telling Ainsley the second it happened.
“I wasn’t sure how you’d react,” Ainsley admitted. “And I wanted to get to know him again before I decided whether he deserved another shot with my best friend.”
“What are you talking about?” Shay asked, glancing in Chase’s direction. He was standing at the bar, surrounded by a group of guys he used to play football with, laughing and talking like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Chase isn’t interested in me anymore. What we had was a long time ago. And I don’t have to remind you the way it ended.”
“Yet he came back,” their friend Jenna reminded her. “That has to count for something.”
“He came back because his father died,” Shay said, reaching for her drink to wash away the guilt she still felt whenever she thought of the way her father had treated Chase’s dad. His parents had always been kind to her, even after she put their first grandchild up for adoption. “His family needed him.”
“May be fate brought him back here,” Meg suggested with a smile as she toyed with her straw. “Same place your love story began. Wouldn’t it be romantic if you fell for your first love all over again?”
“You need to quit watching those sappy romantic dramas,” Shay said, reaching for her cell phone when it buzzed, letting her know she had a message. “Not everyone gets a happy ending.” The message wasn’t important, but at least it gave her a reprieve.
“But you guys could,” Ainsley said, as she snuck a peek at Chase. “It’s obvious he’s still into you.”
Shay wanted to grill her friend about the messages she’d exchanged with her ex, but doing so would mean admitting she was still interested and her pride wouldn’t let her do that. “Have you asked Chase about Bryce?” she asked Ainsley, trying to deflect her friends’ interest in her situation.
“Oh yeah,” Jenna said, squeezing Ainsley’s arm. “If Chase’s back, that means Bryce is too. Have you seen him, talked to him?”
“As a matter of fact, he passed by my flower shop the other day.”
Shay gaped at her friend, unable to believe she’d kept that juicy tidbit to herself. “And? What did he say? How did he look?”
“Ugh,” Ainsley said, downing her drink. “Way better than he has any right to look. He should be bald with a big belly by now.”
The ladies laughed in sympathetic agreement as Shay wondered if thinning hair would have done anything to diminish her attraction to Chase. Probably not. He was the only man she’d ever met who could make her feel like a giddy teenager just by uttering her name.
“I don’t think he would have come in to see me at all,” Ainsley continued. “But I was changing out a window display just as he was leaving the bank next door. I guess he would have felt guilty for walking right by without saying hi.”
“Was it weird seeing him again?” Shay asked, hoping she wasn’t the only one reduced to mush at the sight of a man she should have been over years ago.
“Yeah, it was,” Ainsley admitted. “But it was kind of nice too. It took me back.”
Back to a time Shay sometimes wished she could forget. “Did he ask what you’d been up to? Whether you were married or had kids?” Shay knew she should have asked Chase those questions, but she’d been afraid of the answer.
“I told him a bit about the divorce,” Ainsley said, propping her chin in her hand. “But it’s still a tough pill to swallow, you know, the sense of failure... regret.”
Shay knew her friend had been crushed when her husband told her their marriage wasn’t worth fighting for and he wanted a divorce. Her ex was a nice enough guy, but they’d come together for the wrong reason: because they were both lonely and trying to get over other people.
“Well, this has been fun ladies,” Shay said, reaching into her purse for enough cash to cover her part of the tab. “But I’ve got another early morning, so I’ve got to call it a night.”
“Any offers on the dealership yet?” Jenna asked, as Shay slapped two twenties down on the table.
“I wish.”
A buyer would mean their family would have enough money to pay for her father’s care, support her mother’s lifestyle, and pay for her brother’s last year of medical school. All of her prayers would be answered in one fell swoop.
“You’ll find someone,” Ainsley assured her with a weak smile that said she wasn’t at all convinced. “As soon as the economy turns around, you’l
l see.”
“How is it Bryce and Chase have managed to grow their business while everyone else seems to be struggling?” Meg asked.
“I guess they have the magic touch,” Jenna said, prompting Shay and Ainsley to share a look that said they could attest to that.
Chapter Three
Chase was grateful Ainsley was the last in her group to leave. It meant he could have his first face-to-face conversation with her in years. After they shared a brief hug Ainsley invited him to sit down.
“So, how did your talk with Shay go?” she asked, sipping her water.
“She didn’t say?” Chase asked, unable to believe they hadn’t pumped her for information as soon as she returned to the table.
“I want to hear it from you,” Ainsley said, regarding him carefully as she sat back, crossing her arms.
His best friend’s ex was as beautiful as he remembered, with long blonde hair, bright green eyes and a ready smile that made everyone feel at ease. But he’d been one of the few guys in high school who hadn’t made a play for her. Probably because he’d been too busy falling in love and planning a future with Shay.
“I got the feeling she didn’t want to talk about the past,” he admitted, running his thumb over his life line. He did that sometimes, to remind himself that even though he’d made a lot of mistakes, he had time left to make things right.
“Can you blame her?” Ainsley asked, gently. “It’s taken her a long time to get over what happened. Honestly, I’m not sure that she ever has.”
“Neither have I,” Chase admitted, easing back in the wooden chair as he ran a hand over his mouth. “There isn’t a day goes by I don’t think about my son.”
“I know Shay feels the same way.” She look torn before asking, “Have you read her book?”
“No. She told me about it tonight.”
“You need to read it.” She covered his hand with hers. “But I have to warn you, I cried all the way through it.”
Chase suspected he might as well. His emotions were always close to the surface when he thought about the adoption that never should have happened. He didn’t know if he and Shay would have survived the stress of getting married and having a baby so young, but they shouldn’t have been robbed of the chance to try.
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