Evolving Dreams (New Beginnings Series)

by Tepe, Mandie

“Well . . . I haven’t seen you here since I joined the church.”

  “You’re a member here. Wow. For how long, Meg?”

  She drew up to her full height—which wasn’t all that tall, even with the spiked heels of her boots—and looked him in the eye, “Since the beginning of November.”

  He was shocked again. “Over three months. Since right after we broke up.”

  She nodded.

  “You’ve been here—in San Diego—since we broke up?!” His voice rose.

  Meg looked around to see if anyone noticed the scene that was unfolding. She whispered furiously to him, “Since you dumped me! Yes.” She wrapped her hand around his wrist. “Come on. If you want to talk this out, let’s go. Do you want some coffee? Let’s go out for coffee.” She started pulling him toward the front door.

  An older woman saw her and stopped. “Are you coming to Bible study, Meg?”

  “No, Bea. This is my friend, Trace. Trace, Bea.” She plowed on as they shook hands. “I just ran into him and we haven’t seen each other in a while. We’re going to brunch to catch up. Say ‘hello’ to everyone for me.”

  “Okay. Nice to meet you, Trace.” Bea looked a little baffled, but waved as she headed toward the hallway leading to the classrooms.

  Meg grabbed his wrist again and continued pulling him toward the door, speaking to acquaintances the whole way to the parking lot. Trace was beginning to enjoy this. How had he forgotten how much fun she was?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  After they were seated at the restaurant they just stared at each other for a minute. Meg had refused to ride with him and insisted on taking her own car and meeting him there. And it was her own car, he noticed. Not a rental. It had California license plates and everything. She had a church membership and a car. He shook his head.

  “What?” she asked.

  She had a hard time believing she was sitting across from him. He was wearing a soft heather gray sweater with a simple white crew neck t-shirt underneath. The heather gray did beautiful things to his ocean-gray eyes. And the dark wash jeans and boots did wonderful things for the rest of him. His hair was quite a bit longer than the last time she’d seen him—shaggier, with the tips brushing his collar.

  “I’m just wondering what other surprises you have up your sleeve,” he prodded.

  Their server stopped and they both ordered quickly, without much thought, just to get rid of him.

  Trace looked at her and said, “Okay. Spill. Tell me

  everything.”

  “Where do you want me to start?” she asked.

  “Just . . . how do you happen to still be here, Meg?” he asked, exasperated.

  Meg took a deep breath. “I was offered a job teaching at the San Diego Dance Institute. Heading up the contemporary dance program, actually.”

  “When?”

  “A couple of days after we split up.”

  “Whoa. So you knew a couple of days after we split up you were staying?” he asked incredulously.

  “No . . . it took me the better part of the week to decide if I wanted to take the job or not.” She looked at him in disgust. “You were the biggest item on the con side of the pros and cons list, by the way. Just so you know.”

  He snorted. “I can imagine.” He looked at her seriously. “I just can’t believe it. You’ve been here the whole time. Are you still living with Tobi?”

  “No. I have my own place. A little townhouse in The TradeWinds complex.”

  “You have your own place. Seems like you’ve settled in okay.”

  “Yes. I’m really happy here. The job is good . . . only been at it for a month or so, but I like it so far. I love my townhouse. I’m getting involved in church. Making friends. Things are good.” She leaned across the table. “How ‘bout you, Trace? How’re things with you?”

  He laughed, “Well, Meg, I have the same house, same car, same job. Same ol’, same ol’ . . . you know.” He reached out and ran his index finger over the back of her hand where it rested on the table. “Just got back from Afghanistan. Don’t know if you know that or not.”

  She shook her head. “No, I hadn’t heard. Everything okay? Are the guys all safe?”

  “Yeah. We all made it back. It was a rough go, though. It’s good to get some rest.”

  “I haven’t kept in touch with Trish and Val. I’ve felt a little guilty about it, but to be honest, I didn’t want to talk to anyone who had any kind of contact with you. I was pretty raw.”

  “Was? Are you over it now, Meg?” He held his breath for her answer.

  She cracked a half-smile. “Some days, I am.”

  His breath hitched. “Yeah, me too.”

  Her smile faded. “Well.”

  “I still can’t believe you never left.”

  “Sonny never spilled the beans, huh?”

  He leaned back in his seat. “Sonny knew you were here?”

  Meg looked him uncertainly. “Well . . . yeah . . . he was dating Tobi for a while, so I would see him around sometimes. Don’t be mad at him, Trace. Tobi probably threatened his life to keep him quiet.”

  “Boy, you really didn’t want me to know you were here, huh?”

  She picked up her knife and concentrated on toying with it. “I wasn’t quite certain why you dumped me, so I didn’t feel like I could just show up on your doorstep and yell, ‘Surprise! Let’s start over!’”

  “What do you mean you didn’t know why I ‘dumped’ you? And can we not use that word? That’s not what I did.”

  The waiter had walked up during the middle of that statement and looked from Trace to Meg in embarrassment. He quickly set their plates down and asked if they needed anything else. Trace brushed him off and he looked at Meg in sympathy as he walked away.

  “Well, that was embarrassing,” she quipped.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s just when you said it that way . . . ‘What do you mean you didn’t know why I dumped you?’” she mimicked him in a low voice and then started laughing. “That guy is back in the kitchen right now with the kitchen staff trying to decide which of the many horrible things I did to you was the last straw . . . took a job at a strip club or slept with your best friend . . . maybe I started up an affair with your sister or kicked your puppy. I know! It was because I cleaned out your bank accounts and drove you into bankruptcy.”

  Trace snickered, “When all it really was, was threatening to go off to exotic locations and leave me behind.”

  She laid her hand over his. “Are you sure that’s why? I had a few other things running through my mind.”

  “Like what?” he asked puzzled.

  She couldn’t look him in the eye suddenly. “Well, maybe you didn’t care as much as I thought you did. Or hoped you did.”

  Trace leaned across the table to catch her eye. “No . . . that’s not it.”

  “That’s what Tobi said.”

  “What else?”

  “You couldn’t handle the abstinence thing.” She winced when she saw his face go pale.

  His ocean-gray eyes went stormy. “No! No! Meg, that’s not . . .” He pushed his plate away and put his face in his hands. “How could you . . . You really think that’s the kind of man I am?”

  “I didn’t think it until the break up. You have to admit the timing was weird.”

  “The timing? I don’t understand.”

  “The night before you pulled away, we got a little . . . close. Closer than we had been. Remember?”

  “Oh! That was the night before I . . . Oh, Meg! I’m sorry. I never want you to think I don’t support you in that.”

  “That’s a relief. I didn’t really like you very much when I ran that scenario through my head.” She folded her arms. “Now you spill. What’s the real reason?”

  Trace took a deep breath. “Cowardice. I couldn’t imagine you leaving me and not knowing when I’d see you again. I was scared to death that in no time I’d be calling you, begging you come back, to give up your career to be with me. I’d pe
ster you so bad you’d grow to hate me. I couldn’t bear that thought. I decided to get out while you still had fond memories of me . . . or before I totally emasculated myself by crying over the phone to you every day . . . or caused you to resent me so much you couldn’t stand to be with me.”

  “I can’t imagine any of those things would have happened.”

  Trace moved over to her side of the booth and slid in beside her. He picked up her hand, “That’s because you don’t understand how much I love you.”

  Meg’s breath caught and her eyes welled up. “Really?”

  “Yes. Do you think you could ever love me too?”

  “I already do.” She laid her hand over his cheek and reached up to kiss him.

  “You do? I didn’t kill it off?”

  She laughed. “No. I’m irritated with you, though. So watch it.”

  “Yeah, we need to work on our communication skills.” He perked up. “I know! Charley’s dating a relationship therapist. Maybe we can get a special rate if we ever need help.”

  “No way . . . Charley’s dating a relationship therapist?” She started giggling. “That is hilarious.”

  When she got hold of herself, Trace looked at her seriously, “Okay . . . just so we’re clear . . . we’re going to give this another try. Right?”

  “Right!” She looked at the congealed food on their table and grimaced. “Ugh! I guess we forgot to eat.”

  “That’s okay.” He pulled his wallet out and threw several bills on the table and slid over to let her out of the booth. “Come on! We’ll go to Antonio’s and pick up a fresh pizza to go. Then I’ll follow you to your place. I’m dying to see it.”

  “Okay!” she agreed as she slid out of the booth behind him.

  Trace noticed their waiter hovering nearby out of the corner of his eye. He nudged Meg and said in a loud voice, “Well, okay . . . we can give this one more try . . . but if you ever kick my puppy again, it’s over! For good!” Then he grabbed her hand and led her out of the restaurant, the waiter watching them with his eyes bugging out.

  EPILOGUE

  Several years later, Claire realized that Trace and Meg’s dreams had fully evolved. They were happily married. Trace had retired from the SEAL teams and had opened a security consultation firm with Charley and Sonny. They worked with private companies, but also had several military contracts.

  Meg had retired as well. Kind of. They’d had babies, and she was teaching little girls and boys to dance in the basement studio her husband had fixed up with paneling, mirrors and a barre in their basement. She didn’t even have to send him a flyer so he could enroll his kids there. They had qualified for the “McKenna family scholarship program.”

  She enjoyed teaching some of his friends’ children too. Val and Javier’s daughter was especially gifted. And Charley was his son’s biggest fan . . . and the loudest cheerer at all of the recitals.

  Claire was reminded of her words to Trace as he grew up. “ . . . Sometimes your dreams just evolve. And that can be a wonderful adventure too!”