“Honestly, all I need is the name tag. Or whatever it is that will get me into this icebreaker thing.”
“No, no. You need the packet because it has all the tickets to our fun events. Like the karaoke and the dinner dance . . . did you sign up for any of the optional fun?” She bent over to reach into a basket on the floor, and I noted with no little satisfaction that cheerleader and perennial popular chick Amy had a little trouble getting her hand into the container.
Not so flexible now, are we?I thought uncharitably and then immediately hated that I was being so petty. We were all older now. I sure as hell couldn’t run the way I used to when I was eighteen.
“No, nothing optional,” I responded, taking the envelope. “Just the bare minimum. Thanks.”
“Okay, well, now you can put on your name tag and head for the Hawthorne Ballroom, where our mixer is already in progress.” Amy pointed to the doorway on the other side of the lobby. “Have a wonderful time reliving our Glory Days, and don’t forget—Shout Out, Sharks!”
I clenched my jaw and walked away.
The icebreakeractually wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. It turned out that the committee had decided that the best way to break the ice was to make sure we all had someplace to sit and not necessarily with the people we knew or remembered. As I approached the doorway, a woman who looked vaguely familiar handed me a card with the number seventeen printed on it.
“Wish they’d thought of this in the cafeteria back in the day,” I quipped to the woman distributing the cards. “It would have made lunchtime a little easier for some of us.”
To my surprise, she grinned back at me. “Why do you think I had the idea to do it this way? A lot of us haven’t been in the same room since graduation. This way, we don’t have a table of popular people, another one of jocks . . . you get the picture.”
“Good thinking.” I hesitated and then added, “I’m Nash Sampson, by the way. I’m sorry that I don’t remember your name.”
“Cory Wright.” She tilted her head. “I remember you a little. But we must not have had many classes together. I moved to the Cove in junior year, so it’s not a shock that we weren’t best friends.”
“Well, I’m glad to know you now.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the line of people waiting for their numbers was getting long. “I’ll let you get back to work.”
Table seventeen, it turned out, was in the back of the room, which was great for me. I could sit in the proverbial—and literal—corner and watch everyone, which meant I could keep my eyes open for Jared Brady. Thinking of Reggie and his unwavering belief that the universe conspired to help us with whatever we needed or wanted, I concentrated on positivity, on trusting in the powers that be to bring Jared to my table and let him sit down right next to me.
“Oh!” A decidedly feminine voice—one that didnotbelong to Jared Brady—drew me from my manifestation focus. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see anyone sitting there—Nash?”
I jumped to my feet, my chair bouncing against the wall and knocking me forward a little. My mouth was dry, and I blinked rapidly as I stared agape at the woman holding onto the chair next to mine.
“Peyton?” I croaked, my voice tunneling back in time to seventh grade. “Um, hi.”
Way to go, Sampson. Smooth as always.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Her eyelids were fluttering, too, I noticed. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who was thrown for a loop here.
“I didn’t decide to come until the last minute.” I cleared my throat. “You weren’t on the list, either.”
“I wasn’t planning on it, but then Sheri—” She broke off, her forehead crinkling as her mouth pressed into a straight line and tears filled her eyes.
I decided to come to her rescue. “Yeah, I saw her a little while ago, on my way in. She said that she had asked all of you to join her here.” I paused for a beat. “Hell of a thing, isn’t it? How are we old enough to be losing classmates like that?”
“I know.” She bit her lip. “Anyway, I wasn’t going to come this weekend, but when Sheri emailed, I felt like I didn’t have a choice.” Her fingers twisted together. “If it had been up to me, I never would’ve come back to the Cove. I don’t have many happy memories here.”
“Yeah, I hear that.” I gripped the back of my chair. “I feel the same way. I could have happily lived out the rest of my days without a trip to Crystal Cove.”
Peyton frowned. “You don’t live here anymore?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Until today, the last time I was in the Cove was the day I left for college in Georgia. My folks moved to Savannah, and I ended up settling nearby after I graduated.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You live in Savannah? Are you serious?”
“Not in the city, but not too far away. It’s a little town called Burton.”
“Oh, my gosh, what a small world. My cousin Jude—do you remember her? She owns the Rip Tide? Well, her daughter lives there. She’s married to a farmer named Sam something.”
I chuckled. “Sam Reynolds, I bet. I know Meghan a little, and I knew she was from Florida, but I had no idea she came from the Cove, let alone that she was Jude’s daughter.”
“That’s incredible. What a coincidence.” Peyton smiled, and suddenly, I was eighteen, and all that mattered in the world was that Peyton Rivers was smiling at me. Paying attention to me.
