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“It’s all in your eyes.” He ran a finger down my cheek. “You want me just as much as I want you.”
I shivered and took a step back before I accosted him. “I don’t know what I want.” That was true. I needed time to figure that out. “Can we start with being friends?”
His broad shoulders rose and fell. “If that’s what you need.”
I nodded.
“Should we kiss on it?” He flashed me an impish smile, taking a step closer.
Yes, please. I pushed against his rock-hard chest. “Kane, please give me time. I don’t know what will happen between us, but I don’t want to have regrets.”
“That’s the last thing I want for you,” he said sincerely.
“I catch your double meaning. And I want to run Armstrong Labs. I need to,” I pleaded with him to understand that.
He tilted his head. “Need to?”
He didn’t know about Auggie. And I’d promised Auggie I wouldn’t discuss it with anyone besides Naomi.
I quickly held out my hand, ignoring his last question. “Let’s shake on it. Friends.”
He didn’t hesitate to grasp my hand and draw me near enough that we were sharing the same breaths. “Best friends,” he whispered.
He was the best friend I’d ever had. I missed him. So much. “Best friends,” I whispered back before I could stop myself.
A grin engulfed his face. “Now that that’s settled, we need to finish our list.”
“What list?”
“Our summer list.”
My hand flew to my chest. “You kept it?”
He reached into his pocket, took out his wallet, and opened it. Inside was a folded-up piece of paper. He carefully pulled it out. It looked worn, as if he had unfolded and refolded it many times over the years. And there it was: our list.
I rubbed my heart, overcome by feelings. So much hope lived in each word that had been written on that paper. Cherished, yet haunting, memories lived and breathed on the page.
Kane held it out to me, but I was afraid to take it for fear I would start crying. “How long have you been carrying that around?”
“Since the day I said goodbye.” His voice was on the cusp of breaking with emotion, but he held it together.
“I don’t understand why you kept it.” I was doing everything I could to hold back the onslaught of tears ready to be unleashed.
“For this moment, right here,” he said, as if he were fulfilling a lifelong quest or relieving a burden he had been carrying around for years. “Because I knew someday I would see you again and I could give this to you. And you would know that I thought about you every day we’d been apart.”
That did it. The tears burst through and ran down my cheeks. I loved him for it, and I wanted to shake him for eight lost years. This was why I was so torn. He had stolen from me, and I wasn’t sure it was something we could get back.
“Please take it,” he begged.
With trembling hands, I uneasily took the paper. I had a hard time focusing on the words, as my eyes had become so blurry from crying. Yet through the waterworks, I saw every date we had planned and the check marks by the ones we’d been on. There were six check marks missing, except there should have only been five. “You forgot to check one off.” I couldn’t say Edge of the World. It was such a beautiful place, but it was an ugly memory. Edge of the World could have been renamed The Day My World Came Crashing Down.
“No, I didn’t.” He tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear. “That one deserves a redo.”
“I can’t go there,” I stammered.
“Give me a chance to change your mind,” he pleaded.
I handed him back the list. “Don’t press your luck,” I half-heartedly teased.
He chuckled and took the list. “So, Starlight Drive-In first?” Of course, he would pick that one first.
Pamela, the chief medical officer, walked in. I wished she hadn’t. I already felt as if everyone who worked here and sat on the board was watching my every move. Scrutinizing me. Even Pamela, who I had interned for and who I believed thought highly of me. I could see in her eyes that she had serious questions about me leading Armstrong Labs. Even now, she looked between me and Kane with interest, taking note of my tears. CEOs didn’t cry at work or date their coworkers. I mean, it’s not like she didn’t know that Kane and I had dated a long time ago. Still, I didn’t want people to think we were in a relationship now. Especially anyone from the executive team who was on the board. People Kane already had a good relationship with. Yeah, that didn’t bode well for me either. Regardless, I was going to do everything in my power to knock their socks off. To make them forget I was Auggie’s daughter and that I cried in the break room.
