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Steam puffed from my lips as I laughed. “He was a drop-dead gorgeous finance guy. There was no way that I made him nervous.”
Serena stopped. “Julia. You are drop-dead gorgeous and the smartest woman I’ve ever met. If he wasn’t too afraid to make the first move, he was married—or had a girlfriend.”
“He never tried to find me,” I whispered.
“Did you ever try to find him?” Serena started walking again. The smell of smoke from the fireplace next door to my rental wafted through the street as we reached my house.
I dug into my bag to pull out the keys to the rental. “About five years later I looked up his business social media page, but it didn’t tell me anything, and he doesn’t have any social media.” I’d gotten drunk a couple of nights and searched all the platforms for any sign of Chance, but I didn’t tell Serena about that. “As I said, he never tried to find me.”
Serena gasped. “Julia. You stood the man up on the top of a mountain.”
“Who knows if he even showed up.” I sighed. “Now, you can see why coming here is completely ridiculous.”
“No.” Serena flicked the latch for the gate on my white picket fence. “Chance Rapids is magical. Be open to it.” Then Serena laughed and pointed at the keys in my hand. “Tell me you’re from the city without telling me you’re from the city.”
I knitted my brow at her.
“Hardly anybody locks their doors here. I don’t even have a key to Freddie’s house.”
“That might be a hard habit to break,” I mused, thinking of the five locks on my New York apartment.
When we reached the walkway to my house, the walkway was completely cleared. “Someone shoveled my pathway.” I pointed to the waist-high snowbanks that flanked the entryway to my place.
“That happens too.” Serena shrugged. “People help each other out here.”
“I thought that only happened in the movies,” I laughed. “I’m like a fish out of water here.”
Serena hugged me. “I think you’re really brave for coming here by yourself. Let yourself be open to the magic.”
She was right. I did feel brave. I didn’t need a man or a change of scenery to be wild and free. I was doing it on my own. I stood a little straighter. This month in Chance Rapids was going to be the best month of my life. I could feel it. “Thanks, Serena. I’m so happy that I met you.”
“Same.” She smiled, then tilted her head. “You never told me his name. Mister Blue Eyes, Norwegian Sweater Man…”
“Oh,” I chuckled, realizing I’d used all the nicknames I’d made up for him. “Get this. His name is Chance. Chance Powers.”
Serena’s face went as white as the snowbank behind her. “Chance Powers? Are you serious?”
“I wouldn’t make up a name like that,” I replied.
She grabbed both of my arms with her surprisingly strong hands. “Julia. There can’t be two of them.”
My heart started to hammer. “What do you mean?”
Serena pointed to the house next door where the smoke snaked out of the chimney into the cloudy sky. “Chance Powers is your neighbor.”
The world around me started to spin and I felt like I was in a snow globe that had just been shaken. As though on cue, the yellow front door of my neighbor's house swung open and a black lab burst onto the street, followed by a handsome man with dark hair. It couldn’t be. I whispered to myself, hoping that Serena would pinch me. But I knew deep within my gut with about ninety percent certainty that it was Chance Powers, and when his eyes met mine, it changed to one hundred percent.
Chance Powers, the man I’d fallen for ten years earlier, was my neighbor. The world swirled around me and I felt like I’d had thirty glasses of wine instead of three. Serena caught me as the world went dark and the last thing I saw was a wriggly black lab at my feet.
* * *
My eyes blinked open and the brightness of the snowy world around me came into focus.
“She’s okay.” I heard a woman’s voice and then a wet warmth on my face.
“Frankie. That’s enough.” A man’s voice came from behind me and I blinked, figuring out that it was the black dog licking my face. I patted the dog’s head and as I did, the realization hit me. I was petting my new neighbor’s dog. And that neighbor was Chance Powers.
Strong hands slipped under my arms and lifted me to my feet.
