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“Have you asked him?”
“He didn’t really answer.” I swallow a mouthful of coffee and focus on the weeks and months of friendship that Molly offered. Finally, I give her a heartfelt smile. “It’s lovely to see you. Truly.” I reach for her hand. “I’ve been coming in most days. When are you working? I’d always want to make sure I see you rather than some of the other locals.”
“It varies, my dear. But not the early shift, I’m afraid. Not until the summer.”
“Okay. I’ll stop in and see you again soon. You do the best coffee.” I make sure our conversation ends positively and seeing her sets my mood right for the rest of the day. In fact, with no other run-ins with Jayce for the rest of the week, it stays buoyant.
But then, what goes up, must come down.
Walking through Tregethworth never takes long. It’s so small, and with the surf shop on the main road of stores next to the beach, I want to avoid the chance of running into Jayce wherever possible. So, I detour and head to Molly’s by crossing the beach first.
Mum wasn’t blown away by the proposal for her land. She felt that we’d be inviting more tourists to bring change to our town, which was still relatively unaffected by the influx of tourism—something I was counting on, so I had some convincing to do if she was going to agree.
“Zennor!” The sound of my name pauses my feet and forces a long draw of air into my lungs before Jayce comes into view.
I thought he’d finally understood, but the past few days were just luring me into a false sense of security.
“Look, I’m not sure what the other night was all about, but I thought we had a pretty good evening, especially considering it ended with us together. Yet since then, you seem to have gone out of your way to ignore me or brush me off like I mean nothing.” He looks expectantly, shoving his hands into his jeans.
“I thought I made this clear the other day. Sleeping together doesn’t mean we’ve got any obligation to each other.”
“I didn’t say that it does.”
“Then what are you saying?” I wait for his explanation, annoyed that he won’t let this drop.
“That we’re adults and can be civil or show some common courtesy to one another. You’re avoiding me. I thought we once shared something, and now we’ve both grown up, or so I thought.”
“You’re throwing that at me?”
“We were teenagers before. We couldn’t have made a go of things then, but now we’re in the same place again. But I don’t play games, and I didn’t take you for someone to play them, either.”
“Games? I’m sorry, did your ego get so big that you assume because I took you home, it meant something? That I’d fall at your feet?”
He shakes his head at me. “You grew up. I get that. I did too. But right now, I can’t see anything about you to like, let alone make me fall the way I did for you all those years ago.”
“You don’t know me, Jayce. Hell, we barely knew each other back then.” There’s a bitterness in my words, spoken with the anger that’s always fuelled me and shaped me into who I am today.
“Only because you’re not letting me get to know you.”
“Sorry to be a disappointment. But perhaps being a naive child is a little old for me. We’re not the same people anymore, Jayce. Stop pretending.”
“I came back to this place, in part, because of the time we spent together here. That summer meant something to me, more than that. It’s like I left a part of my soul here. I won’t apologise for that. And I wouldn’t change the past for anything.”
“Well, good for you. Not all of us have such rosy memories of that summer, Jayce.”
“Don’t lie to me. I know what we felt—how I felt. That was real, and I’ve been chasing it ever since.”
“Then you’ve been chasing a dream. Just like your big waves.”
We both stare at each other, our eyes still warring, both refusing to back down.
I know I won’t. I can’t.
He doesn’t get to walk back in here and dictate how things will go. The past is the past, and he has no idea about mine. For him, he got his dream.
Everything changed for me after Jayce Roberts. This is who I am now, and I’m determined to win and not let him stand in the way of the next part of my life.
He might only remember the Zennor he first met, but she’s gone. No thanks to him.
