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Lana pinched her lips together. Chase was so dead meat. She was going to get revenge. This wasn’t funny.
“If this is too awkward, I can leave,” Hayden finally said.
Guilt made her chest constrict. Hayden was just being nice. Who was she to make him go? “No, don’t leave.”
Hayden leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, the water bubbling around him. “So, this place is pretty nice.”
“It is.” She said it too fast, like she was eager to change the subject. Which, of course, she was, but didn’t want him to know it.
“I like the island, as well.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“I heard there’s schools of stingrays off the shore.” He sat back against the tile.
“Oh?” Why did everything out of her mouth sound so fake? And why was her heart racing? Couldn’t she act natural around Hayden? He was just a man. A man she’d fallen in love with five years ago. Blast. This wasn’t working.
“Yeah. They say they’re cool to see.” He shrugged.
Sweat broke out on her forehead. The hot tub was suddenly a million degrees, and she climbed out, sitting on the side with her feet in the water. “That would be interesting.”
Silence overtook them, and Hayden stared up at the sky while Lana tried to think of something else to say that wasn’t weird. But nothing came to mind. It all was weird. They had shared so many wonderful moments together, but everything had been tainted by the way he’d so coldly dumped her. It was difficult to be near him.
“Lana,” he finally said. “I don’t want things to be strained between us.”
She wanted to say, “Then you shouldn’t have dumped me,” but she held that back. It wouldn’t do any good to be snippy with him. She sighed. “Neither do I.”
“Is there any way we can forget about the past? Be friends again?”
Tears sprang to her eyes, even though she didn’t really know why. Maybe because her heart longed for the closeness they once had. Or the thought of being near Hayden again was too good to be true. Or because deep down she knew they would never have the kind of relationship they had in the past. “I don’t know,” she said, staring down at the bubbles.
“I don’t want us to be like this.” He slipped out of the water and sat next to her. The heat from him made her skin come alive. “I’ve missed you.”
If she were being honest with herself, she’d missed him as well, but she couldn’t share that with him. That was the entire problem. She couldn’t trust him. She’d given him her heart, and he’d stomped on it. How could she forget the past and move forward? There was no friendship left.
“Don’t cry,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
Had she let the tears fall? She didn’t even realize. When she looked up at Hayden, his face blurred, and she blinked the tears away.
Hayden’s eyebrows pulled together. “I’m sorry. Jeez, nothing I do is right. I shouldn’t have stayed. I shouldn’t have—”
“Do you mean it?” Lana interrupted.
Hayden stared at her. “Mean what?”
Her throat swelled, and she barely got the words out. “Have you missed me?”
She waited for his response, her heart thumping out a quickened rhythm. She wanted to know if there was a possibility he still had feelings for her. Maybe…just maybe…
“Of course. We’d been friends. I miss hanging out with you.”
His words sank along with her heart. Friends. That’s all. He missed her friendship. She lowered her gaze. She had nothing she could say to that. He obviously didn’t feel the same way she did.
Hayden leaned toward her. “Would it be okay if I called you sometime?”
Lana let out a breath. He wanted to be friends again. That was all. Nothing more. She should tell him no. Her brain screamed at her to jump up and leave. Friendship was out of the question. There was no good ending to this story. Just more heartbreak. But instead of saying what she should have, her lips betrayed her.
“All right,” she heard herself say.
