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“Roni, please understand. I…”
She leaned forward, her hands clasped tightly together on top of the table. “This is what I understand. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again for an entire year. Wondering the whole time if there was a chance we could reconnect. That maybe we might have a second chance. Then I discover you are back in Pineville, for who knows how long, and you don’t even bother to call. You’ve made it very clear how important reconnecting with me was to you. So, I’ll tell you what. I’ll make this easy for you. Take your latte and go home.” She got to her feet. “And don’t call me again.”
“You’re right,” he said loudly as she started to walk away. “About everything.”
She turned back to him, standing still, her gaze frozen as she stared at him.
“I don’t know why I messaged you last year, but after we started talking again, I, too, wondered if maybe we could recapture what we once had. You were my best friend. We used to talk about everything. You were my biggest champion, and I’ve missed you. More than I realized.”
Her eyes softened, but she stayed standing, not moving. Toward him or away.
“Even though you lived here, and I was in Denver, I started looking at my life and what exactly was keeping me there. Especially with my parents being here and starting to need me so much.”
She took a deep breath and a step forward and clutched the back of her chair with two hands.
He’d take that as a good sign. He couldn’t let her walk away again. Somehow, he had to make her understand. “But then when I got here, it was all so overwhelming. And coming back to this coffee shop, on this street, at this time of year, just brought back all the memories from before.”
“What memories?” she asked, her voice sharp. Her eyes sharper. Eyes that used to look up at him with happy dancing sparks that used to captivate him.
Should he tell her the truth? Tell her he had come back once, but she hadn’t seen him that last time he’d returned. He’d missed her so badly he caught a flight and came home to tell her how much he’d loved her. He wanted her and their life back so badly he was willing to give up Denver and his scholarship and come home to her.
Until he found her in the arms of another man.
He returned to Denver and never looked back.
But he wouldn’t tell her that now. Wouldn’t share how badly she’d shattered his heart. “Can we just start over? Is that possible?”
She stared at him for a long moment. There was no tenderness in her eyes, no softness in her voice as she said, “You know, it sounds like we both have a lot going on. You with your parents, and me trying to save this place, which is obviously struggling. You were right to focus on your family, and I’m sure as soon as your dad is back on his feet, you’ll be returning to Denver. I think this whole thing”—she swept her arms wide—“was good. It showed me that I’ve been spending way too long imagining things between us and not dealing with reality. The reality is, you live in Denver. I live here. There is no reason for us to try to recreate something we had in high school. We were kids then. We’re adults now, and it’s time I remember what everyone is always saying.”
His stomach dropped heavily at her words. “What is that?” he asked over the lump in his throat.
“You can’t live in the past. You have to let it go and face your future.” She released the death grip on the back of the chair and took a step back. “It was nice to see you, Jimmy. I hope your dad feels better soon.” Then she turned, dismissing him, and walked away, taking his heart with her.
Would he let her?
Or would he stay and fight?
Did he even deserve another chance with her? He didn’t know. All he knew was that she was right; he didn’t know what his future held. The only thing he was certain of was that he wasn’t ready to let her go, to turn his back on her again. He’d done that once before and look how that turned out. Ten years later and they were both still alone. Watching her now, seeing her again, but not being able to touch her, to hold her or kiss her, to even take her hand, put everything into perspective. He wanted more.
He wanted that connection they used to share.
More than that, he wanted to hear her laugh and see her smiling up at him as he held her in his arms.
They belonged together. He was sure of it.
Now he needed to convince her of that.
CHAPTER5
“Emergency Save Christmas meeting at Roni’s three p.m.”
Melanie’s text came through the group chat on all their phones that morning when they were at Frankie’s, and then Roni sent another one at two p.m. that afternoon, right after Jimmy left. She reserved the big round table in front of the fireplace where they always had their meetings and waited for the others to arrive.
Together, she was sure they could come up with a plan to fight the Riverwalk. This went way beyond saving her coffee shop; this was about saving Christmas in downtown Pineville.
Melanie walked in first with Nicole, who was still wearing her elf costume. “I can only stay for fifteen minutes, then I need to get back to the Santa booth,” Nicole said as they both hung their coats on the coat-tree by the doorway.
“I understand. This shouldn’t take long,” Roni assured her.
