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I tucked my hair behind my ear, feeling downright giddy. I’d gone from dreading this whole thing to coming out of it with a date with a guy I used to be so into.
We went about exchanging numbers, excitement and nerves making me fumble a few times as I tried to key his in. Finally, it was done.
“Well, I guess I should”—he threw his thumb over his shoulder—“probably mingle a bit more. But I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Great,” he repeated as he backed up, slightly awkward and all kinds of adorable. “Then I’ll see you around.”
He started away, looking back at me over his shoulder every few seconds until he almost slammed right into another person.
Colbie reappeared just then, passing me a fresh vodka soda. “That looked like it went well.”
I did a little hop in place, bringing the black plastic straw to my lips and taking a sip. “It really did. Turns 0ut he’s moving back soon and asked me to dinner.”
She did a little dance for me, letting out a squeak of excitement on my behalf. “Oh, yay! You had such a crush on him back in school.”
I bit down on the straw and grinned goofily. “I know. And get this. He said he had a crush on me back then too.”
Her smile fell just a touch, taking her enthusiasm with it. “He did? Then why didn’t he ever ask you out?”
I lifted my shoulder in a shrug. “I don’t know. I guess he was just too shy?”
Her brows pulled together as she let out a low, “Hmm.”
I arched a brow and cocked my hip, feeling defensive all of a sudden. “Hmm? What’shmmsupposed to mean?”
“Nothing!” she insisted before quickly amending, “Well, okay, notnothing. Doesn’t that seem a little flaky to you? I mean, you never really struck me as the kind of woman who’d go for a dude who didn’t have the balls to make a move.”
I clamped my lips shut on the argument I was going to issue, because there really was no point. She was totally right, and if I said otherwise she would have seen right through me.
I rolled my eyes as I took another drink, the excitement I’d felt moments ago petering out like a tire slowly leaking air. “Okay, you’re right. But that was fifteen years ago,” I asserted. “I mean, maybe he’s changed. It only took a few minutes for him to ask me out this time.”
She didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Well, I’m going out with him anyway, and I bet I have a really great time.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could get a word out her eyes rounded on something over my shoulder. “Oh shit, this isn’t good,” she muttered to herself.
“What isn’t?—?”
“Well look at you, Bubbles. All grown up.”
Ah hell.
Chapter Five
BEAU
I’d beenon the fence about whether or not going to the reunion was a good idea, but the moment I stepped into that gym I knew I’d fucked up. I hadn’t RSVPed or told anyone I planned on attending, yet somehow the word had gotten out.
It was easy to forget how small towns operated after being in the city for so long. It had totally slipped my mind how everyone seemed to know your personal business whether you shared it with them or not. Or how gossip spread faster than the clap through an Old West era brothel. Ironic, really, given those were two of the main reasons I’d wanted to get the hell out of Whitecap so damn bad when I was younger.
And now I was back.
It had only been a couple weeks since I’d made the move, and it still didn’t feel quite real yet. I wasn’t even fully settled in my new place. The whole move had been a whirlwind. In the span of two weeks, I’d interviewed for a new job, uprooted my entire life to move back to a town I swore I’d never set foot in again, and started my new role as head coach for my alma mater. On one hand, stepping back onto that field all these years later felt kind of like coming home again. However, on the other, doing it as acoach instead of a player was foreign territory. The start of the school year and the football season was right around the corner, and practice was officially underway. I’d been coaching my guys now for a week, and I still didn’t have a goddamn clue what I was doing. I had two Super Bowl rings, for fuck’s sake, yet I still felt like a fraud every time I brought that whistle to my lips and blew, demanding everyone’s attention.
I was convinced the only reason I hadn’t made an ass out of myself yet was thanks to the rest of the coaching staff. They’d been a godsend.
