Page 16 of Another June with You

Confusion crossed Nana’s face for a moment. “Oh, I thought maybe …” She waved her hand in the air. “Never mind. Don’t mind an old lady like me.”

“You thought maybe, what?” Micah asked.

Shannon wished he had let it go.

Nana shifted in her seat a little and looked at them seriously. “I thought maybe you both finally realized what I’ve known for years. That you two belong together.”

“Nana, please.” Shannon willed her to change the subject.

Nana shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t have a lot of time left on this earth, so I’m just gonna tell it like it is.”

Micah chuckled at that.

Shannon’s head whipped to the side, her mouth agape, eyes locked on Micah. “That’s not funny.”

He pressed his lips together and quieted.

“Life is short, and there are no guarantees. You never know what will happen tomorrow. Say what you need to say, and say it now. Make it right before it’s too late. Take it from someone who knows.”

Micah turned to face Shannon and raised his eyebrows.

Flustered, she stood and walked out of the room.

Nana’s voice followed her. “Was it something I said?”

“Excuse me for a minute,” Micah replied.

Shannon felt him follow her across the house to the kitchen.

“Come on, Shannon. Don’t be like this,” he pleaded.

“You should go back and catch up with her. I’ll wait here for the pies.” She stopped next to the oven.

He stopped beside her and took hold of her upper arm.

The spot he touched was as hot as if she had leaned against the heated oven door.

“I don’t want to talk about … us,” she explained.

“I know I said let’s not get too personal this weekend, but I think it’s too late for that. Don’t you?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be. We can keep things polite and friendly. We don’t have to rehash everything, because it’s not going to change anything.”

His eyes locked with hers.

She hoped he understood, because she really didn’t want to dig up all those old emotions. The real reason she had ended things and the pain she carried with her every day over letting him go were too much to deal with.

His gaze dropped to her lips, and a heat spread over her face and down her neck.

“Please, go back to Nana,” she whispered.

He looked into her eyes once more and swallowed hard before releasing her arm and returning to the porch.

Shannon leaned back against the counter facing the oven. If she let him, Micah would upset her entire world. But in the process, he would ruin his own happiness, and she couldn’t allow him to do that.

Chapter 5

Bringing Micah home to her parents’ house had been a mistake. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking. She hadn’t been thinking really. And how could she possibly go to dinner with him now? Seeing him with Nana, joking around, simply being in his presence, had stirred up so many feelings. The more time she spent with him, the more difficult it would be when he left. She needed to get out of there and bow out on dinner.

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