Page 23 of Where You Left Me

“And that maybe I started coming here by myself after you left, and when missing you was too suffocating? That maybe I came here because this was the place I felt the closest to you?”

She turns to face me, her sparkling green eyes starting to gloss over.

“I don’t know what else you’re referring to that I’ve taken of yours, because I hate to break it to you, but you got nothing left here that’s yours.”

It’s cold. And maybe too far. But she’s got me so twisted up inside. I don’t want to fight with her. I want to sweep her up inmy arms and hold her to my chest. I want to breathe in her scent. The familiar and the new. I want to do more than that. But I don’t let my brain go there. It’s too cruel to let my imagination go to those places.

“You know what, Jones?” she bites out, propping her hands on her hip, the six-pack hanging from a hooked finger, the way she spits out my name makes me cringe. “Thanks for the reminder of why I left. And why I haven’t come back. There’s nothing for me here.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Forget this. I don’t have the energy for this.” She whips around and tears off toward the trail.

“Yeah, leave, Mia. It’s what you do best.”

She takes me by surprise when she spins around and stomps straight toward me, not stopping until the toes of her boots are touching mine. I suck in a ragged breath and stare at her.

“Does it make you feel better to cut me down? Does it make you feel like a big man, Jones? Does it?”

She’s so close I can feel her words on my face. I’m so angry at her but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to grab her and kiss her.

“No,” I finally say. “It makes me feel like shit.”

Her jaw ticks and her eyes soften.

“I don’t know how to do this, Mia. I don’t know how to be this close to you and notbe with you.”

“I don’t know how either.” She sniffs.

“And I don’t know what to do about you not being able to look at me.”

“Jones,” she breaths out my name, and honestly, it’s better than how she was saying it only minutes before.

I grab onto the tops of her arms with every intention of moving her from my vicinity before I do something stupid, something I regret, like kiss her. But before I can, she sets herhands on my face and gazes directly in my eyes. “Have you not noticed; I’m looking at you.”

I stop thinking. My brain quits functioning, full stop, and I probably do the most idiotic thing. I haul her closer to me and I press my lips to hers. It’s only for a second, maybe two, but it’s so fucking intense. I quickly pull her back, ready to apologize.

But she pulls me toward her and slides her mouth against mine and when my tongue darts out, she parts her lips eagerly. We kiss like we’re hungry for it, starving for one another, and like this might be the last time we’ll ever get to kiss again.

Because it has to be.

CHAPTER 6

Mia

The store is busy. Besides me and Ellis, we have a third employee here today, Paloma, a high school student who only works during her school breaks. Mom is even here running the register so I can handle the bike and rock-climbing equipment rentals.

I’ve forgotten how insane Base Camp can be to run. But as the day passes, I’m quickly reminded. Before I left town, I was the manager of the store. Back then we didn’t have the rental portion of the business.

Years ago, Dad had explained it all to me and I’d told him I thought it was a good idea. I helped him choose the software and did some of the programming. But now that I’m here and have the responsibility of the store, it’s a huge headache. There’s gotta be an easier way.

Except my heavily distracted brain can’t seem to come up with any ideas right now. Because all it can think about is that kiss Jones and I shared on the trail.

It never should’ve happened. I shouldn’t have allowed it. But when his lips touched mine, a spark ignited and traveled all the way to my toes. It was like all those old feelings had been rousedto life again. I spent the last eight years trying to get over Jones, and all it took to demolish it was a single kiss.

Now my head is so messed up. There’s no undoing what was done. I can’t take back the kiss. The only thing I can do is put distance between us. Besides planning Bikes and Beers, we can’t be together. I’m not sure what I was thinking, once you’ve been lovers, there’s no going back to friends.

Especially when our definition of lovers was more than that. We were one another’s person. We were each other’s forever. We were soul mates.

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