Page 13 of Seal the Deal

I shake my head again, firmer now. “I’m not here to get laid. I’m here to start a new life.”

Zoe scrunches her nose. “As anun?”

“Yes…” I pause, thinking it over. “No. But I need to sort my shit out before I jump into anything. My mind is a mess right now.”

Her face softens and she’s quiet for a beat, like she’s mulling something over. “Well, Sister Charlie, he looked at you like he was ready to eat you alive. And hockey players have huuuuge… appetites.”

I close my eyes. “Unbelievable. You know you’re unbelievable, right?”

Zoe beams, unbothered. “I’m regularly told I’m hard to believe, yes,” she says, turning up the music as we pull onto the street.

She glances one more time at me as we stop at a red, but doesn’t say anything else. I’m grateful she’s not pushing me too much on this. I close my eyes, trying to ground myself, but it’s no use.

His smile, his laugh, his warmth—it’s all there, exactly where I left it.

Chapter four

I’d forgotten the freckles scattered across her nose

Jake

Ican’t believe it’s her. Charlie.MyCharlie. From camp.

She still has that light, that warmth and quiet strength that always pulled me in. And fuck, it’s pulling me in now, harder than ever.

Her dark auburn hair falls in loose waves, catching the light and making her ethereal. I’d forgotten the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, but seeing them now brings back a flood of memories. I regret not counting every single one of them back then and committing the number to memory. I wonder how many more there are now, and how many stories they carry.

She’s standing right in front of me, her green eyes a little guarded. There’s a heaviness there, something I don’t know yet. But God, I want to know. More than anything, I want to know everything about her from the last twelve years.

Have you been happy?

The question slams into me, and I hate that I don’t know the answer. What’s her life been like? Has she found joy? Did she chase the dreams we whispered about under the stars? Or has she been carrying something heavy, something I should’ve been there to help lift?

Have you been loved? Did you love someone else?

I swallow down the bitterness rising in my throat at the thought. I never had the chance to love her, not the way I wanted to. I wonder if someone else did. If they treated her right.Lovedher right, the way I would’ve. If they made her laugh and feel like the center of their world. Or did they let her slip away, the way I did?

Did they see you the way I do?

Because that’s what I’ve always done. Seen her. Not just the way she looks—though she’s a goddamn showstopper—but the way sheis. Charlie’s always been light itself, the kind that makes you feel better just by being near it.

I’d give anything to bask in that light again. To feel the warmth of it, even for a few minutes.

That connection we had was rare. The kind you don’t come across twice, and I was too young and too damn stupid to realize it at the time.

Now I’m standing here staring at her, and all I can think about is her laugh, and the way it warmed me from the inside out. The way we stayed up, talking for hours under the stars. It always felt like something more was going to happen between us, but it never did.

I ask about her kids and her life now, desperate for a glimpse into the world she’s built without me. When she teases me for asking if there’s a husband in the picture, it’s like she’s seen straight through me.

She knows exactly what I’m getting at, and I love that she’s bold enough to call me out on it. Caught. I smile, trying to play it cool, even as I hold my breath waiting for her to answer.

No husband.

The relief is instant but tangled with so much else. She’s single, but that doesn’t mean she’s open. She’s here, but that doesn’t mean she’s staying. And God knows I have no claim to her. Not after all this time.

But fuck, I want to. I want to know how her days go, what makes her smile now, what makes her laugh. What hurts. What’s healed. I want to know about Noah and Meadow—tiny pieces of her walking around in this world, carrying her spirit.

And I want to know about him. The guy who hurt her. Because I can see it now, the weight behind her smile, the battle wounds she’s learned to hide.

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