Page 24 of Stay this Christmas
EIGHT
harper
“He’s gone.”
At Jed’s announcement, my shoulders relaxed, and I loosened the death grip I’d had on my paper napkin.
We’d been served our lunches, a surprisingly healthy steak salad for him, and a bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich for me. The side of crispy fries were exactly what I needed to soothe my jagged nerves.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on there?” he asked after a while.
“Nothing’s going on,” I said on autopilot.
“Uh huh. You sound like June when she told me she wasn’t interested in Ty.”
I nearly spat out my bite of avocado. “You shut your demon mouth.”
He laughed again, setting me more at ease. I’d always found Jed a little intimidating, and not just the learning-ten-ways-to-kill-stuff-in-the-Army part. With messy dark hair and kind hazel eyes, a sharp jaw and devastating smile, Jed was truly beautiful to look at. My cousin, too, so obviously I never thought of him likethat, but being around a man that good-looking was just off-putting.
Although, probably all the other women in Magnolia Ridge would disagree with me on that.
He wiggled a fry in the air. “Defensiveness is not a denial.”
I sighed. “No, it’s just…I’ve already got the T-shirt for that disaster, you know? We were good friends in high school. Best friends.”
Sometimes, it still hurt to think of that relationship being gone. Sam had been more than just the boy next door—we’d shared everything together, from first dances to first awkward kisses to firstnotawkward kisses. We’d teased and argued and meant more to each other than anyone else.
And then one day, we justdidn’tanymore.
“We dated senior year. We were serious. But after almost a year together, he dumped me and took another girl to the prom two weeks later.”
Honestly…saying it out loud, I felt kind of foolish about the whole thing. Almost thirty years old and still twisted up over a high school boyfriend? Seriously, Harper? Maybe if I’d ever truly dated anyone else in the intervening years, I would have been over it by now.
But nobody else had ever made me feel so free, so comfortable. Nobody else had ever slipped into my heart so easily. After him, it’d seemed smarter not to risk it. I hadn’t thought of myself as hung up on him all this time, but I’d sure never quite gotten over him, either.
“That sucks. No reason why?”
“Nope. Just‘I can’t do this’and that was that.”
As though, after so many years, he’d just changed his mind. Switched it all off and walked away without a glance back. Like nothing we’d shared meant anything to him. Taking Madison Morgan to prom right after had been a blow, but the break-up had been the real sucker punch.
“I guess he wasn’t ready to be serious, after all.” Understatement, but I had no explanation for what he’d done, despite years of considering the possibilities.
Jed, that sweetheart, listened without judgment or advice. One thing about sharing this with the girls, I really didn’t want advice on what to do now that Sam was back in town. I hadno ideawhat to do, but I didn’t want to be told what they thought would be best, either. I liked that Jed could listen without feeling he had to fix everything for me.
“Anyway, that was a long time ago. We’ve barely seen each other in the years since graduation. He’s been traveling all over, and now, he’s back for some reason, and volunteering at Fiesta Village.”
“Stepping on your toes?”
“You could say that. Some of my patients would rather do downward dog with him than PT exercises with me.”
Jed choked on a sip of water before I heard the unintended innuendo for myself.
“That’s not what I meant!”
He swallowed with difficulty, but his eyes shone. “Now that would be cause for concern.”
“Anyway, it’s not important.”
