Page 36 of The Story of Us
Ugh, he’d said it.
“Considering he’s in Texas and I’m here, I’m going to go with none.” She smiled at him, then glanced over her shoulder, back toward the town square. “I think we’re safe now.”
Their eyes met, and they both laughed, co-conspirators in the effort to evade Matt’s mother. A looseness unspooled inside Sawyer, and he felt relaxed, free. Not because they’d managed to escape, but because he and Jamie Vaughn were finally on the same side of something again.
“This reminds me of when we skipped algebra in high school,” he said before he could stop himself. Thus far, she hadn’t seemed too keen on trips down memory lane.
To his surprise and immense delight, she instantly lit up. “Oh! And Coach Taylor caught us.”
“And you miraculously talked our way out of detention.” She’d been a force to be reckoned with back then. That, at least, hadn’t changed.
They passed a cluster of trees with branches hanging low, casting watercolor shadows over the lake in cool greens and blues. Sawyer’s shoulder brushed against hers, and neither of them strayed farther apart.
“Well, you’re not the only one who can be charming, you know.” Jamie flashed him a smile that he felt clear down to his feet.
“Oh, I’m well aware of how charming you can be,” he said.
So far, she’d managed to use that charm to turn what felt like the entire state of Oregon against him.
He slowed to a stop, unsure where they were headed, both literally and metaphorically. But while they were still there, in what seemed to be a moment of truce, there was something important he needed to say. “Believe it or not, I was really happy to see you in the bookstore again, before things got so complicated.”
“Complicated. That’s one word for it.” She nodded, still smiling, but it had gone a bit wobbly around the edges. “I was glad to see you, too.”
His breath bottled up inside him for a moment. “Yeah?”
“It reminded me of how we first met.”
“I don’t remember you trying to bean me in the head with Jane Austen when we first met.” Minor detail, but one that had almost ended with a concussion.
He laughed and she did the same.
“No, but it was in the same bookstore,” she countered.
Sawyer remembered it well. “Yes, right where the romance and sci-fi/fantasy genres converge.”
“Right there on the shelf—the book we were both looking for.” She held out her hands as if showcasing the perfect invisible book on an invisible shelf…a shelf from another life.
“The Princess Bride,”they both said in unison.
“You had just arrived in Waterford,” she said.
“It was my fifth town in four years.” He’d always sworn that once he started making his own way in the world, he’d never move around as much as he had when he was a kid and look at his life now.You’re fixing that, though. This will be the job that changes everything.That’s why he was trying to urge the town council to vote in favor of the re-design so he could get a permanent position with Ridley and finally put down some roots. “And you were my second friend.”
Jamie’s face crumpled into an expression of mock despair. “Rick will always be first.”
“But you’ll always be prettier.”
A giggle escaped her. “Don’t tell him that.”
“I would never. It would destroy him.” He was only half joking. Rick the Romancer might have finally fallen for someone, but Sawyer had a feeling his ego was still mostly intact—and as sensitive as ever. “I’ve got to confess.”
Jamie’s face fell. She was suddenly looking at him as if he was about to make some terrible announcement, like he was planning to tear down another of her favorite buildings. Or worse, her beloved tree.
That wasn’t what he had in mind at all. “I should have said something earlier, but…I’m hungry.”
She laughed again, and the sound was like music to him. “Me too! I skipped breakfast.”
“Lunch?” He dipped his head, searching her gaze.
