I drove up in front of his townhouse and parked. He turned to look at me, then smiled.
“Listen, I know I haven’t exactly shown myself from my best side lately. But I want to thank you for believing in me when no one else did. And for helping me out tonight, again.”
“The girl is getting a restraining order on you, so you better stay clear of her from now on,” I said. “And Chief Annie told you to stay out of her town, so you should probably listen to that too. If she catches you speeding, she’ll take you back in, and this time, she won’t be as merciful.”
He scoffed. “Wow. I can’t believe it has come to this. Unwanted in my old hometown. Well, if it can’t be any different, then I guess so be it.”
“That’s the deal, Scott; you better honor it.”
He grabbed the door handle and was about to leave when he paused. “I meant you and me. You know that, right?”
“What?”
“When I talked about regrets. I was talking about us. Don’t you wonder what it would have been like if we had become a couple instead of just sneaking around? If we had stayed together?”
I stared at him, speechless. I had wondered that so many times lately, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to think about how deeply I had been in love with him, even though we just fooled around. I had wanted him so badly back then, wanted him to choose me over Hannah, and hoped he would break up with her because he realized his great love for me was more profound than what he had with her. But when it did happen, when she broke up with him, he didn’t choose me after all. He didn’t even call me or come looking for me. He just left town after graduation, and we never saw one another again. It was the biggest heartbreak of my life, and he didn’t even know it. Now, he was seriously looking at me and telling me he regretted it too?
“Did you want to?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“Heck, yeah,” he said. “I was nuts about you. I used to come to see you run track all the time, just to see you.”
“But you were with Hannah,” I said. “You were homecoming queen and king. You were the perfect couple.”
“I know,” he said. “It was all an image thing. We felt we belonged together because we belonged to the same group. You know how things were back then. It didn’t matter if you liked her or not. It was just how it was supposed to be, right? And then she broke up with me, and I was so excited, I could have burst.”
I tilted my head. “Really? Why did she say you tried to run her over?”
He scoffed. “I told her I was relieved when she broke up with me, and I think she was just upset about that. She wanted me to be heartbroken. She knew I wasn’t really into her and us. She could feel it, and I think she wanted to punish me. She made up this rumor that I had tried to hurt her because I didn’t want her to leave me. I never touched her. All I could think about was the fact that I was now a free man and could date you.”
I could barely breathe. Scott turned his head and faced me, pushing himself closer to me as he spoke. My heart throbbed in my chest, and I couldn’t find the words. For so many years, I cried over this guy, and here he was telling me he wanted me back then. And maybe now too.
“But…but you never called or said anything after you and Hannah broke up,” I said. “Why didn’t you?”
His eyes grew confused. “What do you mean? I called your house. I spoke to your mom and told her to tell you to call me back. When you didn’t, I called again the next day and continued for several weeks in a row. It was right after graduation. When you never returned any of my calls, I concluded that you didn’t want me, and I went away for college in Jacksonville. I was heartbroken—completely destroyed.”
“But…but…oh, dear Lord. My mom must have deliberately not given me those messages because she didn’t like you,” I said, clutching the steering wheel hard between my fingers. “It sounds like something she would do. I can’t believe it. I thought you didn’t want me. I thought I was nothing but casual sex to you. I thought you just used me because Hannah wouldn’t sleep with you.”
Scott looked at me intently, then leaned toward me. He closed his eyes and placed a kiss on my lips. His lips were soft and tasted sweet, and I closed my eyes and kissed him back, tasting him. When our lips parted, he looked at me, looked deep into my eyes.
“I was nuts about you. You were so hot; I could’ve died. And to be honest, I still am crazy about you. Seeing you again has opened up all those old emotions. How could I not be? You were the one who got away. I came to you because I wanted help finding Sarah and getting my name cleared, and you did all that. But I had no idea what seeing you again would do to me.”
With that, he winked and opened the door to the car. I watched him walk up to his townhouse, waving at me before he went inside, my heart throbbing so hard that it hurt my ribcage.
Chapter 58
THEN:
They were having a dinner party for some friends. Lynn and her boyfriend Stan looked at one another, and he put his arm around her shoulder while the woman from his office, Stella, talked about her and Phillip’s trip to Europe a few weeks earlier. They had been on a Mediterranean cruise and traveled through Greece on a moped and seen Rome by car. It was fascinating to hear about, and when Stella walked to the bathroom, Stan leaned over and kissed Lynn’s cheek, then whispered, “Next year, it’s our turn. Let’s go on a trip like that.”
Lynn smiled and nodded, sipping her wine and feeling happy. She and Stan had been fighting a lot over the last couple of years. She had begun to wonder if they’d last—if their love for one another was even enough. But lately, they had been doing a lot better, and she was enjoying him again. She was beginning to think they might make it after all. She leaned over and kissed his cheek with a light laugh. As she pulled back, her phone’s display lit up, and Stan noticed since it was lying on the table in front of them.
Stan looked at his watch. “It’s almost ten o’clock at night. Who is calling you at this hour?”
She looked at the display. She didn’t recognize the number and thought about letting it go to voicemail but then picked it up anyway.
“It’s Jeff,” the voice said on the other end. He sounded agitated, almost out of breath. Lynn jumped to her feet and hurried out of the room, hoping that no one could hear it was a male voice.
“What are you doing?” she asked angrily when she was in the hallway. “You can’t call me!”
“But…but I miss you so much,” he said. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I can’t function properly. I can only think about you. All the time, Doc, do you hear me? It’s all the time.”
She sighed and leaned her head against the wall behind her. She had let him go too far, and she knew it. This wasn’t good at all.
“Jeff, you can’t call me.”
“Why not? I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“It’s not good, Jeff. Besides, I am in a relationship. You know this. If he finds out you’re calling me, he’ll leave me.”
Jeff went quiet. “Okay. I’m sorry.”