“Hi, Garrett,” Mia said softly.
She didn’t seem surprised to see me. That paired with the death grip and panic on her face led me to believe she’d spotted me first…and she must have been fleeing when I called out to her.
She had chosen to run, rather than face me—again.
Fuck, that hurt.
“You look well,” she said politely.
“You, too,” I answered awkwardly.
Now that I knew she didn’t want to see me, I wasn’t really in a talkative mood. Any scenario I had envisioned of our long-awaited reunion didn’t include her trying to dodge me in the middle of a crowd. I thought I at least deserved a, Hey, how are you, Garrett? Sorry I bailed on you right after you asked me to marry you. Yeah, that was a shitty thing to do.
Whatever.
“Garrett, are you going to introduce us?” Leah asked, turning to me with an expectant look.
She had Lily balanced on her hip, which was getting harder to do. Lily had just passed her first birthday, and she was a fidgety little thing.
“Gah!” Lily screamed her version of my name, clapping her hands. Then, she held them out to me, using the universal signal for, Take me!
I took Lily into my arms and turned back to Mia. She quietly watched, her eyes darting between Leah and me as, she bit her lip. I remembered she would always bite it when she was nervous. It used to drive me wild. Unfortunately, it still did.
“Leah, this is Mia and Olivia—two friends from my high school days. Mia and Olivia, this is Leah,” I said simply. “This dude right here is Connor, and the princess in my arms is his little sister, Lily.”
Mia was silent for a second longer than what would probably be considered socially correct, but she finally smiled. “They’re lovely, Garrett. Really, you have a beautiful family.”
Tears rimmed her eyes, and for one split second, I really wanted to just thank her and turn around to leave. I wanted to make her feel the pain I’d felt when I went to her house and found that letter along with that same pain I’d felt every f**king day because I couldn’t find a way to move on.
For one brief moment, I wanted her to think it had been easy for me to live without her. I wanted to let her believe that these children were mine and that the beautiful woman by my side was my wife. In this one second of hesitation, I believed it would all be so easy if I could just walk away, leaving her with the impression of the great success Garrett Finnegan had become.
I didn’t though. I wasn’t a jackass. But right then, I really wanted to be.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You misunderstood,” I said. “Leah is my sister, Clare’s, best friend. You remember Clare, right?”
She nodded, and I saw her squeeze Olivia’s hand.
“Leah is like a sister to me. We hang out quite a bit, but she is definitely not my wife. I’d consider taking this one though,” I said with a wink. I gave Lily a tickle in the ribs, which caused her to squeal.
“So, you’re not…”
“No, I’m not,” I answered.
More awkward silence filled the space between our two small groups. Connor started kicking a rock on the ground in front of me, and he gave me the look that kids would give when they wanted to leave. It was the look that basically said they were going to spontaneously combust if they didn’t vacate the premises immediately. I knew the feeling.
“So, Mia…what have you been up to since graduation?” Leah, the oh-so-nosy one, asked.
She knew who Mia was and knew I hadn’t seen her since high school. We’d had a few heart to heart conversations over the years. I hadn’t spilled all the gory details to Leah, but she was smart enough to put two and two together. Until she had some answers, she wasn’t going to let this woman leave.
“I went to college in Portland and ended up settling in Atlanta, but I just moved back to Richmond last week. Olivia is letting me stay with her until I finalize everything with my house loan.”
“You went to school in Oregon?” I said out loud before I had a chance to filter.
“Yes,” she answered.
I grumbled as I continued my fascination with Connor’s rock-kicking. I’d looked for her everywhere. We were supposed to go to a state school together. We had even gone apartment hunting, envisioning what our life would be like as we toured each place.
“What brought you back? Family? Work?” Leah asked.
“Um…I’m not really sure. I don’t have a job yet…and I don’t have any family anymore.”
My head jerked up in surprise at that last statement. Were her parents dead? They had moved shortly after she left. Her father had taken a prestigious position in New York City, and at that time, I’d started to wonder if she would ever come back.
“So, you’re looking for a job then? What do you do?” Leah asked.
“I majored in accounting, but I don’t think I want to go back to an accounting firm. I’m looking for something else…anything else.”
This was not the girl I had known. She looked similar. Her hair was the same color, her eyes were just as mesmerizing, and her body…shit. I thought she’d looked beautiful before, but when she’d left, she’d still had the body of a girl. Now, she was all woman, and I was honest enough to admit I wanted every inch of her.
Still.
Although her appearance was nearly the same, every word coming out of her mouth reminded me that the woman standing in front of me was not the girl who’d left me eight years ago.
“Well, there’s a job opening where I work at the hospital. Do you think you’d be interested?” Leah asked.
I shot Leah a look, and she glanced back at me sweetly, like she had no idea that she was meddling.
“Um, I guess that depends. What kind of job is it?” Mia asked with a hint of a smile.
It was the first time I’d seen her smile in eight long years and I was glad to know at least that hadn’t changed.
“Working the nurses’ station. Do you have any medical experience?”
“I used to work at the student clinic in college,” she answered.
“That could work. Why don’t you stop by on Monday? I’ll get you on the interview list and put in a good word.”
Mia nodded and thanked Leah, and we started to say our good-byes.
Just as Mia was turning to walk away, she turned back. “Leah, what department do you work in?”
“Oh, duh! Labor and delivery on the third floor.”
Mia looked stunned for a moment, but she quickly recovered and thanked Leah again before leaving.