Page 11 of One More Time

Not confident her dry mouth was going to form the right words – a rarity for her – she smoothed out the wrinkles in her uniform with sweaty palms. Then, before she could convince herself to do otherwise, she skated toward his table.

Charlie looked up from the menu and his frown gave way to a bright, sunny smile. ‘Well, I’ll be damned. Grace Denver, is that really you?’

Her breath catching, Grace found herself completely tongue-tied. Time seemed to stop. Their gazes locked, then held. Something sparked. She was sure he felt it too. A flush rose up her neck and gathered in her already glowing cheeks. ‘Yes, it’s me.’ She pitched her voice over the noise of the crowd and offered him her best larger-than-life smile.

‘Holy moly, you’ve gone and grown up while I’ve been away.’ He never took his blue eyes from hers.

‘Six years will do that to a person.’ She laughed a little too loudly, then silently told herself to pull her wits together. ‘How are you?’ She knew it was a stupid question, given he was here to check in on his grandmother after losing his grandfather to a heart attack, but what else was she meant to say to the guy who’d been her one and only teenage crush?

‘I’m doing okay, thanks. No use in complaining because no one really wants to listen.’ He waved to someone behind her.

‘Oh, but I will,’ she said off-the-cuff, kicking herself instantly.

‘You will what?’ He tipped his head, his oh-so-kissable lips still smiling.

‘I’ll listen to you complain. If you like. I mean, if it helps.’ She almost rolled her eyes at herself.

Shut up, Grace. Just stop talking.

‘You’d do that for me?’ His smile was still a little playful, but his gaze was searching hers, almost as if he wanted to believe her.

‘I certainly would.’ The butterflies in her stomach morphed into charging bulls. She took breath. ‘So, what can I get you?’

He regarded her for a few more lingering moments. ‘I’ll have the special, whatever it is.’ He closed the menu and handed it to her. ‘And a Coke with lots of ice, please.’

Although it was easy to remember, she scribbled his order down – anything to avoid his powerful gaze.

‘So. When do you get off?’ His voice cut through all the chatter of the place, and caressed her racing heart.

Grace swallowed down a squeal of delight. ‘At five.’ She cleared her throat and tried her best to sound casual. ‘Why?’

He shrugged, just as casually. ‘I was wondering if you’d like to catch up?’

Shocked at his directness, and the way his kind eyes were considering her, she didn’t answer for a few moments. Her mind drew a blank. She looked to his hands, resting atop the table – the very hands she remembered cupping her cheeks as he’d kissed her all those years ago.

‘Grace?’

‘Oh, sorry. Yes, thank you, that’d be great.’

She was rewarded with a slow, easy smile. ‘Great, I’ll swing by and pick you up when you knock off, if you like?’

She tilted her head. ‘You don’t want me to go home and get changed first?’

‘Why would you want to go and do that when you already look amazing?’

Grace almost buckled at the knees. ‘Well, thank you. Okay then. Five o’clock, here.’ She offered him one last smile before skating off in the direction of the kitchen, excited to tell Jenny how well his order had gone – and that she’d been included in it.

* * *

Charlie wasn’t about to admit to Grace that he’d come here with the intention of running into her, or that he’d had a crush on her way before they’d shared that one mind-blowing kiss behind the sports shed. Or how her father, the town’s champion boxer and his maths teacher at the time, had cautioned him to stay the hell away from his only daughter. Looking back on his former scallywag self, Charlie couldn’t blame Victor for his protectiveness.

He was also going to remain tight-lipped about the nightmare he’d had the night before, so seemingly tangible that it had taken him hours to move past it. If he was completely honest, he still hadn’t, which was why he’d needed to see her alive and well. A flash came back to him, of a truck sending the car rolling, smashing into a guardrail, then of him helplessly watching at Grace’s hospital bed. A shiver traced down his spine. Spooked was an understatement, and as a man who’d seen things no human ever should while fighting in Vietnam – hell, he’d watched most of his battalion get shot or blown to smithereens – he wasn’t easily spooked.

He hadn’t been sure what he was going to say to her, but when Grace had arrived at his table, her smile as warm as the sunshine and looking cute as ever in her skates and uniform, he’d known exactly what to do. Ask her on a date. He’d rarely considered having a girlfriend – being an infantry soldier didn’t really allow for it – but right now, with this strange, new feeling he had for Grace, he was struggling with his usual rule. His heart kept skipping beats as he covertly watched her flutter around the café, the rest of the world fading into the background – unheard of for a man trained to have eyes in the back of his head.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on what had changed, but their connection was certainly one he couldn’t ignore. Just where their date was going to take them, he wasn’t sure, but there was only one way to find out.

Almost six hours later, water lapped at the shoreline not far from their bare feet, and seagulls swooped for their dinner. The last of the fish and chips sat on a piece of newspaper between them. Grace sat crossed-legged, her energy easy and the conversation flowing and effortless.