Page 6 of Something Spontaneous

The deep honey-brown eyes looking back at me are ones I would know anywhere.

They’re the ones that I looked into before my first kiss. They’re the ones that sparkled back at me when we’d sneak out at night to make out. Those are the eyes that I see when I close mine and fall asleep. I couldn’t get them out of my mind if I tried, not that I’d ever want that.

Josie Hare is here and I don’t know what to do with this unexpected reality.

I keep staring at her, frozen like I’m trapped in some weird alternate universe. I didn’t expect to see her tonight. The last thing I thought I’d be doing after Dad called was standing mere feet away from her.

“Where do you want me to leave the van?” Phil asks as he steps toward the two of us.

I don’t bother looking at him. Instead, I keep my eyes on Josie as I point toward the open gate to the back storage lot. “Back there,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Okay then,” he says awkwardly before walking over to the van.

Still looking at Josie, I see how she wrings her hands under the scrutiny of my gaze, but those honey-flecked eyes don’t flinch.

We stay locked in a staring match that’s charged with ten years of questions and, at least in my case, ten years of sleepless nights filled with regret.

CHAPTER 3

JOSIE

This Is Déjà Vu

“Um, am I good to go?” Phil gestures between the two of us with a finger.

I stand there helplessly looking back and forth between Sylvester—freaking—Sterling and the tow truck driver, realizing that the tension between my ex-boyfriend and I must be painfully obvious. Bless Phil’s heart for not wanting to abandon me in this moment.

When he confirmed we were going to Sterling Springs, my only hope was that maybe Sly’s dad was working, or maybe they finally hired someone else besides their crazy Uncle Dan.

Nope. That’s not what Grace’s dear Mother Karma, nor Lady Luck, had in their plans for me today.

Instead, I’m trapped in an awkward staring triangle with Phil and Sly, wondering who’s going to blink first. I wish I could shrink into my giant hoodie just to get away from the intensity of Sly’s gaze.

All these years later, those eyes and their relentless focus still make my body respond in a way that I wish it wouldn’t, because that boy broke my heart.

He was the cute boy next door, at least for me. We started kindergarten as neighbors who walked to school together with our parents down Sante Fe Street, and we finished high school as the sweethearts who thought they’d be together forever… until that all changed and he ruined it.

Unfortunately, my body chooses to forget that and instead focuses on the way he has grown into his, once lanky, frame. Even in his coveralls, I can tell how much he’s filled out and is every bit the man I thought he might one day become. From his beard that draws my eyes to the muscle ticking in his thick neck and his built shoulders, down to the rolled-up sleeves that show off his tanned and tattooed forearms folded across his broad chest—yes, that’s what my traitorous body chooses to notice.

I won’t even get started on those worn and rugged hands that scream he works with them—which, spoiler alert, is exactly why I’m here—because he does, in fact, work with them. I don’t need a mirror to know that my heated cheeks are a shade of red that probably matches my hair right now.

Yes, this is just one of the many reasons I’ve avoided ever coming back here. Thankfully, Sly and the universe take the slightest bit of pity on me. He blinks first, ending this game of chicken, before breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Yeah, we’re good,” he nearly snarls the words through gritted teeth, his eyes never leaving mine. His tone is far colder than I remember him being capable of, making me shudder in the crisp night air.

Phil nods. “Alright. Have a good night, Miss Hare.”

“Thanks, Phil,” I say, giving him a salute. “You too.”

I look back to Sly, whose eyes are tracking Phil as he climbs back into the tow truck. The engine starts, and a few seconds later, it’s just the two of us standing outside the garage, like we did so many times growing up.

My eyes find his again and I shift on my feet. I haven’t seen him since right before I started college, but no amount of preparation could have gotten me ready to see him again.

He’s filled out and obviously grown into his body, but it’s the look in his eyes I still can’t get over. It’s like any hint of that boy I was hopelessly in love with is gone. I don’t know what I was expecting when I realized I might be seeing him tonight, but it wasn’t this.

“So,” I say, curling my lips into an O shape and rolling my eyes just to break his persistent eye contact.

“Where are you staying?” His voice still has that icy tone that sends a chill up my spine.