When I first saw her standing there, I thought I was hallucinating. Hell, maybe I’d fallen off my bike and hit my head just one too many times.
Pieces of her hair blowing in the breeze. Her hair was darker than I remembered—somewhere between blond and brown depending on how the sunlight hit it, but I’d recognize her anywhere. Her big blue eyes cutely squinting into the sunlight when she finally looked in my direction. That sweet little heart shaped face I loved to cradle in my hands before I took her mouth with mine. It was her, all right. The girl I’d just been thinking about had manifested in front of me as if my daydreams from only a few moments ago had summoned her. I knew it wasn’t a dream when I saw her lips purse and she huffed out a breath of frustration that showed she hadn’t been looking forward to seeing me. Guess I deserved it. But the past was the past, surely she could understand that what happened back then honestly had nothing to do with her.
I looked her up and down as she stated her purpose for actually being there. Looks like the wild child I knew had grown up and become a real estate agent. I’d never imagined her doing something so... business-y. The girl I knew loved to be outside and living in the moment. Looks like she’d decided to take the boring route after I left. She even drives a boring car with a boring color. Not the vibrant girl I remember who loved to drive her rusty old Jeep around with the top off.
Her very professional look was doing something to me that I hadn’t expected, though. I’d always pictured her in cut-offs and a tank top, like she wore in the summers when we were kids, but the polished look was good on her. The white sleeveless silk button down tucked into her fitted black skirt, coupled with the way she had her hair pulled back and the nude heels that wrapped around her feet evoked images of her starring in my very own hot teacher/librarian fantasy. But, no such luck. The second she opened her mouth I knew she was all business. There’d be no eighties’ music video reenactments this afternoon.
“I need a corporate signature,” she’d said, after leaving me with a “fine” when I asked how she was doing. I don’t know what I expected. Her to hug me and tell me that it was good to see me? Our last time together hadn’t ended on a high note. We’d stood in almost the exact same spot we were standing in just now and I told her that I was moving and I didn’t think we should see each other anymore. They were the hardest words I’d ever had to let roll off my tongue in my life. I’d caught her off guard, but she didn’t even give me a chance to explain that I was breaking up with her because it wasn’t fair to either of us not to.
“Have a great life, Reid,” she’d said. I still remember her words hitting me like they were dipped in acid, burning straight through my skin and leaving a permanent scar on my heart. She hopped in her car and left me standing in a cloud of dust. So, yeah, I deserved the resting bitch face she was slinging my way.
When Brett started talking to her, the pang of jealousy I felt when he managed to wrestle a small smile from her with this southern charm had me gritting my teeth. That little dimple she had on her left cheek when she smiled presented itself and I had to fight back the urge to rest my lips against it like I used to.
Why did she have to be so fucking gorgeous?
Nora Bennett was, and always would be, the prettiest girl I’d ever laid eyes on. I knew that at fifteen when I’d asked her to be my girlfriend. There was never a shortage of attractive women on the motocross circuit—from track chicks to super models, but none of them held a candle to her. Seeing her again was like casing a jump and having reality slam you into the ground.