“Hell no,” I said too quickly, my head whipping up toward his.
Paxton’s gaze sharpened and he stood straight. “Do you think we could catch up sometime? Like over lunch or something?”
“I dunno.” Doubt, confusion…and eagerness warred within my traitorous heart.
He grabbed one of my business cards from a small cardholder on the counter, along with a pen. Flipping over the cardstock, he began scribbling. “I just want to catch up, CC, that’s all. I think I need to tell you what happened that day. You deserve the whole story. You deserved it twelve years ago.”
“I—”
The bell hanging from the front door rang, dragging my attention to a silhouette stepping inside.
“Kyle?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in shock. He’d never visited me at the studio before.
As he walked inside, he held a bouquet of flowers against his chest. “There’s my pretty lady.” He reached the counter, stepping next to Paxton, thrusting the flowers toward me.
I couldn’t help the smile forming. “These are for me?” Pushing them to my nose, I breathed deeply. Jasmine, lilies, and lavender swirled into the air.
“Yeah, babe.” Kyle glanced to his left, as if just noticing Pax, then leaned across the counter and planted a kiss on my mouth. “You hungry? I’m in town for tonight and thought I’d sneak you away for a quiet dinner. My treat.”
“Iamstarving.” I’d skipped lunch to get my expense report ready for the accountant, and after seeing Paxton, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on them for a while. “Sure. Sounds good.”
“Whew. I was afraid you’d say no.” Kyle’s smile dazzled, showing his perfect teeth. “Hey man,” he said as he nudged Paxton’s elbow. “Doing an interview?” His gaze darted from Paxton to me, then to Paxton.
“Uh, yeah.” Paxton grimaced, then picked up the card he’d been writing on and dropped it next to my hand, his blue eyes intense as they searched mine. “At least think about it, CC.”
Before I could respond, he swiveled on his heel and practically sprinted to the door, yanking it open with force and walking into the bright desert.
Kyle twisted his mouth and shrugged. “What was that about?”
“It’s a long story for another day.” I stood, rummaging the hidden cubby holes behind the counter for an empty glass to fill and set the flowers in. “Thank you. Let me take care of these and let’s go eat.”
I remembered Mick’s words from the other night, telling me I needed closure on what Pax and I had been.Maybe we should clear the air, get things out in the open.Plus, he’d intimated Dad had something to do with it. I needed the truth, even if it hurt like hell.
Turning over the card, I stared at Pax’s neat, slanted handwriting.
Wendy, please text or call me.
Love, PP.
555-876-6684
A corner of my mouth twitched at the Peter Pan initials. There was something childlike and sweet about Paxton, and even at twenty-eight years old, he still wanted to be Peter Pan, the boy who could fly, who didn’t want to grow up, who forgot everyone in his life except Wendy.
Chapter twenty-nine
Paxton Ross
Isatontheedge of the bed in the hotel room, my finger hovering over my phone’s screen.
I’d hoped, foolishly, that CC might’ve wanted to hear me out, to know why I took her dad’s offer.
But if she had no clue her father had forced the decision on that scared, desperate sixteen-year-old, then she must’ve thought…
Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself but the pain she must’ve felt, thinking I didn’t care for her, that I’d only been interested in what I could get from her family, would have torn her up inside.
I’d been so sure she’d figure out what happened and we’d get back together after the both of us graduated, but she’d never tried to contact me, not once. My phone number had remained the same, it was still the same, yet she’d never reached out.
Coupled with my shame at taking the comfortable life over poverty, I could never bring myself to reach out first.
