He’d had ten years to plan that moment. Tell her he had missed her so much he often searched for her in crowds. Thank her for suggestinghe get therapy to help him deal with his grief. He should’ve called her after she’d left Maine a decade ago, but he’d waited too long. So long, it felt like time had run out. Each passing month of doing nothing made the fear he didn’t deserve her come true. Despite having accidentally become a popular plus-one in Manhattan’s social scene, there had been no one else.
He stopped at the sheet of loose plywood currently serving as his kitchen counter and opened the box of granite countertop samples to distract himself. He placed a green tile next to the red cabinet, immediately thought of Christmas. Wrong season. Like most lake houses, the Red House was a summer house. He set the green tile in the rejection pile.
“She hates being surprised.” He held up another sample and thought of Avery’s warm hand splaying across his chest, stopping his hug on the dock. “Things got contentious quickly.”
“No.” Anna Catherine lifted a hand to her mouth.
“I get her reaction,” he said. “I don’t remember much about our breakup except that it happened right after I saved Max Perry’s life. I froze up inside and got so panicked, I said things I didn’t mean. Whatever I said was terrible enough she left without saying goodbye.”
“Miles.” Anna sighed. “Saving a child from drowning is a trauma. I can’t imagine how she felt seeing you again, but deep down, she must know you weren’t thinking clearly when you broke up with her.”
“Well, yesterday she told me to go back to the City after she brought up the second circle of Hell and I pointed out that circle is lust.”
“No!” Hayes covered his eyes and shook his head.
“I couldn’t help it. I needed to ease the tension, and she used to love light teasing.” Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I should come back to the City until she’s gone. But they need my help at Montressa.”
Before Sam’s heart attack, Miles had planned to spend the summer at the Red House. Now, he wanted to help the Coopers, who had beenthere for him countless times during his mother’s illness and later, after she passed away. Leaving Maine also delayed plans for the bereavement camp. He looked out his back window, across the lake to the corporate retreat. Two people in yellow neon vests stood on the shoreline. Maybe a survey crew. His realtor might know.
“Miles, you’ve wanted another chance for a long time.” Anna Catherine brought him back to Avery.
“I know, but I ruined my chances a decade ago.”
“You were young,” said Hayes. “And understandably lost.”
True. But now, their best friends were engaged, and they needed to get along. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene at Lily and Nate’s wedding. The Avery he knew wouldn’t want that either.
“It’s one sighting,” Anna said. “Make a plan for next time. First, no bringing up lust.”
Miles chuckled and told them every detail of the dock encounter. When he got to the end, Hayes and Anna Catherine stared at him. What felt like minutes of silence passed.
“I should leave, right? I don’t want to upset her. It’s foolish to think of getting back together.” He dropped a granite sample onto the plywood counter in frustration.
“Dude.” Hayes rubbed his forehead. “After ten years, you can’t just walk up and expect her to say yes to a dinner invite. You gotta work up to that.”
“But I have to say I am sorry before we can—” Miles shook his head. “Say it works out. She starts her MBA in the fall. No direct flights from La Guardia to Hanover, and it’s a five-hour drive to Dartmouth from the City. I checked last night. Distance’ll challenge a relationship, so maybe I shouldn’t try.”
“Miles, oh boy. I have never seen you like this. Let’s see if we can help.” Anna paused and lifted Lennox to burp her. “What’s your favorite film where the guy wants his girl back?”
He should’ve known she’d ask that. As former child actors, Hayes and Anna Catherine had come of age on set and viewed everything through the prism of film. Miles always picked the same movie to irritate her.
“Die Hard.”
“Yes!” Hayes pumped his fist. He lovedDie Hardtoo.
Anna rolled her eyes.
“Don’t fight me, Anna Catherine.Die Hardis a romance.” Miles laughed, and the tension in his shoulders loosened. “John McClane goes to Nakatomi Plaza to win Holly back.”
Hayes nodded. “When Hans Gruber falls to his death, John and Holly get their happily ever after. Genius analysis, Miles. I’m going to add this to your Wikipedia page.”
Hayes loved editing Miles’s page. The whole thing was an inside joke.
“Last December, you two claimedDie Hardis a Christmas movie.” Anna frowned. “And now it’s second-chance romance? No. How aboutCrazy, Stupid, Love?”
Miles vaguely remembered that movie.
“Is that the one where Ryan Gosling fights Kevin Bacon?” he asked.
