I looked around my surroundings, at the half full gym parking lot, and considered walking into the gym to see if Emory was there.
I scrubbed my hands over my face, the itch of light stubble covering my jawline making me cringe. I flipped down my visor and opened the mirror. I looked as well as I felt—like shit—but I adjusted my cap over my head and opened my door.
I shoved my wallet and keys into the pocket of my sweats and jogged across the empty street until I was in the gym parkinglot. I scanned the parked cars, looking for the one that Shiloh had driven to my house yesterday, but without knowing her plates, I couldn’t be sure even if I saw her car.
I tried to shake out some of the tension in my body before I walked across the threshold. I sent up a short prayer that Brett wasn’t working and wouldn’t kick me out. A quick glance around showed me the place was relatively busy, and I hoped it meant I didn’t draw any attention to myself.
The girl at the front desk looked like a high school student and I flashed a smile back as she greeted me.
“Hi.”
“Hi, have you been in before?” She asked with that customer service smile.
I hesitated, before nodding. “Yes, actually I was in communication with your client services manager, Emory. I was hoping she was in. I had some questions for her about classes.”
At least this spiel was a little more put together than my earlier phone call.
“Oh,” her dark brows raised and then she leaned back in her desk chair until she could see the hallway that led somewhere deeper into the building. “I’m not sure if she’s here yet. Let me go take a look.”
I flashed her a grateful smile, deflating against the counter once she’d turned on her heel down the hallway. I found myself tapping the counter with nerves, but I quickly straightened once I caught sight of her walking back towards me.
“She’s about to walk into a staff meeting, but if it’s a quick question she can see you now,” the girl said with a nod of a head back towards the hallway she came from.
I nodded and was quick to follow her.
My chest was hurting with the anticipation of seeing Shiloh. She was here.Frick’s sake, calm down.
I tried not to run down the hall and abruptly stopped before crashing into the back of the girl. I reached out to grab the doorframe. I peered around her form, and my heart stopped.
I took in the sight of Shiloh. Her eyes flaring as her autumn stare met my own. I was breathless, unable to coffer a word up as the girl looked between the two of us. She cleared her throat.
“Um, I’ll just leave you to it.”
“Yes,” Shiloh’s stupor faded quicker than my own as she gave the girl a quick smile. “Thank you, Marissa.”
Shiloh marched across the room and grabbed my arm, dragging me into the office, and pushed the door shut, the lock engaging with a soft click. Her gaze burned into me, that cold, calculating look I had prayed for just one more chance to see all those years ago.
I could see just how much she’d changed physically with her face just inches from mine. She wasn’t seventeen anymore, she was a woman, twenty-two, an age I never thought she’d get to see. She’d gained a few more freckles on her face and the scar above her eye was now a pale line fracturing her eyebrow.
Shiloh’s eyes were just as mesmerizing, just as bottomless, like if I fell into the pools of autumn colors I’d free-fall for the rest of time. And the emotions she tried to mask with her cold stare, just as jarring and magnetic. There was a connection between us, something that made it impossible to ignore her, and like it did almost five years ago, I couldn’t pull myself out of her orbit.
I drew in a breath. Fucking finally. I moved to pull her into a hug, equally relieved and enraged, but she released my arm and put several feet between us.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
I blinked, stunned momentarily by her question.
“Really? What the fuck amIdoing here?” I asked, pointing at myself with disbelief.
She crossed her arms, her face an apathetic mask.
“Shiloh—”
“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.
“Okay, sorry,” I held my hands up with a shake of my head. “Emory, I just spent the last, hell, I dunno, eighteen or something hours, wondering if you were still breathing. Why thehelldid you block my number?”
She licked her lips, her nostrils flaring like she was the one who was pissed off. She shrugged.
