"He called himself the one who got away?"
"No, well, sort of. When I told him we should just be friends, he said he felt like it was the wrong choice. He said he thought I would change my mind and that he would wait for me."
"Oh, my. Did you change your mind? Are you going to call him?"
"I mean, I guess I changed my mind—enough to refer to him as the one who got away."
"Does he go to college with you?"
"Sam? No. He lives in L.A., and I'm in San Francisco."
"Is that why he's the one who got away?"
I breathed a sigh, wishing I knew exactly why and how Sam got away. "I think that had a little to do with it," I said. "I think it might be different if we lived in the same city. But I was scared too. He's an actor, and he has a lot of women around. I had just broken up with the other guy, and I… and I… I got scared and ran. I sort of thought I wasn't ready for Sam right then, so I gave up."
"And you haven't seen him since?"
"No, I haven't. I was working with him, and I finished the job, but it's been a few months now since I've seen him."
"How about this Sam person? Did he wait like he said he would?"
"I don't think he's dating anyone if that counts as waiting. I see his social media, and he's with different people all the time, but it doesn't seem like he's… I don't know. The truth is, I don't know. Some of his friends will be at this wedding, so I can get an update from them. Maybe I'll ask them how he's doing."
"Yeah, because at your age, there's no such thing as the one who got away… You still have time to go get him."
"I guess I do," I said, smiling.
"I'll be at my parents' house for Christmas, and that's closer to L.A."
"Are you thinking of going to see him?"
"I'm thinking about calling him, at least. I'll be on a little bit of a break for Christmas. Five hours really isn't that far if we decide to catch up."
"Is that how far it is from Los Angeles to San Francisco?"
"I'll be at my parents' house in Monterey."
"I have no idea where that is. I've never been to California. You might as well be talking about Italy. What I do know is that life's too short to settle with regrets—especially when you're so young. If you have regrets, I vote you try to see him at Christmas."
I laughed at the thought. "This is the turn coming up right here," I said, seeing that the map was going to take him past our road.
He took the turn that led to the house, and then within a minute, we were pulling up at the home of the Sutters.
I had already texted my mom, and I knew that everyone was at their home and we would all go over to the building together once Amelia was about to arrive.
I thanked the driver and made my way to the door. It opened just as I came to stand in front of it, and I smiled at the sight of Alex Stockton standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Ty, I need to talk to you," he said with wide eyes. He pulled me through the entryway into a little office area where no one else could see me. "I heard your mom mention you'd be here any minute, and I came to the door to catch you."
"What's the matter?" I asked, fearing the worst.
He must've seen the fear in my face, and he smiled. "It's not that big of a deal, I just feel bad."
"About what?" I said, smiling now that I could see it was nothing tragic.
"Sam. He wanted to come, and I knew your sister and Henry would want him here and everything, but I didn’t even think about asking you."
"Asking me what? Why didn't you let him?" I said, my heart pounding. I waited intently for him to answer.
