Shane seemed to notice it then, too — how close we were, the heat that radiated between us. His eyes connected briefly with mine before we both shifted, but there was nowhere to go, no space to be found.
His scent surrounded me, that iron and ice and mint. Out of nowhere, a flash from our past hit me, and I remembered clinging to him in a fierce hug, his hoodie bunched in my hands, my nose buried in his neck and committing that scent to memory as I whispered,“I don’t know what to do.”
He’d held me just as tight and told me we’d figure it out together.
He’d lied.
I turned away from him, casting my gaze out the window as the trolley carried us to Channelside. I tried to focus on the palm trees, the people on bikes and scooters, the brief glimpses of water I got between buildings.
But Shane watched me in the window’s reflection, and my skin burned beneath that gaze.
When we finally shuffled off the trolley at Sparkman Wharf, I guzzled the clean air into my lungs, hoping it would help clear the dizziness of being so close to him. Shane didn’t seem fazed at all. He pointed toward the lively grouping of restaurants and bars, guiding the way through the crowd as I took in the lights hanging overhead and the sound of live music filtering through the air.
“Ah, so this is why it’s so crowded everywhere,” Shane murmured when we made it to the sprawling lawn of Sparkman Wharf. There was a giant screen at one end, people spread out in chairs or on blankets all across the grass. “There’s a Tarpons game today.”
The Tampa Bay Tarpons were the city’s professional football team. I didn’t know much about them other than they hadn’t had a winning season in long enough to make the fans hesitant to want to buy tickets to any game. It wasn’t fun to file out of a stadium after your team lost when you could have just watched the game from home or at a bar.
“Want to sit for a moment?” he asked, gesturing to two empty chairs.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“I’ll get us a drink. Mimosa or Bloody Mary?”
“A little early, don’t you think?” I laughed.
“Come on, it’s almost noon now! And we’ve had breakfast. Besides, if I remember correctly, a Bloody Mary on a Sunday is one of your favorite things.”
I bit my lip against a smile. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Extra spicy, too. Right? Like basically pour in an entire bottle of hot sauce?”
“Bonus if they have bleu cheese olives.”
Shane wrinkled his nose, shivering like I’d scratched my nails on a chalkboard. “Animal, you are.” But he winked, and then disappeared into the crowd.
I took in the view in his short absence, marveling at the ships in the water, the buildings of downtown sprawled all around us. Kids played games on the lawn, groups of friends shared drinks, people all over donned their Tampa Tarpons gear. By the time Shane joined me again, I was smiling ear to ear.
“You know, it may not be Boston, but Tampa is pretty cool.”
“Oh, just wait. We haven’t seen anything yet.” Shane tapped his beer against my Bloody Mary. “To reuniting with old friends.”
I gave him a pointed look, but grinned, anyway, as I took the first sip.
It was spicy and perfect.
“So, you stuck around Boston, huh?” Shane asked, his eyes on some kids who were playing tag.
“I did.”
“Never wanted to go anywhere else?”
“I thought about Colorado once. But otherwise, no, not really.”
“You did always seem happy in New England.”
“It’s home,” I said, a soft smile on my lips. But my stomach twisted in the next second when I thought about how quickly we’d left, how Nathan had accepted this job without so much as speaking to me.
It wasn’t that I would have said no. I loved him, and I wanted him to chase his dreams. I knew this was what he’d wanted for a long, long time.
