“Krista.” He swallowed hard and gawped like the idiot he was. “Um...how’s it going?”
“Good. You?”
“Yeah, good.” His pulse was racing, lifting his heavy heart. Krista had consumed his thoughts. Not for one waking second had he stopped thinking about her. She’d even run through his dreams at night. This morning, he’d again woken restless and yearning, as if something big was missing from deep inside. But with so many words and emotions and urges bubbling through him, how could he even begin to tell her that he missed her, that he wanted her? And that he was too afraid to admit any of it. “So...um...”
“So...?” She tilted her chin toward him, but her eyes didn’t meet his.
Beside him, Mikey coughed.
Shane blinked, reminded that he wasn’t alone. “So, um, yeah. We’re finishing our first training session with a run along the Seawall Path to Stanley Park, and...”
A tall, wiry guy with dark, wavy hair came to stand very close to Krista.
Ryan.
The pretty boy was looking straight at him with Keep Off signs in his eyes.
Right. Of course. That’s why Krista was all made up after work.Date night.
Shane stepped back. “Have a good evening, kids.”
Then he marched past the reception desk and ran out into the fresh, evening air.
“Well, at least now I know who you took hiking,” Mikey said, keeping a brisk pace behind him.
“Huh,” Shane huffed and concentrated on his stride.
They crossed the street to the coastal path along the sandy beaches of English Bay. It was a dull, overcast day, but still the beach was busy. Friends chatting as they sat on the logs, a woman reading a magazine, young families playing in the sand.
“When she’s not scowling, Krista’s kinda cute,” Mikey said.
“She’s taken is what she is. She’s got the man she wants.”
“She didn’t look too happy about it. What happened between you out in the Rockies, bud?”
“We hooked up. No big deal.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Yeah. A lot of fun.”
“Then why does she still look like she hates you?”
Because I practically ran away from her at the service station...
Shane stopped running.
“You okay?” Mikey jogged on the spot.
“You’re right. She did look at me like she hated me. And why would she do that if she’s got Ryan?”
“Um...”
“And so why the hell should it matter if I did leave her at the service station?”
“Dude, you’re not making much sense.”
No, he wasn’t. Nothing made sense anymore.
