In charge for now. I have to keep reminding myself that.
Terri pointed to a half-round booth toward the back corner. “There’s our table. Come on.”
“Our table?” I shouted at her. Trying to keep up with her in my new Jimmy Choo shoes was proving more difficult than I anticipated. Even though money wasn’t an object, I was still tight with it. My mother always told me the sky could fall at any moment and if it did, you had better be prepared. I didn’t own a lot of expensive shoes or purses. I gave myself gifts, like the shoes I had on, when good things happened. I didn’t go crazy, and my closet wasn’t filled with overly exaggerated expensive items. I was by no means frugal, but more logical.
But I’d took my mother’s sense of urgency to heart. I’d bought two hundred acres out in the hill country last year without telling my parents. The small cabin that sat on the property was stocked with freeze-dried food that would last me for years. I wasn’t one of those prepper fanatics, but damn if I wouldn’t be ready if shit hit the fan.
Terri pulled my arm. “Yeah. The owner held it for us.”
“Do we know the owner?” I asked as I let her lead me like a dog.
It was right then that something in the air changed. My body came to life as I quickly looked back over my shoulder. That never happened unless he was nearby. No matter how much I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. He had to be here somewhere. I was going to strangle Terri, I swear.
As if this day couldn’t get any worse, right before we got to the booth, I slipped and started going down.
Great. I was going to bust my ass right there in front of everyone to see.
But at the last minute, I was saved. My body caught on fire when his arms grabbed me, preventing me from falling with utter embarrassment.
I looked up and his gray eyes met my blue.
Tucker.
I smiled, and he quickly looked away.
Ugh.
How long was he going to be pissed about what happened betwee
n us in college? It was ages ago, for Pete’s sake.
Note to self: Buy Tucker a book about forgiveness and never wear these fucking shoes again.
Tucker looked back at me quickly and said, “You always were a klutz, Charlie.”
That warm fuzzy feeling I had from his touch was extinguished by his shitty words of reprimand. Snarling my lip at him, I shot back, “You probably tripped me, Tucker.”
He winked and my insides melted. Yep. They melted.
Damn him!
“You would have deserved it after what you did to me,” he whispered against my ear, causing my lower stomach to heat up.
With a sigh, I shook my head. “Get over it, Middleton. It was ages ago.”
His unshaven face brushed against my cheek and caused my breath to hitch. The way his eyes flamed, he obviously noticed what his touch still did to me.
“That’s funny, seems like only yesterday to me.”
My body shuddered. His voice had a bit of sadness in it that rocked me to the core.
“By the way, Pumpkin, I’m sorry about your parents.”
Pulling back, the only thing I could do was stare at him as I swallowed hard and reminded myself I needed air. Tucker had given me the nickname the very first day I met him. I never told him that my father called me Pumpkin too. Of course, Tucker hadn’t called me that since our last weekend together all those years ago. Until tonight. Tears threatened to fall as this shitty day came flooding back to me along with all the guilt I had for walking away from the only man I’d ever cared about. Add in the bitterness that was slowly replacing the sadness of my parents being taken from me too early, and you had one emotionally fucked-up woman.
I tried like hell to get my mouth to move. When it finally did, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
His brows lifted, then pulled tight in confusion. “I mean, thank you for the sorry. I’m not sorry. Well, I mean, I am sorry about my parents and all, but … thank you for your sorry. That means a lot to me that you said sorry, and I’ve really said the word sorry a lot in the past twenty-three seconds, so I’ll stop now.”