“And lots of them he gave to others,” I chided.
“Hey! But yeah, I’ve done my share of body-embracing, I guess,” he said sheepishly.
“We had to dress in those crazy clothes we found on the line in McRuth’s back yard,” I said, trying to change the subject from anything to do with us being naked.
“Those suspenders were two sizes too big!” he said with a laugh.
“Well, that gaudy, awful flower and stripes sundress was three sizes too big on me! It made me look like some kind of homeless clown. No wonder you couldn’t stop laughing at me. Maybe I was better off naked, with the ferns.”
Our laughter echoed around the glassed-in room, the sound so natural it made me realize how much I’d missed this man. Even Max let out a couple of happy yipes punctuated with tail-wags.
“This feels like old times,” I said quietly, hoping I didn’t let any of the old hurt show through my words.
“We used to be best friends. I hope we can get back what we had all those years ago.”
His hand slipped to mine in the water. “Really, Jaime, you might not believe me, but I did miss you.”
My hand gripped his back and we stopped, letting Max take a break as emotions flooded my body and the idea of watching him marry someone else tore at me.
“You know what I really loved?” I asked.
“What?” he asked.
“When you just wrapped your arm around me and listened to me while I told you all my problems. That meant the world to me, Charlie.”
“And you used to listen to me tell you all about my love life.”
I smiled. “Yeah, you with your ménage à trois.”
“It wasn’t technically that. I was only dating three girls at once, not hopping in bed with them at the same time.”
“Gee, my bad,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Still, I warned you that you were going to get busted sooner or later, but you wouldn’t listen to me.
“Yeah, I should’ve taken your advice. In the long run, you were right...as usual.”
“Repeat after me, Charlie... Jaime knows best,” I said with a wink.
Ruff! Max let out, as if to agree with me.
Charlie stopped suddenly and touched my elbow, and I found myself staring into those familiar eyes again. We shifted together, our bodies touching just barely, “It’s funny we never dated, Jaime,” he said, sweeping his thumb over my jawline tantalizingly. “I remember almost sharing a kiss.”
I caught the longing in his voice. “On top of the Ferris wheel at night. It was just you and me, and we shared a moment.”
“I remember like it was yesterday.”
“You were dating Phoebe then, so I never would have gone through with it, but I can’t say I wasn’t tempted.”
“Looking into your eyes back then, I was pretty sure I could get you to change your mind,” he confessed. “As a matter of fact, I was sure I could.”
“So why didn’t you?” I asked confused. “Why didn’t you ever just do it like you did with all the other girls? Did you think...did you think I wasn’t good enough for you?”
He shook his head sternly and sucked in a deep breath, eyes taking in every inch of my face.
“Because I thought you deserved better than a bad boy like me, much better.”
“Not true,” I argued.
He nodded. “I would’ve broken your heart, and that would’ve killed me more than anything. I couldn’t do that to you. So you were off limits.”