Page 34 of Living La Vida Mocha

“You ran first.”

“Yeah. It’s a problem, I know.” When his gaze fell, his hand went up and gave the back of his neck a solid rub, or maybe a squeeze because his face flooded with a rush of colour.

“Why is that? That’s twice now you’ve left me in a lurch.” I held two fingers to punctuate my statement.

Those dark eyes narrowed into sad, narrow slits. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Actually, I think I would.” I rested my chin into the palm of my hand and gazed up at him, trying an old tactic that used to get me everything I wanted from him back in the day. “We used to share a lot.”

“Things change.”

My voice fell and softened. “Carter, whatever it is that’s causing you to dash out every time I open up to you, I’m pretty sure I can handle it. If it’s me, and something I’m doing, please just tell me.”

“It’s not you.” He turned his head, stopping to stare toward the back hall before he focused on my donut. “Good choice. It’s our new flavour.”

“Thanks, but you’re deflecting.”

A tight fist formed at the end of his arm, making his sinewy muscles pop. “It’s complicated, and this isn’t the place.”

Of course, he was correct. Whatever it was holding him back, it was obviously personal, and telling me in his workplace was not ideal.

“Fine. But soon, okay?”

“Okay.” The locked expression promised me a story, and I for one couldn’t wait. “Maybe.”

In the meantime, I had to put my plan into motion. After all, he was the reason I had jumped ship and swam in his direction.

“So, the other day, I was doing some clean up, and guess what I found?”

He ran his fingers through his thick blond hair and sighed, although a small smile was spreading across his lips.

“That Phantom mug you gave me on our first date.”

His eyes grew wide, and the smile stretched into a full-blown grin. “Oh my word, you still have that?”

“I do. And, it still works.”

“That’s amazing.” He took a seat across from me and lowered his voice. “I need to find another like it to display on the Mug Wall.”

Quickly, I tossed my gaze over to the display. It would make a neat addition, but there was no way I was giving it up.

“Actually, I found a lot of things while cleaning this week.” It had been eye-opening and my heart squeezed with all the memories flooding back when I found the old pencil box of keepsakes.

“Like?”

“Movie tickets. Concert tickets. That rock.”

He nodded along and stopped suddenly. “Wait, what rock?”

“Remember the night when you got the flat on the highway, and the two of us in the pouring rain changed the tire?”

His sweet laugh wrapped around me. “I’d forgotten about that. What a night.”

“Right? All the thunder and lightning circling us, and somehow, we managed our first-ever tire change.”

“We were soaked to the bone.”

“And muddy because we had to make sure the jack was positioned correctly.”