Beards and Broken Hearts

Twelve years. I thought I had forgotten the face of my first love, but over a decade later I would recognize those dark soulful eyes anywhere.

Layton Michaels is no longer the teenage boy who asked before he kissed me. No, he’s all hulking man in flannel, with a dark beard and backward ball cap. Gone is the carefree smile, now it’s replaced by a deep scowl and I can’t help, but want to know why.
When his sweet grandma hires me to make her dream wedding dress I’m reluctant, if only because it would put me back in harm’s way- close proximity to the heartbreaker. The mischievous look in her eyes doesn’t help either.
The suspicious feeling that I’m being set up grows stronger each time we “randomly” bump into each other. It’s confirmed the night we’re trapped in the wine cellar together.
What I didn’t see coming was falling in love down there. After that night we’re inseparable. Every spare second we spend tangled together and I let myself imagine forever again.

That fantasy disappears like smoke when the letter comes.
It’s the chance of a lifetime, but we can’t both go….