Page 13 of His for the Holiday

“Wow.” He let out a low whistle. “That sounds absolutely nothing like you.”

“Like I said. People change.” I took a sip of my cider. “I always thought I’d end up working there as an archaeologist or being a tenured professor eventually somewhere like Oxford or Trinity.”

“Well, you’ve always loved history. I suppose that didn’t change.”

“No, it didn’t.” I managed a weak smile as I looked back at him. “I’m surprised you even remember all this stuff about me.”

He smirked. “I remember everything, but we’re still talking about you. You’re not an archaeologist or a tenured professor?”

“Nope. I married Calen only three months after I met him when I was only twenty-one. Winnie was born just after my twenty-second birthday. Staying home with her seemed like the right thing to do at first. I didn’t mind it at all. She was my priority and I figured there’d be time to build a career later.”

“Let me guess,” he said. “It never happened?”

“Calen started pulling away long before she could go to school. With him not around so much, there was no way I could even think about pursuing a career that would take up so much of my time.” I pursed my lips. “What about you? What are you up to in California? It is California, right?”

“Los Angeles,” he confirmed. “I started my own shipping company, if you’d believe it.”

I chuckled. “Oh, I believe it. The only part I don’t believe is that you wound up living in LosAngeles. I’d have thought you’d hate it there.”

“Are you kidding? It’s amazing. The parties. The clubs. I mean, you should see my house. It’s four thousand square feet of pure awesome.”

I blinked hard. Pure awesome? Four thousand square feet?

I didn’t even know where to start with that statement, but it was suddenly very obvious to me that he was not the same person he used to be.

First, it sounded like he was very, very rich if he could afford a house that size, and second, he seemed all about the glitz and glamour now. The clubs. The parties.

All of that sounded like a far cry from the dirty hockey player who used to sneak me onto his dad’s recreational fishing boat and ride along the coast with me. Thankfully, I was saved from having to think of a response when Winnie ran back up, glared at Hawk, and then glanced at me.

“Can we go get something to eat, Mam?”

“Of course.” I stood up immediately, only too happy to have an excuse to get away from him for a minute. “I’ll grab something for the boys as well. Stay here and guard our table. We’ll be right back.”

He dipped his chin into a nod and I took Winnie’s hand, quickly leading her toward the food stalls and wondering why she’d glared at him. Before I could ask though, she and I ran into someone I’d really hoped I would never see again.

My stomach plummeted to my shoes. Being home had been okay for those first couple weeks, but now suddenly, all of these blasts from the past were coming at me from all sides and making me question if I’d been prepared for life back in Portsmouth after all.

Right now, between Hawk and the girl he’d taken to prom instead of me, I really didn’t think I had been.