Page 4 of Meant to be Mine

“Surprising you, apparently. Is it working?”

“Yes.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Yes, it’s working. I had no idea you were coming home. You didn’t say anything! How long are you here? When did you get here? Why didn’t you call me?”

“I’m here for the summer. Figured I’d come bother my parents for a few months. And you, of course. Can’t let you dodge me for another summer.” I held up the container. “And I wanted to bring you some muffins.”

“You’re staying the whole summer?”

“Yep.”

He looked at the container in my hand. “Please tell me those are blueberry.”

“Is there any other kind?”

He pulled the lid off, reached in, grabbed one, and took a bite in the middle of the showroom floor like he hadn’t eaten in days. Crumbs rained down on his white shirt. I stared at the exposed inch of the top of his chest, where a crumb disappeared, and swallowed hard. Maybe bringing a home-baked treat into a place like this was a dumb move on my part.

“Oh my God,” he said around the mouthful, completely unbothered by how undignified that was. “Kensey, you have no idea how badly I needed this muffin.”

I laughed. “You make it sound orgasmic.”

He waggled his brows. “It is.” He took another bite. He gestured vaguely toward the front of the store with the muffin. “Everyone brings me a problem. Lighting issue. Vendor issue. Somebody’s mother wants a discount because her daughter’s spending ten grand. It’s nonstop. And you walk in here and the first thing you give me is a muffin.” He took another bite, shaking his head. “My favorite muffin. You have no idea what this means to me right now.”

I chomped down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling at him like a doe-eyed schoolgirl. Keep it together, Kensey.

“I figured you could use it.” I glanced around the store again. “This is a lot, Drew. You’re running this?”

“I know.” He said it almost sheepishly, like even he still hadn’t fully wrapped his head around it. “It happened kind of fast. My cousins built it, I helped out, and then they needed somebody to actually run the place day to day while they’re all back in New York having babies.” He shrugged, like that explained everything.

“It suits you,” I said, and meant it. There was something different in the way he stood here, something steadier than the Drew I remembered. “You look good. Like, really good. The suit is a whole thing.”

“Yeah, well.” He glanced down at himself like he’d forgotten what he was wearing. “Comes with the job. I miss board shorts, not gonna lie.”

I laughed, and for a second it felt like no time had passed at all. Like we’d just picked the conversation back up exactly where we’d left it two years ago. Well, we talked on the phone, but it just wasn’t the same as being face to face.

Judging by what I was seeing, his life wasn’t as low stress as I remembered. He looked like a businessman. All grown up. All… Blackwelled.

“So, do you have time to grab lunch or something?” I asked. “Or coffee. I’ll take whatever. I can see you’re busy. I won’t take much of your time.”

He grimaced and I could tell he needed to say no.

“I would love that,” Drew said. “I really would. But I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes I can’t push.” He glanced toward the door, then back at me. I watched him actually wrestle with it for a second, like leaving me standing there was physically paining him. “Beach site walkthrough. For an event we’re doing in a couple weeks.”

“Oh.” I tried not to let my face fall too much. “That’s okay. Call me when you have a chance. I’ll be here all summer.”

He looked torn. I forced a bright smile.

“Wait.” He held up a hand, like an idea had just landed on him. “You want to come with me?”

3

DREW

After two years, here she was. Kensey Blake could always bring a smile to my face, even on bad days. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d been missing her until she walked into my store holding one of her amazing muffins.

On any other day, I would have canceled all my commitments to hang out with her, but duty called. I pulled the Escalade onto the street and glanced over at her again. She looked exactly the same and completely different all at once.

That was the only way I could put it. Same Kensey. Same pretty smile that had a way of making whatever room she was in feel manageable. Same dark eyes that caught everything, missed nothing.

Her hair was down, loose around her shoulders, and the bright sun coming through the passenger window gave her an ethereal glow. She was wearing a simple spring top and shorts, nothing pretentious like we sold at the store.