Page 9 of Second Chance Serenity

“You make me feel like I do,” he replies.

My stomach twists with the love I feel for him. Love I’ve carried for longer than I can even remember. “You always know all the right things to say, Michael Anderson.”

“That’s because I love you, Reyna Acker.” He leans in and presses his lips lightly to mine, and butterflies dance in my belly. My skin warms, my heart pounding in my chest.

“I love you, too,” I say as he pulls away. He takes my hand and threads his fingers through mine. “What do you think will happen once we graduate next month?”

He looks back up at the sky and falls silent for a moment. My mind is reeling with all the things he could say and all the promises I yearn to make. “The only thing I know is that I want to stay with you,” he replies.

“What about football? Boxing?”

“I don’t need any of that.” His mood shifts, agitation lacing his tone. He rolls over onto his stomach and scooches closer, pulling me in against him. “Marry me.”

“What?” I choke out the word, a mixture of joy and shock overtaking me.

“Marry me, Reyna. Let’s run away together. Get married then come back here and start our life together.”

“Run away together? What’s going on?” I laugh because he has to be joking, right? His entire family is here in Hope Springs, and so is mine. Why would we run away?

“We can come back. But let’s go get married. Somewhere far away from here.”

“Michael, when I get married, I want my family there.”

He closes his eyes and leans down, pressing his forehead against mine. “Is that a yes to marrying me at least?”

I wind both arms around his neck and pull him down to press my lips to his. “That’s a yes to marrying you, but I want to do it right. I want to do it here. On the beach outside the church.” I’ve pictured it at least a hundred times, from my white dress to the seashells dotting the shore and the groom awaiting my arrival at the end of the aisle.

“I will give you whatever you want, Reyna. Because I’m going to love you forever.”

“Forever,” I agree, not realizing just how short forever can be.

“Hey!” I slide into a booth at the diner, sitting beside Eliza Knight and across from Andie Montgomery and Margot.

“Hey!” Lilly pulls a chair over and sits at the end of the table, off her feet for what is probably the first time today. “You got here just in time.”

I smile at her, not at all feeling like my usual self. Both run-ins with Michael this morning have set me on a collision course with feelings I thought I’d buried. With memories that I’d shoved away in a tiny box, never wanting to see again.

Why they’re choosing now to try and break through the anger I still carry, I’m not sure, but they are. And every time I see him, I’m reminded of that evening in my backyard, and I have to fight the urge to run into his arms.

It’s killing me.

“What’s going on with you?” Andie asks. We didn’t run in the same circles as teens, but she grew up here in Hope Springs and only recently moved back after her grandmother passed. Now, she’s engaged to one of Michael’s partners, Elijah Breeth.

“What do you mean?” I make a show of opening my menu and trying to appear casual.

Eliza, who happens to be married to Michael’s boss, plucks the menu from my hand. “For one, you always order the same thing.”

“Maybe tonight I want something different,” I say.

“Doubtful,” Margot replies. “What gives?”

“I’m just tired,” I argue.

But then, at that exact moment—because of course the timing would work out that way—the door to the diner opens, and Michael strolls in, making his way to the counter. My mouth dries, my pulse kicking up.

He’s wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. Nothing overly flashy, yet he’s so incredibly handsome I find it hard to look anywhere else.

“We’ll be touching on this in a minute.” Lilly slides out of the chair and bounces over to the counter. “Michael Anderson, your dinner.” She hands him a to-go bag that’s sitting on the counter.

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