Page 15 of A Second Chance Christmas Kiss

“Why were you running away from me?”

She finished washing off her feet and then put her hands on her hips. “Maybe I didn’t want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

She moved to the side of the water station and rubbed her feet on the grass, carefully getting the rest of the sand off. “Do I have to have a reason?”

I brushed the sand off my feet and followed her, stopping only to pull on my shoes and socks. “I just want to talk for a sec.”

She scoffed. Her face was so different from what I remembered. The angles of her cheeks were more pronounced now. More mature. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

“What do you want me to say, Charles?”

My heart raced, and I floundered for an answer. “I don’t know. ‘Hey, Charles, how are you? I haven’t seen you in nineteen years. How are you doing?’” I shrugged. “Wewere… friends.”

She folded her arms. “Is that what we were, Charles?”

“Yeah, since we were, what? Eight?” I mimicked her, folding my arms in the same way. “I met you on the beach that day by the lighthouse, remember?”

She frowned. “Our friendship ended nineteen years ago.”

“Is there a timetable on friendship? I mean, I’m just asking. You should probably keep the promise you made to me since the first day I met you and you said we would be friends from then on.”

I was rewarded with a genuine smile.

“Charles, we were eight.”

“Is there a timetable on promises?”

She blew out a breath. “I…don’t know.”

I wanted to keep her talking. “What do you say? Are we still friends?”

She opened her mouth but then shut it, looking away. “Don’tfriendstalk occasionally? Wouldn’tfriendshave coffee and know about each other’s lives?”

“Then I guess it’s time for coffee or something.”

She met my eyes and then shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.”

I found myself wanting to pull apart everything about her. I wanted to ask a million questions. “Or dinner? I’d take dinner tomorrow.”

The side of her lip quirked up, and she faced me. “Always the negotiator, Charles. That’s what you’lltake?”

I grinned back. “That’s what I’ll take. What do you say?”

Before she could answer, her eyebrows lowered and she patted her side pocket, then pulled out her phone. “Hello?” She paused, listening, and then her eyes widened. “Okay. I’m coming.” She took off running.

“Wait!” I called, starting after her.

She stopped and gave me a look, pulling her phone from her ear for a second. “Listen, I’ll think about coffee, asfriends, if you don’t follow me.”

“Okay.” I forced myself to stop and watch as she disappeared into the night.

Had it really been nineteen years since I’d seen her? Who was on the phone? Where was she going?

“Charles.”

I turned, finding my herd of brothers rushing up the beach toward me. “Hey.”

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