Page 99 of See You at the Finish Line

Wednesday 8:30 p.m.

Hey Adam, I hope you’re doing okay. I just want to say again how sorry I am. I know you’re probably pissed as hell at Caleb and maybe at me too. I’d love to see you, maybe go out for a drink if you’re still intown. Let me know.

I take the phone from her and read the messages over and over again until they’re committed to memory. I never got these. What the hell? Maybe Caleb deleted them somehow ... I click on the aptly chosen moniker she gave me and stare at the contact information. Oh, fuck no.

“Paige ... This isn’t my number.”

“What?”

“You have 236-519-5274 but my number is 236-516-5274.” My mouth is dry.

She shakes her head. “But that means ...”

“I never got your texts.”

She stares at the phone and lifts her eyes to meet mine, horror on her face.

“I put your number in my phone wrong,” she whispers.

One slip of a finger and two years of wondering why she never reached out. Why she never sent the pictures. Assuming I knew why and accepting it because I didn’t want to overstep. Because deep down, I didn’t think I deserved her after everything that had happened.

We stare at each other, neither of us quite processing what this means.

And then her phone rings.

I’m still staring atAdam, my heart racing, as I answer my phone. This would be funny if this situation hadn’t caused us both so much heartache. I made a mistake entering the number into my phone. It’s my fault.

“Hello?” I answer, not taking my eyes off Adam as he stares intently at me. I’m not sure what he’s thinking.

“Paige?” Leah asks, her voice concerned.

“Hey, Leah.” My voice sounds weird even to my ears.

“Are you okay? How was the race?” she asks.

“It was good, I’ll call you back in a bit.”

Not waiting for her to argue, I hang up the phone, placing it back in my pocket.

Adam surges forward and takes my face in his hands, kissing me with a force so strong I stumble. His arm is there to catch me, and his kiss is nothing like I remember but communicates everything I feel.

Confusion. Relief. Sheer and utter shock. Desperate need.

His mouth is urgent and insistent, and I can’t breathe. I don’t want to breathe. My arms wrap around his neck as he drags me against his body. One hand holds my neck and the arm around my waist tightens, like he’ll never let me go. I hope he doesn’t.

My hands move to his shoulders and then to his chest where his heart is beating so fast, I’m a little concerned. He brings his hand from my waist to my face and turns my head, finding a new angle, controlling, dominating the kiss like he’s dreamed of it for two years.

I know I have.

When we’re both out of breath, he pulls away and rests his forehead against mine.

“Damn it, Paige,” he whispers.

“I’m so sor—” He captures my mouth again before I can get the words out.

This whole thing is my fault. Who would have thought? Leah is going to have a field day with this. He picks me up and I instinctively wrap my legs around his waist, enjoying the feel of his body on mine as my heart soars.

Someone coughs. “This is a public space,” a man’s voice breaks in, bursting our little bubble. It’s almost comical how we pull apart to see a crowd of people around us, looking at us with varying degrees of amusement and disapproval. An elderly man is glaring at us from the spectator line.

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