Page 13 of To Tell the Truth
"Good," he answered.
"Can I tell you the truth?" Fletcher nodded. "I've wanted to kiss you all day," she said.
"I've wanted to kiss you for ten years."
His confession didn't get him the reaction he thought it would. Her smile looked dark this time, almost forced, and he wondered if he had done something wrong.
"I shouldn't have said that."
"No, no. It's OK." She took a deep breath and looked out over the water. "It's just that... I'm going home tomorrow. To Chicago. Where I live."
"And that's not here."
She shook her head. "And you're a hockey player for a team that's one of my bakery investor's biggest rivals."
"We made things complicated."
To be fair, that game show made things complicated. If he hadn't listened to his agent, if she hadn't listened to her friends, if they hadn't somehow ended up at the same place at the same time on national television... Well, there wasn't any way to change that now.
Sometimes Fletcher forgot how lucky he was to live in Los Angeles by the beach and watch the sun set over the water on a regular basis. It was calming and quiet and soothing. But right now, all he could hear were the thoughts racing around in his head.
"This could never work, could it?" he asked.
It was a stupid question because it was one he didn't want to know the answer to even though he knew exactly what that answer would be.
"Our bakery only does pick-up orders and not deliveries."
Fletcher couldn't help but laugh at her response. It was so ridiculous and so perfect for that moment.
And it just made this more painful because he realized that was one of the things he missed about being around her. Those perfect sarcastic comments would come at just the right moment.
Her timing was so perfect tonight, and yet when it came to swooping back into his life, their timing was so awful.
Fletcher reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling it to his lips and gently dropping a soft kiss on the back of it. Then he held onto it as they sat there quietly watching the waves on the shore.
He didn't know how long they sat like that quiet and together. They could've stayed like that too, but he was getting a cramp in his back. Stupid hockey injury he was still working through in the offseason.
"You ready to go?" he asked quietly.
Samantha seemed to be pulled out of whatever she was thinking and nodded her head. They quietly got up, dusted all the sand off, and packed up the extra cupcakes in the bag before Fletcher picked it up. Then he grabbed Samantha's hand to guide her back to the boardwalk.
"So are you headed back to Duluth anytime soon?"
It was just a small talk question, he could tell. Almost like asking him what he thought about the weather in Los Angeles tonight. But it was a good way to help them both ignore that kiss on the beach.
Of course he didn't want to ignore it. He wanted to talk about it and tell her what it was like to finally have her lips on his. But they weren't high school kids anymore. Things were complicated and different and weird.
So he just answered her question to ignore all those other questions. He would be back in Duluth in a month or so, then it was all hockey until next summer.
"I'll be in Chicago a few times this year though for the season," he said. "Maybe we could catch up then."
Samantha looked at him wistfully. "Yeah, maybe we could."
And then he asked how her family was doing and talked about his mom until they got to her hotel and stood awkwardly outside for a moment before she finally spoke.
"There are still a few cupcakes left. Would you like to take them?"
He shook his head and gave her the bag. "You keep them. Tell me how they are later."
