Page 38 of Beginnings By the Sea

Miles took the box of treats from me and stepped out of the way. “Let’s go. My car’s out front.”

I walked quickly through the office to ensure everything was turned off and the back door was locked. I grabbed my purse and traveling medical bag before following Miles out the front door and locking it behind me. He had the passenger’s side door of his 4Runner open for me, a vivid reminder of how many times we’d done this same thing in the past.

“Has your taste in music changed these past two years?” he asked, hands stuffed into his pockets with a smirk playing at his lips.

I shook my head. “Nope. I still like the same old stuff.”

He nodded toward the seat, and then once we were both inside, he started up the engine—sending an all-too-familiar song ringing through the speakers. “My Sweet Summer” by The Dirty Heads. We saw them at our first concert together about nine years ago.

I looked over at Miles and smiled. “So many memories.”

He chuckled and nodded. “All good ones.”

Yes, they were.

17

NYLA

Miles and I walked around the gardens and talked the entire time. It was as if no time had passed between us. We were still the same two people we were all those years ago, except now we were older and more mature. I knew what I needed in life to be happy; my priorities were finally straight.

“What would you say our best vacation was?” I asked, opening up the bakery box to grab a cake pop.

After walking several miles at the gardens, I’d worked up an appetite. We were already in the car, headed back to Oak Island, and the traffic was horrendous. It was definitely going to take a lot longer to get back.

Miles narrowed his gaze in concentration and blew out a breath. “I’m thinking Wyoming when we went to Jackson Hole and hiked all those trails in the Grand Teton National Park.”

I nodded in agreement. We went there in early May about five years ago, and there was still snow on the trails. The mountains were breathtaking.

“Same. I had a blast that trip, even though I got doused with muddy rainwater when we walked to breakfast that morning.”

Since our hotel was a short distance from so many great restaurants, Miles and I liked to walk instead of drive. One morning after a heavy rainfall, we still decided to walk. While on the sidewalk, a car drove through a massive puddle beside me; I got soaked.

Miles tilted his head back and laughed. “I remember. I wanted to beat the hell out of the asshole who did that to you.”

I did, too.

“At least until we saw who it was,” I said, grinning happily.

Miles chuckled again. “Who would’ve thought it would be Hadley Rivers?”

I wasn’t a country music listener, but everyone who did knew who Hadley Rivers was; she was one of the top country singers in the world. She apologized a million times over and paid for our breakfast that morning. When we got back to our hotel, it turned out that she’d paid for our entire stay, and even brought new clothes to our room for me. To say it was my favorite trip was an understatement.

“Her paying for our hotel room helped us out. I swear, I never thought I would ever pay off my school loans.”

Miles snorted. “True, but we got it done. Even though we didn’t have money back then, we still managed to do everything we wanted.”

“We didn’t need money to be happy,” I said in a low voice, whispering it more at myself than to him.

Miles reached over and intertwined his fingers with mine. “That’s because we had each other.”

But then, things changed when I started working at the hospital. I wanted to earn money, find my place in the medical world, and pay off my debts. The admiration I got from being one of the best ER doctors in the state became an addiction, and I wanted to constantly prove myself even more. I’d give anything to go back and change how I did things.

Miles’s thumb slowly rubbed soothing circles on my wrist, and I looked up into his eyes—there was the familiar twinkle that always brought a flood of warmth to my heart.

“Do you think we’d be where we are now if we stayed together?”

His smile faded slightly as he paused for a beat before responding. “I don’t know, Nyla. I would love to say yes, but I tend to lean on the side that everything happens for a reason. All I know is that I have never seen you this happy before. And it just so happens that I’m here with you.”

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