Her gaze cut to Amy’s. “Who says I even want to live in a white picket fence world? To live a normal nine-to-five life?”
“Huh?” Amy clearly hadn’t followed her thought process.
Excitement building within her, she leaned over and kissed her roommate’s cheek. “I love you, Amy, but you may be roommate-less again soon.”
Amy’s eyes widened. “What?”
Taylor hugged Amy, then pointed at the piece of art. “I need to tell him about that. I need him to know what I know.”
Amy grinned. “You’re headed to Chattanooga, aren’t you? Wait for me! I’m going with you.”
* * *
Eyeing the man sitting across from him, Jack took a sip of beer, then leaned back in his chair. He and Duffy had gone to a bar and grill along the riverfront within walking distance of the medical tent they were working the next couple of days.
The men and women competing were typically in tip-top shape, but in the process of pursuing their best times often dehydrated and injured themselves.
One of Jack’s main jobs was to make sure someone was safe to go back out after an injury or collapse. These people had been training for months, years, and most would work through an injury, even if dangerous, if allowed to.
They finished off their drinks and headed back toward where competition “headquarters” had been set up.
As they were walking, a woman caught his eye, making him think of Taylor. Not that she was ever far from his mind, but these days any platinum blonde had her popping into his head.
Only this one had his pulse pounding.
If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the woman was Taylor.
Then he noticed the familiar woman with her.
Taylor was in Chattanooga and Amy was with her.
“Hey, isn’t that...?” Duffy asked, sounding surprised, but not quite as authentically as he should have. Duffy must have known they were in town.
“Looks like it.” He braced himself for however Taylor responded to seeing him. Had she known there was a possibility she’d bump into him here? Greg knew he was here and would have mentioned the competition to Amy. Maybe they’d all decided to drive down to check out the event. Or was Amy playing matchmaker again? Had she messaged Duffy to find them and was throwing him and Taylor together?
Taylor spotted him, looked uncertain for the briefest of seconds, then flashed a big smile on her pretty face.
A big, genuine smile. A smile that lit up his world and had every nerve cell straining to get near her. She stopped walking, her mouth dropping open.
“You cut your hair!” she pointed out unnecessarily.
He reached up, ran his palm over his bare neck. “Why are you here?”
Probably not the best intro to seeing her after two months had passed, but it’s what popped out of his mouth.
“Good to see you, too,” she replied, turning to Duffy and giving him a smile of his own. “Duffy, how are you?”
Duffy hugged Taylor, then Amy. Taylor gave Amy a look and, taking her cue, Amy locked her arm with Duffy’s. “Let’s go for a walk, my friend. We need to catch up since I missed out on seeing you at Rockin’ Tyme.”
Duffy didn’t hesitate, just abandoned Jack with Taylor. Yeah, his friend had known Amy and Taylor were there.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Taylor reminded Jack once they were alone.
No, he hadn’t. He glanced around them, wanting to be somewhere other than where they were. They could walk to the bridge, go to the park, but with the competition there would likely still be too many people around.
“Let’s walk down to the riverbank,” he suggested. There might possibly still be people around, but it would be less crowded at least.
Glancing toward the Tennessee River, Taylor nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”