“If you think hoodies with dolphins and waves are fun, then yes.”
She wandered to the boxes and picked up a pink tie-dyed sweatshirt. “Ooh! I like this one. Great color.”
I shrugged. “I guess. Don’t you need to handle the neoprene weirdo?”
“I’m going, I’m going. Jay’s out there now.”
I frowned. “Really? He took the week off. What’s he doing here?”
“He just popped by to show his daughter the surfboard display. They’re on the way to lunch and…”
I tuned Sarah out and slowly stood, brushing my hands on my shorts. I bet I looked perfectly normal, but in reality…my head was buzzing.
His daughter?
Fuck.
I hadn’t seen Hannah in over a year. It had been even longer since we’d been a couple.
My family thought Hannah was the one who got away. I couldn’t decide if I agreed or regretted that we’d ever gotten together sometimes. But I hadn’t seriously thought about her in a while, so I wasn’t sure how I felt now.
We hadn’t ended on bad terms by any means; we had an unspoken agreement to keep our distance. It was just easier that way. We were both big fans of avoiding awkward scrutiny and in a town this size, where our relationship had been a focus of interest, I couldn’t blame anyone who might have been curious about what the hell had gone wrong.
Maybe we’d subconsciously figured that if they never saw us together, they’d forget about us. Which meant I never went to her parents’ house and she never came to the shop.
So why was she here now?
Of course, it didn’t have to be awkward. We were adults, for fuck’s sake. And Jay probably assumed we’d buried the past a long time ago, so it was up to me to walk out there and say hello. Like a fucking adult.
I sucked in a deep breath, aware of Sarah’s lively chatter behind me as I headed for the shop.
“Well, there he is!” Jay boomed. “I was just showing off your new designs to a fellow artist. I think you two remember each other.”
Hannah’s lips quirked at the corner. She tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear and stepped forward. “Hey, Calvin. It’s been a while. How are you?”
“Good. You?”
“I’m doing well.”
“Glad to hear it.” I cleared my throat and lamely added, “I’m…you look great.”
She did. Then again, she’d always been pretty. Very pretty. And equally cool.
Hannah was a statuesque blonde with big blue eyes who’d traded her spot on the surf circuit for a career in graphic design a few years ago. Which roughly coincided with our demise. It confused the hell out of me that we hadn’t worked. I still didn’t get it. We’d made sacrifices to support each other the way we’d witnessed our own parents do and yet…that wasn’t enough. We were good friends, and the sex had been great. Not earth-shattering, the way it was with Luca, but still…nice. That hadn’t mattered. Something had been missing, and we both knew it.
The breakup part had been so fucking painful.
But that was a long time ago.
I braced myself for a wave of melancholy that didn’t come. In fact, I didn’t feel anything at all…except a little antsy to get back to my chore so I could get to work on the board I’d been prepping to coat with resin.
“Thank you.” Hannah smiled. “Are you still competing?”
“Not as often. I signed up for the Holiday Classic, though.”
“Good luck. That can be tough competition,” she commented.
“Nothing this guy can’t handle.” Jay scoffed, patting my back. “I’m gonna grab one of the new sweatshirts that just came in. Did you see them?”
I squinted thoughtfully. “The pink whales?”
“Dolphins,” Hannah corrected.
Jay beamed. “Yep. Hannah-banana designed those. Nice, aren’t they?”
I nodded automatically, but Jay was already gone.
Hannah crossed her arms and grumbled good-naturedly. “I can’t get him to stop calling me that.”
“Hannah-banana?”
“Grr. Yep. That’s the one.”
“That’s the beauty of a one-syllable name. No one can mess with it too much.”
Hannah arched her brow mischievously. “Cal the snail or send Cal to jail or Cal-man, the mailman.”
I snickered. “Those are so bad they don’t even sting.”
“They did when we were ten.”
“True. You were kind of a bully back in the day,” I teased.
She smacked my arm playfully. “I was not! I was an angel. Ask my dad.”
“Right. He’s very impartial.” I hooked my thumb toward the storage area. “So…you’re making whale stuff now.”
“Ha. Ha. Dolphins. And yes…I started a surf line.” She wrinkled her forehead and continued in a rush, “With my boyfriend. Did I just make things weird?”
I shook my head vehemently. “Of course not. I’m glad you’re seeing someone. He better be a good guy.”
She chuckled at the note of warning in my voice. “He is. Um…and you know him. I didn’t just come by because of my apparel line. I didn’t want you to find out from someone else that I’m seeing Andy.”