Hold the Forevers

“Lila, you made it!” she gushed. She looked like a different person out of her training room attire. We both probably did. Her black hair was parted down the middle and stick straight to her shoulders and her lips a ruby red.

“I made it.”

“Let me introduce you to the guys. You probably met Matthew in the training room,” she said, gesturing to one guy. “Damien, Jared, and Casey are in other departments. We’re just missing one more. He went to the bar. But we have a pitcher if you want a cup. It’s Blue Moon.”

“That’d be great,” I said as Matthew poured.

I nestled into a seat next to Kristen and took a sip of the beer. The guys dived back into the conversation they had been having before I got here. I tried to keep up with what they were discussing, but it was clearly a long-running conversation.

“Oh, there he is!” Kristen said.

I looked at who was approaching and nearly spat out my drink. “Cole!”

“Lila?” His eyes were wide and disbelieving.

I jumped out of my seat, abandoning my drink, and took the few steps to meet him.

Cole Davis was here. He was in Atlanta. In this very bar.

And he looked … amazing. His height and bulk, which had served him so well in college athletics, had only broadened into appreciable ways in the intervening years. He was dressed to impress in a navy-blue suit and light-blue tie. His own bright blue eyes were enhanced by the color combo.

“What are you doing here?” we asked at the same time.

I gestured back to the table. “Kristen invited me.”

His eyes were still glued to mine, as if he were seeing a mirage. As if I were the one who couldn’t possibly be here. When he was the one who had been living in San Francisco the last five years.

“How do you know Kristen?”

“We work together.”

“You work … for the Falcons?” he asked.

“Yeah. In the training room. I finished my physical therapy degree and got the job.”

“Lila, that’s incredible.”

“Thanks,” I said, beaming. “But what are you doing here? I thought you were still in San Francisco.”

“I just moved here. I’ve been in Atlanta about a month.”

My jaw dropped. We’d seen each other a few times in the five years since we’d broken up, but this was different.

“And you’re working for the Falcons too?”

“Yeah. Marketing.”

I couldn’t believe it. My brain must have been misfiring. Cole Davis was here, in Atlanta. My throat constricted as I looked up at him. This felt too good to be true. Serendipitous. But if I’d learned anything about the two men in my life, nothing was ever left up to chance. The world managed to always bring us back together.

“I didn’t think you’d ever come back to Georgia.”

“It wasn’t in the plan. Remember when I told you about the marketing business I was working on?”

“Yes.” I bit my lip. My heart panged at the thought of that night last year when I’d seen him, when he’d told me all about this.

He glanced away briefly before proceeding, “Falcons are subcontracting the whole thing.”

“Wow! Congratulations! Just what you always wanted.”

“And I got it all on my own merit.”

“I’m so proud of you.”

And it was true. This was what Cole had always wanted—recognition in his own right.

“Ahem,” Kristen cleared her throat behind us. “You two know each other?”

I’d completely forgotten that we had an audience. A common occurrence when I was with Cole. He captured all of my attention and held it. He always had.

“Yeah, we do,” Cole said as he took the last steps to the table and set down his drink.

Meanwhile, I suddenly needed something to do with my hands.

“Lila’s only been here a week. How did you meet?” Matthew asked.

Cole and I exchanged a look. History lay in his eyes. Whether or not to divulge how far back we went. I knew that feeling well.

“Lila and I went to college together,” Cole offered.

Kristen picked up on the tension in the room. “Uh-huh. It sure looks like more than that.”

“We dated in college,” I told her.

“Ohhh,” Jared said.

“That’s so cute,” Kristen said.

“Tell us all the sordid details,” Matthew said, making room for us both to sit again.

“Nothing to tell,” Cole said. “We dated for two years, and then I got a job in San Francisco.”

Which was the understatement of the century. Not that I was about to dispute it.

Kristen drummed her fingers together. I barely knew her and could already see the cogs moving as she worked out how to play matchmaker with us. I was grateful when Jared changed the subject, and we could all let the moment pass. The last thing I wanted was to discuss my past relationship with people I’d just met.

Cole and I had a past.

But maybe we could have a present too.

Two hours and several drinks later, the rest of the group was drunk enough that they staggered into cabs.