I nod and smile. “So, it’s all ended then? And on a good note? All your secrets came out and it ended okay?”
His voice turns softer as he answers me. “Not all of it turned out okay. There is still one part of the story that doesn’t have an answer.” The meaningful look in his eyes speaks volumes. I shiver. This is what I was hoping for. “I never really got an answer when it comes to you, which makes me very sad.”
“You gave me an answer at the time,” I reply cautiously. “Has that changed now?”
“That was an answer that came from anger. The whole situation was very confusing and I took it out on you.”
“Because of the picture,” I reply understandingly. “I get it. I would have reacted the same way too.”
“If I had let you explain though, I would have known that it wasn’t you that released the picture.”
I’m surprised by this admission. “You know that Rae did it?”
“I don’t know who did it, I just know that it wasn’t you. I should have known that all along.”
I could argue that he had no way of knowing but there isn’t any point. We both know that and there has been lost time over it, but I don’t feel like that’s a bad thing. I’m pretty sure we needed it to find our way here.
“So, what have you been doing while I’ve been in Iceland ‘finding myself’?” I ask instead.
“Actually, I have been trying to ‘find myself’ as well. I don’t know if I’ve done it though.”
“That’s understandable, considering how confusing your family situation is.”
He nods and smiles. “Yeah, you’re right. But it’s getting better now.”
I lean across the bar and order more drinks. I half expect there to be an issue with me being in the bar again, I’m waiting for them to kick me out, but no one does. Either six months is plenty long enough for them to forget what happened when my bag was stolen, or they know about my success and they know that I’m good for it now.
If it’s the second one, I’m a little bit offended. I would have found a way to pay that bill!
“You look good anyway,” I say smilingly. “That suit looks good on you.”
“I should have teamed it with my lime green tie,” he replies regretfully. “Wouldn’t that have been funny?”
“Oh, I don’t know. That tie isn’t only linked to good memories.”
“You’re right about that.” He edges his chair closer to me, making my whole body sparkle. The butterflies in the pit of my stomach flap so violently I’m scared they might burst out. “But meeting you is what I will always associate it with and that is a memory that can never be tainted.”
I laugh happily. I feel that way too. While I was away, all the negativity slopped off me and all I was left with were the happy times. The way that Shane made me feel, which is the best thing in the whole damn world.
“I think we should cheer, don’t you?” Shane raises his glass. “Celebrate being back here.”
I clink my glass against his and we yell out ‘cheers’. I’m sure all eyes are upon us as we collapse in to hysterics, but I don’t let that trouble me. When I’m with Shane, the rest of the world means nothing. It always has been. There is something about the chemistry that we share which creates a tight knit bubble around the pair of us.
It’s good to be back in the bubble, it feels even better than I remember it. I’m all warm and on cloud nine.
“Are you glad that you’re home? Or would you rather still be away?”
“Iceland was incredible,” I admit. “But there’s something awesome about being back.”
“Well, I’m glad that you’re here too. America wasn’t quite the same without you.”
I wonder how much he means that, how much he’s missed me. It can’t possibly be as much as I’ve missed him. That was a constant dull ache in my chest, a desperate need to be with him once more. But I always knew that it might not happen again. He was the one who rejected me, it’s up to him if he wants me back.
But now it seems like he does and it’s like everything that has happened up until this part was destiny.
Shane reaches out, almost on instinct as if he doesn’t quite realize what he’s doing, and his fingers brush lightly across my hair. He tucks it behind my ear and as he delicately touches that strange erogenous zone, I get a buzzing in my panties. A deep desire that desperately wants to be sated. I shouldn’t behave like this, I should try and keep away from him a bit if I want things to become something more real. But the sexual chemistry between Shane and I has always been intense, almost out of control, so I don’t see why that would change now.