Page 39 of Another June with You
“Don’t you have to meet Chase now?” Her voice was nearly a whisper.
“Mhmm.” His hand moved around her wrist, along the outside of her arm, and up to her face, where he brushed his fingertips along the side of her cheek with a feather-like touch.
She reached up and laid her hand over his.
He leaned closer. Those eyes. That face. His forehead rested against hers, the scent of her seizing his senses.
“Micah, please,” she breathed.
“Please, what?” What did she want him to do? Hold her? Touch her? Kiss her?
“Please stop,” she answered.
Surely not that.
“Nothing’s changed, Micah,” Shannon spoke softly. “And I won’t let you jeopardize your relationship with Autumn just because we’re still attracted to each other.”
“You’re still attracted to me?” He smiled down at her.
“That was never the problem,” she replied.
He took her upper arms in his hands and looked her in the eyes. “Then tell me, what was the problem?”
“I told you, I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t go to Virginia with you. We were going down different paths.”
“We could’ve made long distance work. I wanted to make it work. Why didn’t you?”
“We were just kids. What did we know?”
He shook his head. “Don’t do that. Don’t downplay what we had. We knew we loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We knew how lucky we were, how rare it was for us to find each other so young. We knew it back then, and we know it now.”
Shannon stared down at the welcome mat.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She shook her head.
He touched under her chin, urging her to give him her attention.
When she did, he found tears pooling in her eyes.
“What is it? What aren’t you saying?” he pleaded, dying to know her thoughts.
She blinked, and a tear slid down her cheek. “I knew you’d be happier if you left and never looked back.”
“How could I ever be happy without you?” His fingers traveled over her shoulders, resting on either side of her neck. “I’ve been looking back for ten years.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t anymore. Maybe you should look forward to your future—maybe with Autumn. Definitely not with Jacqueline,” she said with a smirk.
Micah knew she was trying to deflect the conversation, but he found nothing amusing in what she was saying. “What if I want a future with you?”
Her eyes instantly filled with tears again. At first, he thought maybe they were happy tears. Maybe it was what she had wanted him to say all along. Until she stepped back out of his arms and shook her head.
“I can’t be your future, Micah.” She wiped at her cheeks as she moved into her apartment to close the door between them.
He kicked his foot out in time to stop it from closing. “Shannon,” he pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Micah.” She lowered her head as she shut him out. Out of her apartment. Out of her heart.
