“Well, look at what the cat dragged in. Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Emma Sullivan in the flesh?”
Emma glanced up, the polite smile dropping when she took in the voice’s owner.
There was no mistaking the wavy hair that curled at his ears or the almond-shaped, chocolate-brown eyes that stared at her, the same familiar twinkle lingering in their depths.
The room around her faded as Emma sat there, gawking at Jack Harper as if he’d stepped out of one of her dreams.
Other than a few streaks of silver in his hair and a line or two on his face, he looked just as he did the last time she saw him, standing in the doorway of her parents’ house with the same easy smile.
Was she dreaming?
“Mom.” Jules waved a hand in front of her face, a furrow between her brows. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
Emma snapped to attention and offered Jack a weak smile. “Yes. Yeah. Hi. Jack, is that…is that really you?”
“Hey, yourself. Yeah, it’s me. The one and only.” Jack glanced between them, and his smile grew wider when it settled on her daughter. He stuck his hand out and waited. “I don’t know if you remember me, but we met when you were a little girl.”
Jules shook his hand and offered him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, no.”
Jack withdrew his hand and stood up straighter, pausing to tuck his flannel shirt back into his jeans. “That’s all right. I remember you. You look exactly like your mom.”
Jules gave her mother a knowing look. “You two know each other?”
“Knew each other,” Emma replied hastily. “It was like a lifetime ago.”
Jack gave her a confused look, a furrow appearing between his brows and his eyes tightening slightly, but said nothing.
Jules cast another glance at the menu and stood. “Can I have a pumpkin spice latte and some figgy pudding? I’m going to go check out the competition in the back.”
Without waiting for a response, Jules sauntered off, swallowed whole by the rambunctious crowd talking over each other.
Emma sat up straighter, aware of Jack’s eyes on her face. “So…”
“So…” Jack dragged out the syllable, his smile sending a swarm of butterflies straight to her stomach. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”
Emma cleared her throat. “It was kind of a last-minute thing.”
“Well, order whatever you want, on the house.”
“The owner won’t mind?”
Jack tilted his head to the side, his smile growing wider. “No, I don’t mind. Unless you know something I don’t.”
Color crept up Emma’s neck and cheeks. “Right, Harper’s Brew. I should’ve known by the name…”
Except she hadn’t given it a second thought.
She’d wondered about Jack over the years, but each time she did, she stopped herself from dwelling too much.
They had, after all, wanted different things out of life, and if college hadn’t gotten in between them, something else would’ve.
Still, she couldn’t deny the quiet thrill that raced through her at seeing him again.
“I’ll get you a caramel macchiato, half and half milk, right? We’ve also got fresh blueberry muffins.”
Emma’s stomach dipped. “You still remember.”
Jack stopped writing and looked over at her. “Yeah, of course I do. Some things you don’t forget.”
