ONE
Easton
I’ve just caught up with Jade, who’d rushed for the door, when I hear the tell-tale sound of a collision of bodies.
“Oof!”
A wet plopping sound echoes from the doorway, and I see half of Jade’s ice cream cone is now on the floor. My best guess says the rest is plastered to the front of the woman she ran into.
“Oops, sorry.” Jade sounds apologetic, but this is the last thing I need. It’s already beena daywith her, and I thought this treat would ease the tension.
So much for that plan.
Hurrying over toward them, I suck in a stressed breath, my eyes on the floor as I try to come up with some reason my niece just ran into the unsuspecting woman.
One day. I needed one day to go smoothly. Ugh, I’m so not cut out for this.
“Jade,” I groan, eyeing the chocolate puddle that’s melting on the floor before deciding I have to say something to the victim of this confectionary crime. “I’m so sorry, miss. She wasn’t looking where?—”
The words die in my throat as I realize who’s standing in front of me.What the—no way. How is she…
“Hazel?”
She looks up from holding her freezing cold shirt away from her skin, meeting my eyes. As soon as they connect, everything stops.
It’s fucking Hazel Dowd, the last person in the universe I expected to see pop up in Red Lodge. Am I in someTwilight Zoneepisode? What isactuallyhappening right now?
“Easton?”
Her eyes flare wide, that hazel color a reflection of her name, which is a total coincidence from what she’s told me.
She looks exactly the same as the last time I saw her, and it’s like a kick in the nuts.
Hazel’s wavy, caramel-colored hair is hanging loose around her shoulders, just dusting the tops. Her warm skin is spotted with faint freckles that I could probably map by memory alone, and the sweet, soft look about her is everything I remember.
Except somehow, now it’s even more beautiful.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Hazel? Of all the people. Of all the ways to literally bump into her.
I can hardly breathe right now, and speaking is entirely out of the question.
“Uncle Easton?” Jade pipes up, and I’m pulled back into the mess that’s still coated all over Hazel’s white shirt. “Are you okay?”
Jade is trying and failing to hide the laugh in her voice, and I’m ready to ground that girl for a week. But that’s an empty threat. I haven’t been able to scold her at all because of everything that happened.
Clenching my jaw, I force myself to find the words. “We’re very sorry, Hazel.Aren’t we, Jade?”
My niece blanches slightly, ducking her head as she nods. “Sorry. I wasn’t looking.”
It’s a grumble of an apology, but at least it’s something. Too bad the ice cream is done for. I just know Jade will beg me for a new one.
“Oh,” Hazel offers a tight smile and even forced, it lights up her entire face, “that’s okay. Accidents happen. I’m just…wow, I’ll admit I assumed I had a while before I ran into you.”
“Literally.” I can’t stop myself from joking, if only to diffuse some of the tension.
Seeing her again does something to me. And I’m not surprised. I’ve been dreaming of this woman every night since we split.
Ineverthought I’d see her again.
