Can't Hurry Love (Sunshine Valley #1) - Melinda Curtis Page 0,148

basis,” she said once they’d pulled apart.

Lacy hugged the other women as well.

“So you came alone too?” Lacy asked Halona.

“Afraid so. My mom is watching Theo for a few hours. I told her I really didn’t need to come, but she insisted.”

Brenna nodded as she listened to the conversation. “Sounds familiar. Everyone told me that you can’t skip your high school reunion.”

“This is a small town. It’s not like we don’t know where everyone ended up,” Halona said. “Most everyone anyway.”

“Don’t look now,” Summer Rodriquez said, also joining the conversation, “but Carmen Daly is veering this way.”

Lacy’s heart sank. Carmen was the leader of her little pack of mean girls. How many times had Lacy cried in the girls’ bathroom over something Carmen had said or done to make her life miserable?

Lacy subtly stood a little straighter. Her brace was gone, and whatever Carmen dished out, she intended to return.

“Hi, ladies,” Carmen said, looking between them. She was just as beautiful as ever. Lacy knew Carmen didn’t live in Sweetwater Springs anymore. From what Lacy had heard, Carmen had married a doctor and lived a few hours east from here. Her vibrant smile grew sheepish as she looked at Lacy. “Hi, Lacy.”

Every muscle in Lacy’s body tensed. “Hi, Carmen.”

Then Carmen surprised her by stepping forward to give her a hug. For a moment, Lacy wondered if she was sticking a sign on her back like she’d done so long ago. KICK ME. I WON’T FEEL IT.

Carmen pulled back and looked Lacy in the eye while her friends watched. “Lacy, I’ve thought about you so many times over the years. I’m so glad you’re here tonight.”

Lacy swallowed. “Oh?”

“I want to tell you that I’m sorry. For everything. I’m ashamed of the person I was and how I acted toward you. So many times I’ve thought about messaging you on Facebook or emailing you, but this is something that really needs to be done in person.” Carmen’s eyes grew shiny. “Lacy, I’m so sorry. I mean it.”

Lacy’s mouth dropped open. Of all the things she’d imagined about tonight, this wasn’t one of them. She turned to look at Summer, Brenna, and Halona, whose lips were also parted in shock, and then she looked back at Carmen.

“I’ve tried to be a better person, but the way I behaved in high school has haunted me for the last ten years.”

Lacy reached for Carmen’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you. Looks like we’ve both changed.”

“We grew up.” Carmen shrugged. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Definitely.”

Carmen seemed to relax. “Maybe we can be friends on Facebook,” she said. “And in real life. Maybe a coffee date next time I come home.”

“I’d like that.” Lacy’s eyes burned as she hugged Carmen again and watched her walk over to her husband. Then Lacy turned her back to her friends. “Is there a sign on my back?”

“Nope,” Brenna said. “I think that was sincere.”

Lacy faced them again. “Me too. It was worth coming here tonight just for that.” Someone tapped her shoulder and she spun again, this time coming face-to-face with Paris.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, looking just as sheepish as Carmen had a few minutes earlier.

She noticed that he was dressed in the shirt he purchased from Sophie’s Boutique. “Paris, what are you doing here?”

“Hoping to get a dance with you?” He looked at the dance floor, where a few couples were swaying.

“I…I don’t know,” she said.

Summer put a hand on her back and gave her a gentle push. “No more sitting on the sidelines, Lacy. When a boy asks you to dance, you say yes.”

Lacy took a few hesitant steps, following Paris. Then they stopped and turned to face each other, the music wrapping around them. “Paris”—she shook her head—“you didn’t have to come. As you can see, I didn’t chicken out. I’m here and actually having a great time. I don’t need you to hold my hand.”

He reached for her hand anyway, pulling her body toward his. The touch made her grow warm all over. “You never needed me. But I’m hoping you still want me.”

Lacy swallowed. Yeah, she definitely still wanted him. She looked at his arms looped around her waist. They fit together so nicely. Then she looked back up at him. “I lied when I said that we could still be friends, Paris. I can’t. I want things when I’m with you. Things I shouldn’t want, but I can’t help it.”

“Such as?” he asked.

Lacy took a breath. She might as well be honest and scare him off for good. “I want a relationship. I want to fall in love. I want it all. And I just think it would be too hard—”

Paris dropped his mouth to hers and stopped her words with a soft kiss.

“What are you doing?” she asked when he pulled back away.

“I want things when I’m with you too,” he said, leaning in closer so she could hear him over the music. “I want to kiss you. Hold your hand. Be the guy you want a relationship with. To be in love with.”

Lacy’s lips parted. Since they were being honest…“You already are that guy. I mean, not the love part. We haven’t known each other very long, so it’s too soon for that. That would be crazy.”

“Maybe, but I understand exactly what you mean,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes. “Then why are you smiling? You said you didn’t want those things.”

“Correction. I said I didn’t want to want those things.” He tightened his hold on her as they danced. “But it appears it’s already too late, and you’re worth the risk.”

“So you’re my date to this reunion tonight,” Lacy said. “Then what?”

“Then tomorrow or the next day, I was thinking I’d go to your family’s house for dinner and win over your dad.”

Lacy grimaced. “That won’t be easy. He’ll want to know what your intentions are with his daughter.”

Paris grinned. “My intention is to put you on the back of my bike and ride off into the sunset. What do you think he’ll say to that?”

She grinned. “I think he’ll hate that response. But if you’re asking what I think…”

“Tell me,” Paris whispered, continuing to sway with her, face-to-face, body-to-body.

“I love it.” Then Lacy lifted up on her toes and kissed him for the entire world to see, even though in the moment, no one else existed except him and her.