The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,39

Sawyer had always sat outside when they’d come back here in high school. Doing otherwise would have been out of the question—a massive breach of tradition. But with the wind blowing off of the lake and a fine silver mist clinging to the forest’s tree line, she couldn’t fathom eating anything frozen out there today.

Sawyer apparently had no problem with it, as the half-empty bowl in front of him attested. He paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth, grinning like a school kid. “It’s Sundae Madness! I can’t believe they still have it.”

She pointed back and forth between his empty burger wrapper and the huge sundae dish. “I think that was your exact order on our very first date.”

“Yeah, it was,” he said, scooping up another bite. So he remembered that night as well as she did. Interesting. “Oh, wow. I’ve missed this so much. I’ve been to a million other ice cream shops, but nothing compares to Jeff’s.”

Truer words were never spoken. “Oh, I missed it like crazy when I was in Minnesota.”

“When were you in Minnesota?”

“Right after I graduated from Reed.” Seeing him sitting on a park bench, holding a pink plastic spoon with Jeff’s old, wooden duck-shaped sign mere feet away, was giving Jamie serious high school flashbacks. Maybe that was why the words spilled out of her easily now, just like they used to. “I did an internship at a newspaper in Minneapolis and then they made me a full-time reporter. Mostly ‘human interest’ stories.”

“Did you like it?” he said.

“I did, yeah. I learned a lot about storytelling that way.” Just not enough to finish writing a full-length book on her own…yet. “But eventually I came to realize how much I missed this place. So six years ago, when I got back, Mr. Ogilvy made me manager of the store, and then when he decided to retire, I knew I had to buy it.”

“Well, that doesn’t surprise me. You living outside of Oregon, however, does. I never thought you would.” His frowned into the melting remains of his ice cream.

“I know. You said that when you broke up with me all those years ago.” Surely he hadn’t forgotten that little tidbit.

“We broke up with each other,” he said, jabbing at the air with his spoon for emphasis.

She raised a dubious eyebrow. “Did we?”

“I thought we did.” There wasn’t an ounce of irony in his tone.

So that was the way he’d seen things all these years. He’d considered their break-up mutual, when in actuality, she’d cried herself to sleep for weeks after that devastating conversation.

Technically, he hadn’t outright dumped her. He’d simply said they were too young to try and make a long-distance relationship work once he left for school. In the speech he’d given her, he’d seemed focused on all the ways it would be bad for her if they tried to stay together. He’d said that he didn’t want her pining away for him back in Waterford while he was away at Columbia. He wanted her to spread her wings and do the things that made her happy.

But you make me happy.

It was all she’d been able to say, because it had been the truth. She’d loved Sawyer O’Dell with her whole heart. And he’d loved her too. She’d known it, but when she’d reminded him of that, all he’d told her in reply was that time was on their side—something that had meant less than nothing to her then. But looking back on it now, she remembered him saying that maybe, when the time was right, they’d find their way back to each other.

She’d been so heartbroken in the aftermath that she’d forgotten that part. That was probably a good thing. If she hadn’t let go of the idea of them reuniting, she might have never moved on. But now, those words seemed fortuitous somehow.

When the time is right…

But the time wasn’t right. Ridley and True Love Books aside, Sawyer was back in Waterford only temporarily—he had no intention of staying put.

“No,” she replied, pulling herself out of her thoughts. No, our breakup was absolutely not mutual…but it might have been the right decision after all. “Look, you had a very good point. People should go out into the world. See other things. Have other experiences before they decide where they want to settle down. That’s what I did, and that’s how I know,” she said, and she meant it. She got it now.

He put down his ice cream spoon and gave her