hands in her hair and kiss her right there in the middle of the street.
He slowed to a stop a few feet away, content to just watch her for a brief, unguarded moment—a sacred sliver of time in which neither of them was hiding behind an agenda. It was as excruciating as it was precious, mainly because he didn’t want it to end.
Then she turned and smiled at him—the most open, easy smile she’d bestowed him since he’d stepped back into her life. For a split second, he was seventeen again.
“Thanks for meeting me.” She squared her shoulders, preparing for battle, and the moment vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
He nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak when there was suddenly an aching hole in the place where his heart used to be.
“This used to be your favorite building in Waterford.” Her gaze flitted back to the town hall’s sturdy brick and aged yellow clapboard. “You drew it all the time.”
He stepped closer until they were shoulder-to-shoulder, both gazing in the same direction for once. “I did it in watercolors, too. It always reminded me of someplace grand.”
“Well, it originally was a church,” she said in her best tour guide voice. “And now it has been repurposed to be a town hall and a theatre.”
Sawyer was beginning to get an idea what her surprise invitation had really been about.
She tilted her head and studied him in a way that made his pulse kick up a notch. “You know, you say you’re a ‘hometown boy,’ but did you actually miss your hometown while you were away?”
“Honestly?” He didn’t realize how ashamed he was of the truth until he had to say it out loud. “I’ve been too busy with work or looking for the next project to do much of anything else.”
Jamie didn’t judge him, though. That had never been her style. Instead, she twirled in a quick little spin on her toes and waved at him to follow her. “Then let me remind you of what you left behind.”
Okay, then.
Sawyer jogged to catch up with her, and what followed could only be described as a determined effort on Jamie’s part to reacquaint him with every square inch of Waterford, with no stone left unturned.
They started at the duck pond, where a pair of cruiser bicycles were waiting for them. One of them belonged to Jamie and the other looked suspiciously like one Sawyer had seen recently in Rick’s garage. Sawyer couldn’t remember the last time he’d ridden a bike that hadn’t been bolted to the floor of a gym. He climbed aboard and pedaled after Jamie, appreciating the difference within seconds. The wind rippled through his hair, numbing his face as they made a wide loop around the water, weaving in and around oak trees, branches tipped green with the promise of new spring growth.
They zipped past couples walking hand-in-hand and parents with small children whose fingertips were nestled in homemade knitted mittens—the kind Sawyer’s grandmother had made for him when he was a boy. The old lampposts lining the path had been painted bright cherry-red since he’d moved away, and new park benches perched at the water’s edge. Ducks lingered nearby, waiting for someone to take a seat and toss them some cracked corn.
From the duck pond, they made their way to the park, traveling down the bike lane that hugged Main Street. Jamie’s hair streamed behind her in lustrous gold ribbon as she led the way.
They parked their bikes beneath the shade of a willow tree swaying in the gentle Pacific breeze, and Jamie surprised him with a picnic lunch hidden in the wicker basket hanging from her bike’s handlebars. He could tell at first glance that Rick had nothing to do with the meal. Instead of gourmet fare, they dined on PB&J, apples and kettle chips, which had been the exact lunch Jamie always brought to school in a brown paper sack. It was the best meal he’d tasted in years, even though swallowing proved difficult with such an aching longing in his throat.
Next up was a walk through the tea garden on the banks of the old waterlily pond, as breathlessly beautiful as a Monet painting. Huge orange and white koi fish splashed at their feet, and the water seemed to dance with silvery light. A tour of Waterford wouldn’t have been complete without a stop at True Love, though, which Jamie saved for the grand finale.
The shop had long closed by the time they