Emmett peered up at it as well, but his posture, as well as his face, remained closed off, making it impossible to read him.
Regina worried kissing him would make the longing wrapping itself around her heart worse.
But didn’t they deserve a kiss good-bye?
More people joined the “kiss, kiss,” chant.
“You don’t have to kiss me,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to kiss me because you feel obligated.”
His eyebrows arched, emotion finally bleeding through, passion and affection and a hint of surprise. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since you asked if I was going to arrest you, so it’d hardly be an obligation.”
The ground whooshed out from under her feet as he slipped his hand behind her neck. He drew her to him as his mouth crashed down on hers, and the combination of soft lips and scruff sent a shock wave through her body. She moved her lips against his, wrapping her arms around his waist so she wouldn’t melt right onto the floor.
Happiness like she’d never felt before washed over her, leaving her breathless and dizzy. And did she mention the happiness?
Then he slowly pulled back, his brown eyes boring into hers. “Good-bye, Regina,” he said, and reality came screeching back to her. It’d been an am
azing kiss, but it was edged in finality.
She glanced toward the onlookers, croaked out a good-bye, and rushed out of the building. She just needed to make it inside her car before she burst into tears.
As she drove past the now familiar shops on Main Street, the scenery blurred, and she had to blink to clear her vision.
She’d left home crying, and now she was crying on her way back.
There was something tragically poetic about it all, but she was too busy feeling sad to sort it out now.
Chapter Ten
Emmett stood numbly in the doorway as Regina’s car drove away, her taillights two flashes of red in the dark. Most everyone else in town was here at the dance.
Staring at him.
“Show’s over,” he barked, wanting everyone to stop looking at him with a mixture of frustration and pity.
Callie stepped forward, and he focused on her, needing a friendly face right now. “You’re just going to let her go?” she asked, which wasn’t the comforting he’d expected, or wanted.
“She made up her mind.”
“But you didn’t fight for her. You’re as bad as her groom!” Fern voiced it, but there was a lot of nodding in agreement.
Below the belt, but Emmett had thought the guy was a fool to let her go.
Mom stepped forward—he hadn’t even realized she and Dad were here. “Well, don’t just stand there. Hurry up and go get her!”
Regina had only been on the highway for a handful of minutes when she caught sight of red and blue lights in her rear-view mirror.
Emmett was at the dance, so it was probably a deputy—or worse, state police—and she’d probably been speeding in an attempt to outrace the heartbreak before it hit.
As she maneuvered onto the side of the road, the ache that’d overtaken her chest deepened. It felt like she’d left her heart in Friendship with a certain sheriff.
Here she was, getting in trouble with another cop, in another inappropriate dress. At least this one was slightly less mortifying than her bridal gown.
The dark figure approached her car, and she reached over to get her registration and proof of insurance out of the glove box.
The cop pulled on her door handle, and she jumped. Her mind must be playing tricks on her, because she swore it was Emmett’s face in the window. She leaned closer to the fogged-over glass, and her heart rate kicked into high gear.
The second she hit the unlock button, Emmett threw open the door, reached over her and unbuckled her seat belt, and then hauled her out of the car and into his arms. “I forgot to tell you something. A whole lot of things, actually.”