He remembered at the time the challenge that her response had ignited in him. He wanted so badly to lean over and kiss her again to redeem himself. But he never got the chance. Just as he leaned forward, he heard screaming and looked up and saw a frantic man and woman running across the shore toward the dock.
“Jess!” a woman yelled. “Jess!”
“Are you okay?!” the man bellowed.
“That’s my parents,” Jess said as she slowly, carefully stood. “I snuck out. Thanks for the kiss. At least now I know.”
He remembered watching as she made her way down the wooden planked wharf. Her parents met her halfway, throwing their arms around her as they cried.
It was almost two years before he saw her again around town, and another three before he talked to her again when he found her passed out in the hallway. To this day, they’d never spoken about that day on the pier. To this day, he didn’t even know if she remembered it, or that it was him on the dock.
All these years that he’d ignored his feelings for Jess made him wonder now if it might have something to do with that day. That look of disappointment on her face. Was his hesitancy to tell her how he felt because he was scared to see that look on her face again?
Maybe. But it didn’t matter anymore. She might not feel what he did, but it was time he found out once and for all.
Lifting his hand, he rapped his knuckles on her door.
Jess peeked out the window and glared at him for several seconds before opening the door. “What are you doing here?”
Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Jess’s dark hair was down, flowing like a waterfall around her shoulders. Her sea glass gaze was usually surrounded by a thick black line but was now bare and even more breathtaking than usual. She was wearing an over-sized T-shirt and sweats and somehow managed to look sexier than she had when she’d been in a bikini on the lake earlier.
“Hello.” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Earth to Ethan.”
He blinked at the motion and managed to ask, “Can I come in?”
Indecision flickered in her eyes. She inhaled slowly, and on the exhale stepped back and opened the door. “This better be good. I was just at my favorite part.”
As he stepped into her house, he saw that it was dark except for the light coming from the television flickering against the far wall. As he took a seat on the couch, Ethan noticed Patrick Swayze in a leather jacket, frozen on the screen. “What are you watching?”
Her forehead creased. “Seriously?”
He looked back at the screen. “Is it Road House?”
“It’s Dirty Dancing.” The way she said it made it sound like he’d cursed the holy church.
“Oh. I’ve never seen it.”
Her mouth fell open as she swatted his arm. “You’ve never seen Dirty Dancing?!”
“No.”
The horror on her face was the same as if he’d said he kicked puppies. He knew that this was already starting off on a bad foot. Trying to soften the blow that he’d never seen Dirty Dancing he said, “I did see Ghost.”
“So?” She shrugged as if one thing had nothing to do with the other.
This train was quickly going off the rails, and he needed to right it. “I’m sorry to bug you so late, but I needed to talk to you.”
She stared at him, and he could feel that she was waiting for him to say something, anything that she could pick apart and dismantle. But, unless he was imagining things, the walls that were typically erected around her weren’t quite as high today as they normally were. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the night at Lanterns or that she was tired from a day out in the sun, but she seemed softer towards him.
“I’m not sure if you know this, but my grandma and her friends have decided that it’s time for me to settle down.”
The knowing smirk that pulled at her perfect lips made Ethan want to kiss her until she forgot why she always gave him such a hard time.
“I’m aware.”
“They’re not going to stop until I start dating someone.”