It wasn't just any backyard. It was filled with soft white sand that never got too hot. Yes, our new home was right on the beach. I inhaled as I stepped off the deck and onto the sand, slipping out of my sandals and watching the ocean.
My heart thumped a little quicker as bittersweet memories unfolded. That last night on the boat. Our last ride together. The ocean only reminded me of one thing—well, one person…
A door shut behind me, shattering my thoughts, and I turned as Rita, the realty agent, trotted through the kitchen in her black baby heels and stopped at the patio door. Her brown hair flew with the breeze as she lowered her thin frames. "The previous owner just arrived," she called. "I have another house to show. Do you think you will need me?"
"Nah! Go ahead! I should be okay," I called back. "I’ll call you if I need you. Thank you for everything!" Rita nodded her head, giving me a small glance and a light smile before turning around and pulling out her cell phone. She reminded me of my mom. Always busy. Always on the go.
Speaking of, Mom was living in Brazil... alone. Her young boyfriend broke up with her, which made South America their last destination as a couple. She called me once, crying. I didn't feel much sympathy for her. I was a firm believer in Karma. She told me everything, like how she actually liked it there and wasn't sure she wanted to come back, but how she wished he’d stuck around to make it worthwhile. It was a shame.
She came back when I told her about Dad’s funeral but flew right back out the next day without a goodbye. I was used to her not being around. Of course it killed me to know she didn't hug or kiss me or even want to bid me farewell, but I quickly got over it, just as I did everything else when I was a child.
She bawled her eyes out during Dad's funeral. Her emotion was raw. I'm pretty sure she left like the wind because of all the remorse she felt for not being around during his final years. She never should have left to begin with. She was still a very, very selfish woman.
I shut my eyes, allowing the salty air to toy with the loose tendrils of my pinned hair. I could really get used to this. The balcony door slid open and when I recalled Rita saying the previous owner was around, I turned.
“Hi, you must be—” My words flew out before I could see the person, and they quickly came to an end when I met familiar brown eyes.
An audible gasp filled the air. My chest felt heavy, the pressure real, like an elephant stepping on top of me as I lay flat. I thought after all those years the feelings—every feeling—I had for him would surely pass, but that was complete bullshit. Time only made it easier to move on with life, but time had nothing on chance encounters.
Who was I kidding?
My feelings were never going to change.
Not when it came to him.
Not when it came to my first, at both love and womanhood.
They’d never change for Theodore Black.
He walked out to the deck with a crooked smile, his head in that childlike tilt that used to make me so weak in the knees—still made me weak in the knees. His hair had grown out around the edges, and his body was just as it was before, in great shape.
His eyes were tired, though, like all the stressing had finally caught up to him. As always, it was only his eyes that gave away his age. His face was shaved clean, besides the black scruff above his lip. When his hand came up to wipe the sweat from his brow, I caught the silver band on his ring finger, and for some reason, my heart dropped. He was… married?
I tried to cover my hand, the square engagement ring on my finger, but he saw it, his face screwing. I still remained rather speechless, watching as he carried himself from the deck to the stairs that led to the sand. He didn’t say anything either. I didn’t feel so bad for being flabbergasted.
This was never supposed to happen again. I was never supposed to run into Mr. Black in Bristle Wave because, from what I’d heard, he’d moved out of Bristle to go elsewhere. I had no clue where he’d moved to, but I assumed it was far away from here. That’s what I got for going with the rumors.
When Theo was only a few steps away, I swallowed the emotion that’d collected in my throat, tears burning the rims of my eyes. I don’t know why I was being so emotional. It could have been the recollections, or maybe even the pain that was still buried deep.
Or, perhaps it was because he looked just as great as ever, with the ink that stained his arms, that perfect, wavy black hair, and the same hard and delicious body. His nipple ring prodded through his light grey T-shirt, and I smiled, remembering the way my tongue had surrounded it a long time ago.
“Little Knight,” Theo finally said. His voice was just the same, and it still held some type of power over me. I felt my core clench, but I ignored that guilt, allowing a smile to sweep across my lips. “You are still so beautiful.” And he was still so goddamn gorgeous, but I couldn’t say that.
“Theo,” I breathed. “Wow… um… what are you doing here?—I mean—” My mouth clamped shut, unable to form proper sentences. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like the twelve year old girl that had first met him in Primrose. Back then he was a stranger—someone I knew nothing about—and even now it seemed I was meeting a stranger again. Someone that I wasn’t sure about, someone that may have changed and I didn’t even know it.
“It’s been a long time, huh?”
“Yeah.” I blinked rapidly. “You are the previous owner?”
He nodded with a press of his lips. “Funny right? How fate brought us here?”
“Fate and destiny seem to always tamper with our lives one way or another.” He moved forward, and I shifted on my feet, the sand squishing between my toes. “How’d you know I would be coming to Bristle today?”
He lifted a hand, running his fingers through his lengthy hair. “That woman that just ran out of here?”
“Yeah?”
“She’s my mother.”
My jaw dropped, gaping. “What?! No way! No wonder she seemed so familiar! I take it she didn’t take your father’s last name?”
“Nope.” He smiled. “Rita Morris. I told her to keep it secret. You know, it’s quite a coincidence that you wanted to move into this house.” He looked around. “Seems like a place you will really enjoy, though. Anyway, she remembered seeing you around us before and asked me if the name Chloe Knight sounded familiar.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Shocker, huh?”
“Wow—yeah,” I laughed. “That’s wild. No wonder she was acting so friendly towards me.”
“I told her you were one of Izzy’s old friends.”
When he said her name, I felt a pinch deep inside me. He caught that small ounce of pain run cross my face and straightened his back. “She feels terrible. Talks about you at least every other week. She misses the hell out of you.”
“I miss her too.”
“You know she got a job in New York? She got a role for a small film up there?”
“What? Oh my gosh, that’s incredible! Tell her I said congrats!”
“I will.” he put on a genuine smile.
“So, what is it with you, Knight? Did you go and get married on me?” he asked when I looked down again, guilt-ridden. I could tell he’d been wanting to ask about the ring on my finger for a while now. I drug my gaze back up to his, and he brought his eyes from my finger to my face again.
“Oh… um, engaged actually.”
“Let me take a wild guess…” His tongue wiped his lips, and he laughed as he said, “The Sterling kid?”
“Lucky guess, mister,” I teased, blushing. I dropped my head, and Theo stepped forward to tilt my chin. His gesture seemed almost natural and brought back so many memories. I would never forget his touch and all it did to me. I would never forget him in general, but I knew better.
Now, I really knew better.
“And what about you?” I asked, backing away without making it too noticeable. I put on a cheery tone as I asked, “What woman has you wrapped around her finger? —Wait, no, let me take a wild guess...” Theo crossed his arms with an amused grin on his face. Laughing, I said, “Trixie!”
And he busted out in a hearty chortle. “That is fucking hilarious.”